Parents, teachers mull textbook options

By Jenny Davis

Friday, Oct. 24, 2008 | midnight

Bernadette Beardsley attended last week's Clark County School District E Parent Advisory Committee meeting focused on textbooks because the subject has been bothering her lately.

After hearing that $45 million had been cut statewide for textbooks in the last legislative session, she couldn't understand why her daughter, who attends O.K. Adcock Elementary School, doesn't use the textbooks she has.

"I fear that the schools aren't utilizing textbook money well," she said. "My daughter has textbooks at the school, but she doesn't come home with them. All I see is packets, packets, packets."

Beardsley's concerns reflected those of other parents who attended the Oct. 16 meeting — that schools are using supplemental materials more than the standard textbook.

The discussion from the meeting reinforced what School Board member Terri Janison said she has been hearing from the community about the use of textbooks, which is why she invited Diane Weitz, the School District's director of the literacy program, to give a presentation at the meeting about how textbooks are selected, how the School District uses technology to support textbooks, and how often the School District changes its textbooks.

A large part of the discussion focused on technology and how it could affect the future use of textbooks.

Because more than one-third of the 300,000 students in the School District do not have access to a computer at home, it is obvious that textbooks will not be taken away altogether, Janison said. However, as a parent who sees her children on the computer more than using the textbook, Janison wanted to hear from parents their perspective on the future use of textbooks.

What Janison heard from parents surprised her, she said. Instead of hearing more parents in support of textbooks available online or in support of CD-ROM textbooks, she heard more concerns about computer access.

"If I have seven kids (which I don't, but some families do) and they all need to use the computer at once to do their homework, it would be a disaster," Beardsley said. "Parents need to use the computer, too. As a supplement, CDs are a great idea, but not to replace another tool."

Janison said some of the concerns were new to her.

"Even for those who do have computer access, there are concerns like multiple people needing the computer. That had never run across my mind before," she said. "I need to take a step back in pushing the whole technology and Internet access idea because of those statements. I have to be more careful about the decision making for textbooks."

For subjects like world history in high school, the book can have more than 1,000 pages. Centennial High School Principal Trent Day, who attended the meeting, said it is understandable that students wouldn't want to haul around such a textbook.

What he suggested, and what Janison said has been discussed in school board meetings, is giving an option to students to take home the textbook or take home a CD-ROM.

"My school philosophy is to provide a textbook to take home, which is also required by state law, but under state law, CD-ROMs are also considered textbooks, so students can bring home what they choose," Day said.

Janison said many schools are already giving students that option and would like to see it extended because it could save money and enhance the technology skills of students.

The selection of textbooks begins with a committee made up of teachers, administrators, parents and community members, but the final decision is made by the Nevada State Board of Education.

Usually, the board will approve about three textbooks for one subject for every grade. The individual school administrators decide which textbooks from the recommended list they want to use, which is why if a student transfers to a different school within the district, they might have to start using a different textbook, Weitz said.

Because the mobility rate of students in the School District is so high, Weitz said she would like to see the number of recommended textbooks per subject reduced to one or two.

New textbooks are incorporated every seven years. In spring, "The English Language Arts" textbooks will reach the seven-year mark and new textbooks will be purchased. The books are bought in alternating years. For example, the social studies textbooks were bought two years ago and math one year ago.

"I need parent help for the review committee," Weitz said. "The School District has such a diverse population with many second-language students. We need help finding books that have the best teaching strategies."

If parents or community members are interested in being on a review committee for textbooks, they are encouraged to call Weitz at 799-8479.

Jenny Davis can be reached at 990-8921 or jenny.davis@hbcpub.com.