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
While I am hopeful that the Board will still approve the committee's full K-12 recommendation, we have a plan for elementary resources if the Board only approves 6-12.
If no K-5 social studies materials are adopted, we will have off list local contracts from each of the publishers who have submitted for K-5 review. This procedure is the same concept we use for AP resources or other subjects in courses of study in which no review was conducted. The local contract does 2 primary things for you that are similar to state adopted resources:
- It guarantees the availability of the resources for 6 years - a publisher could NOT sunset those titles within that window.
- It also guarantees the same price on books for ALL AL districts
Teachers will be expected to implement the full social studies course of study (that was passed unanimously in November of 2024) next year. As you are aware, the greatest change in the social studies course of study is in 3rd, 4th, & 5th grades, which now weave Alabama history with American history during those 3 years. While high quality resources are important at every grade level, they will be essential for upper elementary teachers next year.
Also note: If K-5 is not voted on, that does NOT mean it was rejected. If K-5 is not voted on, there will be no release of committee scores. So you would be able to adopt & purchase any of those 5 elementary choices that you have been so carefully reviewing these last few months.
A couple of OTHER thoughts & recommendations for you over this next month; Electives
Many of your March Board meetings are within that same window as the March State Board meeting, March 12. It is less-than-ideal for you to wait until your April Board meeting to vote. Under these circumstances, I would recommend one of the following options for your local district March Board meeting:
- Recommend approval of the entire social studies & arts ed textbook list. This is actually ALWAYS an option for you (it's even listed on the form), though it's one I don't usually recommend. But you could even build in a statement into your memo that says that you will pick your top rated texts within each grade span pending its passage by the ALSDE - and that any rejected materials will not be purchased.
- Recommend approval of your top 3 within each grade span. Most of you have narrowed your list down, so it would be fairly easy at this point to just recommend your top 3. You MAY - or may NOT - choose to rank-order these top 3 within your memo. It depends on how much flexibility you wish to have...how SURE your committee is about its #1s, etc. Again, you could make a statement that you will purchase your committee's top rated programs within each grade span, pending its passage by the ALSDE - and that any rejected materials will not be purchased.
One big reminder for you - & it's one that may make your Supt & Board feel more comfortable about proceeding with a vote. ADOPTION DOES NOT MEAN PURCHASING. It means - that your Board has granted you the authority to purchase the books with the state textbook allocation. It is a most important stop-gap with ensuring proper use of taxpayer money, since we don't "bid" textbooks like we would a school construction project (can you imagine??).
HOW you handle a March Board recommendation - which of these options you might choose - is really entirely dependent upon the context of your district & the wishes of your superintendent. Some boards are more detailed & wish to be on top of every specific detail, while others are good with more general recommendations. You & your superintendent's seniority may also come into play. It would also be helpful for you or your Supt to walk them through what they would be approving so that they could be confident in your leadership & legal oversight.
But at this stage of the game, we really don't want to lose an entire month, if at all possible (Your supt. may prefer an April meeting - & that is ok, too). By moving forward with some kind of a local March board meeting, you would be READY to get quotes from your chosen publishing partners on March 13 (or after YOUR March Board meeting) - because you would have been given that authority.
Again, the context in every district is different. I'm happy to talk with you individually to walk through your possible scenarios with you. And I'm also happy to talk with your superintendent, if he or she would like.
I am still needing to hear from many of you on how things are narrowing down regarding these social studies selections. Please either call or email me your finalists/ choices...or complete this google survey. It IS esp helpful to know HOW SURE you are of your #1, as we hope to proceed with some orders. Again, you are not held to ANYTHING you tell me at this stage, and this info is confidential. PW is strictly looking at totals to have the confidence to make some initial orders.
Finally....I will be presenting on our current adoption and other textbook things at ALSAIL's Spring Bootcamp (VIRTUAL) on Feb. 26. Click here for registration information.
Sorry this was so long...there was a lot to cover!
Have a great weekend
-Patrick