What Others are Saying
"Across Illinois, students are resorting to duct tape and rubber bands to hold together decrepit textbooks. Other books are so woefully out-of-date they don't teach fundamentals
such as the fall of Soviet communism, a three-month Tribune investigation has found."
Chicago Tribune, April 16, 2006
"But in Cook County's Burbank
District 111, elementary students still
use the 10-year-old textbook that
tripped them up during a field trip to
the Adler Planetarium last fall.
Asked how many moons Jupiter
has, the children answered 16--the
number in their 1996 book. But based
on recent discoveries, the correct answer
is more than 60."
Chicago Tribune, April 16, 2006
"Like blackboards and chalk, textbooks
long have been an academic
staple, and educators agree that they
are here to stay even though laptop
computers and electronic books are
popular in some classrooms."
Chicago Tribune, April 16, 2006
Read entire article.
“Both chambers agreed that 65 percent of education dollars need
to head straight to the classroom and be used only on instruction. That
money would be spent on making sure the children have the textbooks and
materials they need and that teachers receive regular pay raises.”
Representative Linda Harper Brown, 1/6/06, Dallas Morning News
"Providing laptops to every school kid is going to be a problem,
because it costs more than $150...There are some districts that are going
to be able to handle it, but there are some that won't."
Cliff Avery, executive director of the Textbook Coordinator's Association of
Texas, 4/22/05, San Antonio Express News
Overview
The 2005-06 school year will be the first time classrooms will
see new instructional materials in the enrichment subjects --which
include, theatre, choir, band, foreign language, health and
music-in nearly a decade. Educators in these enrichment areas
are truly excited about the prospect of new instructional materials.
The following are just some organizations tracking this adoption
process closely. Visit these sites to learn more about how you
can become involved.
- Texas Foreign Language Association - www.tfla.info
- Texas Music Educators Association - www.tmea.org
- GoArts.org Campaign - www.goarts.org
- Center for Educator Development in Fine Arts (CEDFA) - finearts.esc20.net/
- Texas Coalition for Quality Arts Education - www.txarts.net/tcqae/
- Texas Educators of Fine Arts - www.taea.org
- Texas Association of Health, Physical Education, Recreation, and Dance Educators - www.tahperd.org
- Textbook Coordinators Association of Texas - www.tcat.org
- North Texas Textbook Coordinators Association - www.nttca.org
- Texas Insider - www.texasinsider.org
