Instructional
Materials
The State Textbook Adoption
Process
New
Instructional Materials and the Exit Exam
It is obvious that in order for schools in the state
to be teaching to higher academic
content standards and for children to
master the challenging subject matter, effective instructional materials
need to be available to teachers, children and parents.
Schiff-Bustamante was a billion dollar textbook fund that was created for a four year period beginning in 1998, at 250 million dollars a year. School districts could use Schiff-Bustamante funds to purchase ONLY textbooks and instructional materials that aligned with new state content standards.
This new textbook money was the carrot that the state was offering to schools and districts so that they would raise academic standards and align their programs with the challenging new state standards.
Before the Schiff-Bustamante textbook fund was created, districts had some monies from the Instructional Materials Fund to buy non-aligned materials----but this was a pittance compared to the monies available to buy new standards-based instructional materials aligning to the new, higher standards.
Recognizing that most major textbook publishers would need time to modify their programs, the state went ahead with an emergency adoption of math and language arts instructional materials in 1999. The instructional materials in the emergency adoption were textbooks that were already in existence and being used in classrooms in California and throughout the country that already met the standards. These textbooks were not written specifically for the new Standards, but they were considered challenging and addressed the subject in their own right.
The 1999 emergency English/Language Arts Adoption is linked here.
The 1999 emergency Mathematics Adoption is linked here.
Immediately following the 1999 emergency adoption, the state went through a second full adoption process, giving national publishers time to modify their textbook offerings to align with state standards.
The English/Language Arts Adoption was in 2002 and is linked here.
The Math Adoption was in 2001 and is linked here.
Thus, there are currently two separate instructional materials adoption lists for schools and districts to look at when they consider what instructional materials to use for math or language arts.
The State Textbook Adoption Process
The State Board of Education goes through a long process before it approves textbooks. The chart below shows the State Board of Education process.
The Curriculum Commission reviews the textbook submission and makes recommendations to the State Board of Education. The State Board of Education also takes public input.
The IMAP and Content Review Panel reviews textbook submissions and makes recommendations to the Curriculum Commission. The IMAP reviews the textbook submissions in terms of their teachability, and the panel is made up of at least 50% teachers. The Content Review Panel is made up of subject matter experts, and they review the textbooks for accuracy of content.
New textbooks have content that aligns with state standards, including review, reteaching, practice tests, enrichment and supplementation. See for example, Prentice Hall seventh grade pre-Algebra program which is known for its strong remedial and intervention materials, or Open Court which is known for its strong phonics and reading comprehension program.
New Instructional Materials and the Exit Exam
The state made purchasing textbook and instructional materials viable to local school districts over a four year period by establishing the Schiff-Bustamante funds. By linking the funds to standards-aligned materials, the state gave the greater community some assurance that the billion dollar textbook funds would be used to purchase materials that will improve academic achievement and prepare children for the Exit Exam. Since the Exit Exam aligns with state content standards and since the instructional materials cover those same standards, children have been given a a greater possibility of learning subject matter content and passing the exam.