Patrick's Updates

Hello and HAPPY LAST DAY OF SCHOOL!

I know that begins a ticking clock for most of you, working on your many lists of responsibilities for the start of school in August. But hey - it's a holiday weekend - so enjoy the long weekend & take a nice pause before turning that page.

But since that page WILL turn, I wanted to update you on a few things & offer some reminders to you for all things textbooks. As always, reach out to me with any questions about all of this.You might want to print this & have it handy for when you choose to organize your textbook processes with your schools. As is my norm, I'm long-winded...but it's in an effort to give you ALL the info that could prove helpful to you & to save you some time.

Thank you to all who have sent in your orders thus far! Remember that all core textbooks (including Studies Weekly) should be sent to PW orders@publisherswarehouse.com Your PO(s) is made out to Publishers' Warehouse - but DO send us those quotes

Hey Friends!

We are getting your orders for Social Studies & Arts Ed books! Thank you. For those of you are working your way to those steps, I thought I'd send out a reminder to you of what those steps are. DO reach out to me with any questions. I know many of you are new to this....and the rest of you do a zillion other things besides ordering books. This is all we do! AND - if you're not quite there yet, it may help you to print this!

1. Get quotes for your district from the publishers you are choosing. Don't ask them to break it down by school in the quote - because that might limit the "free withs" that you earn. Ask for quotes based on the grade level numbers you see in PowerSchool in total for the grade levels - with you padding it in whatever way you think is best given your enrollment shift patterns. VERIFY the quote carefully to be sure it's correct & is what you want! Remember any off list books you may wish to get (AP; social studies elective) as

Hey all!

I know spring break is either upon you now - or is next week - for most of you. I'm getting some common questions that I want to help everyone with:

1. Funding: Everyone gets $100 per student in the Foundation program plus an additional (roughly) $30 per student in supplemental appropriations. To see your exact amount & how to code it, see this memo.
2. Delayed Billing: Publishers' Warehouse does not charge shipping - & we DO delayed billing. This is helpful for you IF your order exceeds what you have available. You can order the full amount on your PO, tells us what will be paid with FY 26 funds & what will be held to FY 27 billing - & we will set it up that way.
3. Delayed Billing, Part 2: Next year, we expect your textbook allocation to be back to $100 per student - but all that's up will be "digital literacy" & perhaps a math gap package, though some of you purchased that back 2 or 3 years ago. And the year after that is World Language. So - it would

Curriculum Directors & Textbook Coordinators,

I hope all are well today, from tornados, high winds, rains, floods, snow flurries, locusts - ha!, & spring breaks!

I know that some of your Boards were wanting to see those social studies scores. Here they are!

Also - I am REALLY needing to know what you plan to PURCHASE. If you've already completed my survey & you were at 90% confidence & haven't changed - we're good. But many of you who were kind enough to complete that survey weren't real sure a month or so ago which way you were leaning, in some or all grade spans.

But if you've NOT completed the survey & have now narrowed down your K-12 choices, please either complete this survey - or just email me, if that's easier.

Back to the scores: Providing Tiers on the scores was something the State Board wanted the ALSDE to do a few years ago. The highest scores are Tier I (90% to 100% - BLUE this year), & Tier II is 75% to 89% (GOLD this year).

Tier III scores

Curriculum Directors & Textbook Coordinators

For those of you ready to hop to it,  here are some next steps:

1. Get your books adopted by your local board. That means....your committee recs are approved by your local board. Send that info AFTER your board meeting to Dr Jones at the ALSDE.
2. Remember - adoption does not mean purchase. It means that you have the authority to use state textbook funds to purchase locally adopted resources. For example, you may adopt an entire K-5 series - but may choose to only purchase only 3rd -5th this year.
3. The ALSDE scores will be posted on their website in the next few days. I've attached the list of what was reviewed. Arts Ed is 100% - all on this list could be adopted/purchased by you. For social studies, the comprehensive selections may all be adopted & purchased - excluding the rejected grade levels from Exploros (the previous email listed the Exploros that COULD be adopted/purchased).
4. Once that's all done,

Curriculum Directors & Textbook Coordinators

By a vote of 5-4, with Gov. Ivey casting the deciding vote, the State Textbook committee's recommendation for social studies adoption was passed by the State Board.

Arts Education textbook committee results were passed unanimously by the State Board - and all books reviewed were state adopted.

Specific scores on the results are embargoed by the State at present. They will be posted on the ALSDE website in a few days. Exploros was adopted in grade 6 & grade 9 - but was rejected in its other grade levels which were reviewed. ALL OTHER K-12 comprehensive textbooks in social studies were recommended for adoption by the committee, which the State Board approved.

You are now free to move forward with your committee’s recommendations to your local boards.

Thank you for your hard work in preparing for this spring. Let me know how I can help you as this next stage.

-Patrick

Good Morning, Friends!

I have another "virtual caravan" demo for you - this time from QuaverMusic, who has comprehensive music books up for adoption for grades K-8! We are expecting final board approval on Arts Ed recommendations at the March 12 Board meeting.

Please view and share this recorded demo with your Music Teachers & Arts Ed Directors.

For samples or more information on Quaver Music, please email Khalid "KD" Daniels. He can also be reached by phone at: (629) 702-7387

Have a great weekend

-Patrick

Happy Friday, Friends!

At the ALSDE work session yesterday, Dr. Mackey presented the Board with options for moving forward with the social studies (& I assume Arts Ed) adoptions at the March 12 board meeting. A concise summary of the work session textbook discussion can be found here. There is also a YouTube recording of the work session available here. The textbook discussion begins at the 2:14:04.

Dr. Mackey stressed that his strong preference was option 1 - which is voting on the state committee's recommendation. As the discussion progressed, another option that some board members asked for was separating the committee recs of K-5 from 6-12 - so that 6-12 could be approved.

Dr. Mackey also stressed that the real power with textbook law is at the local level & that districts always have the choice to adopt "off list." Similarly, I always emphasize in my training that it is the local adoption process which unlocks the use of state textbook funds.

While

Good Afternoon,

We have completed all of our Social Studies Textbook Caravans & are awaiting at direction from the State Dept. Lisa & I will be at the State Board meeting on Feb. 12th. I will update you after the board meeting on where things stand. 

Of course, the Arts Education textbook selection has been affected by this delay in voting as well. While we did not do a caravan for Arts Ed, I did promise you a "digital caravan" that you could share with your Arts Ed folks in your district. I sent one video in late fall from Perfection Learning on their offerings. Here is your next choice on your digital caravan Davis Publications & their K-12 Art resources. Look

Friends,

We have had a wonderful textbook caravan season. The general feedback I've gotten from you along the way is that you LIKE your choices - which is good news!

You'll recall that you are expected to make your local board adoption decision at your March Board meeting - & then you are to send those results to Dr. Jones

We do not yet, though, have a state board vote on social studies or arts ed books. We are expecting some action and/or direction from Dr. Mackey & the Board at the February Board meeting. He has been clear that we were to proceed with the caravan; he knows you need these new social studies texts.

While you should NOT take Board action until we hear from Dr. Mackey, I strongly recommend that you be "sitting on G...waiting on O" with your district's recommendations. In other words - narrow down to a top 3 & rank order those top 3, K-12. I would communicate with your local committee what the situation is - why you are doing a rank order.