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CMC ComMuniCator
Parent Involvement and Awareness:
How Are New Mathematics Textbooks
“Adopted” in California Public Schools?
by Paul Giganti,Jr., CMC Math Festival Program
pgiganti@berkeley.edu
E
very few years, shiny new mathematics
textbooks show up in California K–8 public
schools for your children to use in studying
mathematics. You may have wondered how those
new mathematics textbooks came to be chosen by
your child’s school, and why. It is an interesting
process you might like to know about, and one in
which you might like to be involved. If you feel
strongly about the choice of texts used to teach
mathematics to your sons and daughters, here is
a brief primer on the ofcial state mathematics
textbook adoption process for California K–8
public schools (high schools, charter schools, and
private schools are not subject to the same laws
that dictate the process of adopting mathematics
textbooks).
The California Adoption Cycle
California is one of 22 states that have a
textbook adoption process by law. That process in
California takes place on a semi-regular schedule
about every six years. Primary adoptions occur
for the four core curriculum areas— history-
social science, science, mathematics, and reading/
language arts—studied by K–8 students. The
upcoming cycle for these primary adoptions is
as follows: history-social science (2011), science
(2012), mathematics (2013), and reading/language
arts (2008). An adoption cycle has a beginning,
a middle, and an end; then it starts all over at
the beginning. Again something happens during
each year of the six year cycle. Though the most
recent mathematics adoption cycle was 2007, the
process began several years before, and schools
will be putting those new textbooks in the hands of
students anytime from this fall through the 2009–
10 school year.
Funding for Textbooks and Materials
The state legislature sets aside funds to cover
the costs of supplying instructional material (in
most cases, read “textbooks”) for every K–8 public
school student. These funds can only be spent
by schools on textbooks and materials ofcially
recommended by this adoption process. Sometimes
allotted funds are insufcient to purchase all the
texts and materials teachers, schools, and districts
wish to purchase for student use. Districts can
spend additional general budget funds if they wish
(and have the extra funds available). Each year
California legislature funds provide from $50 to
$65 per student for districts to spend on newly
adopted textbooks; however, the latest available
actual district spending on K–12 instructional
materials in California averaged $71.60 per pupil.
Schools can also purchase books that are not on
the state-approved adoption list, but they must use
other funding, such as a district’s general fund.
New textbooks and support materials are not
cheap, so the vast majority of districts only adopt
texts that have been state approved.
The California Mathematics Curriculum
Framework
About three or four years before a new
mathematics adoption, the California Department
of Education (CDE) begins a new adoption
cycle by revising or amending the California
Mathematics Curriculum Framework, the ofcial
state guide to public schools and teachers on what,
when, why, and how to teach mathematics to K–8
students. This state document contains not only
these mathematics curriculum guidelines, but
has for years included a complete listing of the
California Mathematics Curriculum Standards, by
grade level, beginning in Kindergarten and going
through 12th grade. New textbooks must address
every single standard at every grade level they are
designed to serve. Together with all of the other
instruction, curriculum, and assessment guidelines
in the California Mathematics Curriculum
Framework, this information forms the basis for
publishers to begin developing new textbooks.
Publishers pay close attention to every word in
this document because they know that their new
textbooks will be judged by how closely they meet
those guidelines. While the California Mathematics
Standards themselves have not been altered for
more than ten years, new guidelines are revised
or added with each new Mathematics Framework
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CMC ComMuniCator
depending on the perceived needs of California’s
students. For example, two recent changes to the
guidelines involved second language students and
algebra readiness.
Once a new California Mathematics Curriculum
Framework has been published or revised,
textbook publishers begin work on revising
or writing new mathematics textbooks based
upon those guidelines. That process alone takes
publishers two or more years. Any publisher can
write and submit textbooks for a new adoption
cycle; however, given the cost of such an endeavor,
the actual textbook submissions number anywhere
from a handful to a couple dozen textbook series.
Publishers do not have to submit a textbook series
that spans all of the grades from K–8; they can
submit for any range, from a single grade level text
(for example, 8th grade Algebra), to a few grades
(for example, primary grades K–3), to a wide span
of grades (K–6 is common). The larger publishers
not only write textbooks, but also design and
submit additional materials not contained within
the student textbook that support their programs.
Legal Compliance and Public Review
Approximately a year prior to the date when
schools can ofcially adopt new mathematics
textbooks, the California Department of Education
begins a thorough evaluation of the new or revised
texts submitted by publishers for that adoption.
This process happens at the state level and involves
teachers, college professors, publishers, state
policy makers, and the public. It is an open process
as required by state law, and notices of the meeting
dates, times, and locations are posted on the CDE
web site.
The rst step in that long evaluation process
is a legal compliance review. Each new textbook
and its support materials must be veried to be
in compliance with the California Education
Code as well as the guidelines set forth in the
Standards for Evaluating Instructional Materials
for Social Content. Those Guidelines are designed
to eliminate things such as sexism, racism, and
stereotypes from the text and pictures of the
books. Textbooks and materials that do not meet
these standards must be revised to comply or be
withdrawn from the adoption process. Most often,
publishers with materials that do not comply
revise their materials and resubmit for another
compliance review.
At this point in the process, the public
is allowed to review and comment on the
submissions. Sample sets of the instructional
materials submitted for adoption are available on
public view at select County Ofces of Education,
usually in the larger counties. Written comments
from educators and the public are then forwarded
to the Curriculum Commission and the State
Board of Education. There are also ofcial public
hearings held by these state agencies prior to
adoption.
The IMAP and CRP Review Panels
Next begin an exhaustive education content review
process. The Curriculum Commission recommends
and the State Education of Board appoints two
panels, the Instructional Materials Advisory Panel
(IMAP), composed of mostly classroom teachers,
and the Content Review Panel (CRP), composed
of subject matter experts, usually professors of
education and mathematics at California colleges
and universities. Teachers, professors, and others
may be nominated to be part of the IMAP and CRP
panels and the California Curriculum Commission
selects from those applicants. It is the intent that
those selected for both panels are representative of
the state’s population and demographics, unbiased
toward any publisher(s), and knowledgeable about
teaching and learning mathematics. The members
of the IMAP review the submitted materials
according to all elements of the criteria and the
Standards, and the members of the CRP review the
materials to ensure they are accurate and adequate
in their mathematics content. These panels typically
meet in Sacramento over the period of a week.
The Role of the California Curriculum
Commission and the State Board of Education
At the end of this very intense process, the
IMAP and CRP panels prepare a report of their
ndings for the Curriculum Commission and
include their recommendations for texts and
materials for adoption. Other materials are
recommended for adoption with corrections and
edits, and some materials are recommended for
rejection. Then, based upon the IMAP and CRP
recommendations, publisher responses, and written
comments from the public including comments
from the public hearings, the Curriculum
Commission makes its recommendations to the
State Board of Education. The State Board has
the nal word—they may or may not accept
the recommendations of the IMAP, CRP, and
Curriculum Commission. Sometimes a few of
the nal choices for adoption can come as a
surprise since the State Board also has the sole
ability to add textbooks that have been previously
rejected by the IMAP and CRP. The Curriculum
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Commission then modies its report, based upon
the nal decisions of the State Board of Education,
and issues a document that is widely distributed to
school districts and County Ofces of Education
throughout the state (where it is available to those
who wish to read it). This nal state report lists
those texts and materials that K–8 public schools
may adopt using the state funding that has been
allotted for each student.
The District Level Adoption Process
The last step in the long mathematics textbook
and materials adoption seems to schools as the
beginning of the process—only at this point can
individual school districts begin to conduct their
own process of evaluation to determine which
materials they will adopt. While districts must
adopt materials from the state-approved list, there
are still choices to be made. Districts are not
required to have a local adoption review process,
but most have found that in order to meet the needs
of their students, one last review of the materials
is necessary. Some districts conduct adoptions in
collaboration with other surrounding districts with
similar needs and student populations, while other
districts delegate the authority to individual school
sites to select their adopted textbooks and materials
from the state list. Often districts form a blue
ribbon committee of teachers, administrators, and
parents to help them make the nal choice. This
last adoption at the district level also makes careful
use of the curriculum content Standards, the
California Mathematics Curriculum Framework,
the State Board of Education-adopted evaluation
criteria, and the reports on each adoption as
resources in making their decisions. Nearby
County Ofces of Education can be very helpful
to local districts in their review process. Most
districts end up making a unied textbook adoption
for all of their K–8 schools to insure equity
and consistency across the entire district. Many
districts feel they can better provide unied and
consistent professional development for teachers in
the new materials if one textbook series is selected.
The Final Timing of the New Textbooks
Districts have 24 months to purchase textbooks
and materials after the State Board has ofcially
approved materials for a subject area. Not all
districts adopt new textbooks and materials at
the same time; it is up to individual districts to
decide when they wish to begin and nish their
own local adoption process. Many districts take
a year to pilot a few different textbook series in
several classrooms, and then decide based on
the experience and feedback of those teachers
involved. Because the timing of this local adoption
process is at the discretion of individual districts,
some California students will be carrying those
new books home this fall, while others will not get
them until next fall (2009).
This may seem like an extensive, time-
consuming, and expensive process (and indeed 28
states feel they do not need such a process), but in
California the adoption process is designed to put
the best curriculum materials in the hands of our
students. While some would disagree that such an
extensive process is necessary, it is the process that
all K–8 public schools in California must adhere.
At the end of this long six year process—with
so many layers, reviews, and players— districts
nally purchase their new mathematics textbooks
and materials for students, and that is when you
see new mathematics textbooks coming home with
your son or daughter. And remember, take care of
those books; they have to last six years!
Permission is granted to reproduce and share
this article for instructional use by parents,
guardians, teachers, and families—provided it
is duplicated with full credit given to the author,
the California Mathematics Council, and its
Journal, the ComMuniCator.
