-
Given the change in the timeline due to the new requirement that the State Board of Education (SBE) approve the evaluation criteria for the review, will the deadline for the submission of the supplemental instructional materials be changed?
Yes. The submission date for both submission categories has been moved back to May 16, 2012.
-
Can we submit materials in less-than-final form?
Yes. Past practice has been to grant such requests on a case-by-case basis. Requests should be submitted to the California Department of Education (CDE) in writing. Note that all content must be present even if the format of the materials is in less-than-final form.
-
Publishers of state-adopted programs can submit supplements to specific programs that were adopted in 2007 (in mathematics) and 2008 (in language arts). What about districts that are still using materials from previous adoptions?
Any publisher may submit supplemental materials in Submission Category 2 that can be used with any existing program, including programs from previous SBE adoptions.
-
Will price be considered when placing materials on the approved list?
Price is not part of the evaluation criteria that will be used for this review, but it is the intent of this process that supplemental materials include the minimum amount of additional content needed to fully address the CCSS when used in conjunction with existing adopted materials, and that costs for districts to purchase and implement the supplements be kept low.
-
Why are intervention materials not included in the review?
Intervention programs in both language arts and mathematics are not grade-specific; rather, they consist of sets of standards drawn from a range of grade levels that are intended to help students achieve grade-level proficiency in those subjects. Because interventions are aligned to a subset of standards and not to a specific grade level, they cannot be directly supplemented (as there is no equivalent set of “intervention standards” in the CCSS, and selecting such a set would essentially replicate the work of conducting a new adoption).
-
Can we submit supplements to specific programs from previous adoptions, such as the 2001 Mathematics and the 2002 Reading/Language Arts/English-Language Development Adoptions?
Submissions for Category 1 must supplement an existing program from a current adoption list (2007 in mathematics, 2008 in language arts). While some districts are still using older materials, publishers are not required to keep those materials in print, and districts are limited to the purchase of currently adopted materials only when using categorical program flexibility funding. A publisher that wants to submit supplements that can be used with older programs is invited to submit in Category 2.
-
Why are the standards for Literacy in History-Social Science, Science, and Technical Subjects in grades six through eight not included in this review?
This review is intended to serve as an interim bridge to cover the CCSS and prepare students for new assessments until the next full adoption can be scheduled. The literacy standards will most likely be addressed in more detail in the next full adoption, and in the next update of the English Language Arts Framework.
-
Can a non-adopted publisher submit a program for a specific state-adopted program (Submission Category 1)?
Non-adopted publishers are invited to submit in Category 2. Category 1 is for publishers of state-adopted programs who have submitted a standards map to the CDE indicating where their existing materials are aligned to the CCSS. Publishers who submit in Category 1 will be expected to submit copies of their adopted materials along with their supplements to reviewers, and will need to demonstrate that their supplements, in conjunction with their adopted programs, fully cover the CCSS for each grade level that the program/supplement covers.
-
Following the review, will publishers have an opportunity to amend or revise their submission?
No, but there will be a process of appeal if a publisher feels that the review panel missed evidence that their program meets the evaluation criteria, or if they disagree with the panel’s findings. All of the daily meetings of the review panels will have at least one opportunity for public comment, so the publishers may respond to any concerns raised by the panel members during their deliberations. In addition, a public hearing will be conducted by the CDE after the review panels meet to accept public comment on the submitted supplemental instructional materials. Finally, the publisher will have an opportunity to make their case to the SBE when it acts to approve the list of recommended materials.
-
May districts continue using their current programs if they feel that they adequately cover the CCSS, without a supplement?
Yes. The supplemental instructional materials review process is completely advisory. Districts are under no obligation to purchase materials from the recommended list.
The following questions were asked by publishers at the briefing on January 25, 2012.
-
Does there need to be a separate submission per grade level/product, or can a product be submitted for a range of grade levels? For instance, we offer a supplemental product for kindergarten through grade five, but a customer may wish to purchase our software for just one grade level. Does that constitute one product and therefore its own submission?
Each submission is composed of supplemental instructional materials that may include components that cover one or multiple grade levels. For the sake of organizing the submissions, we ask that publishers not submit a K–5 program as six different submissions. A publisher may submit multiple supplemental programs if they wish (e.g., a K–5 “program,” and a 6–8 “program”). Mathematics and English language arts programs should be submitted separately.
The Excel submission form has fields to note the grade levels for which each component within a submission is intended. A component may be for a single grade level, such as a first grade student consumable book, or it may be for multiple grade levels, such as a K–5 English learner resource guide. A submission may be just one item (e.g., a book or a digital file), or it may include many items. Collectively, all of the components listed on the submission form constitute a “program submission.” You may sell, and school districts may purchase, individual components.
-
Can a program that covers just a few grade levels be submitted (for example, a K–1 or a K–2 program)?
Yes. The minimum submission is a single grade level. Any combination of grade levels may be submitted.
-
Can we bundle two or more programs together to provide a full solution that meets all of the standards in Category 2? If so, would such a bundle need a separate guide for using the individual programs together?
A submission can include any materials that the publisher feels are necessary to fully meet the evaluation criteria approved by the SBE. The Excel submission form allows publishers to list all components that are part of the submission. The guidance provided for teachers should include everything needed to help them use the program in order to meet Criterion 7 of the evaluation criteria. Whether or not that guidance is provided in a separate component is up to the publisher, as long as it is part of the submission.
-
Will a writing program be listed if it meets only the writing standards and not any reading standards?
In order to be recommended to the SBE for approval, any submission must cover all of the content standards listed on the Category 1 or Category 2 standards maps. Materials that only cover a portion of those standards will not be recommended, but publishers may consider submitting such a program to the California Learning Resources Network for review, if it is a digital product.
-
How many submissions do you imagine accepting and putting on the approved list?
As many as fully meet the evaluation criteria approved by the SBE.
-
Will local districts be bound to buying materials only from the approved list?
No. This review and the recommended list of supplemental materials are voluntary.
-
Do we need to label all trade books in a program with a separate bar code?
Yes. If the individual items do not have an ISBN, you can identify them with another type of unique identifier. See the Publisher Requirements for Submission (DOC) document for more information.
-
How does an electronic/online publisher provide citations?
The publisher should provide a page ID, URL, or some other unique identifier that the reviewer can use to easily find the specific content that is cited.
-
Do Web-based programs require an ISBN?
No, items that do not normally have an ISBN may be identified using a unique identifier that is provided by the publisher.
-
For Category 2, can a publisher submit instructional materials that cover more than the subset of standards identified on the Category 2 standards maps, as long as there is clear guidance and instructions on how to use to the materials to supplement core texts?
The evaluation criteria approved by the SBE states, “The intention of this process is that supplemental materials include the minimum amount of content needed to fully address the CCSS and that costs for districts to purchase and implement the supplements be kept low.” Reviewers will be instructed to evaluate the citations provided by publishers that indicate where the standards listed on the Category 2 standards maps are covered; additional content will not be evaluated but it is not prohibited.
-
If a program has already been reviewed for social content and placed on the list of materials that have passed a social content review, does the program need to be reviewed again?
All supplemental instructional materials that are submitted will be reviewed for social content as part of the review process, regardless of whether they have passed a social content review in the past. This process will not incur a cost for publishers.
-
Will additional funding be released to school districts for the purpose of buying the recommended supplemental instructional materials?
The Legislature has not reserved any funds for that purpose at this time.
-
The CDE has recommended that publishers of digital materials provide hardware (e.g., laptop computers) to the reviewers with the instructional materials preinstalled. How many computers would be requested for this review?
The exact number of reviewers per panel will be determined once we have identified the total number of submissions, but our current estimate is that the panels will have between five and seven members each. Any hardware provided to reviewers must be returned to the publishers at the end of the review.
-
How will publishers of online materials provide those materials for public display, e.g., to the Learning Resources Display Centers?
CDE will survey the Learning Resources Display Centers to determine which ones are interested in receiving samples for public display. Publishers can provide their content on a CD-ROM or provide links to online content, along with the passwords (if any) that would be needed for public access to that content.
-
Is there any cost to the publisher besides the review materials and shipping?
If unusual hardware is required to access a publisher’s digital materials, the CDE may request that the hardware be provided to the reviewers for the duration of the review process. Publishers are also welcome to attend the training and deliberations of the reviewers, but they are not required to do so. There are no fees required of publishers to participate in this review.
-
Are hard copies of the supplemental instructional materials required for sampling to reviewers?
No, in fact, the use of entirely digital submissions is encouraged.
-
What are the plans for eighth grade mathematics and a full mathematics adoption?
At the moment, full adoptions of instructional materials have been suspended by the Legislature through July 1, 2015. Under current law, the soonest that a new adoption in any subject could be completed would be November 2016. The adoption of materials aligned to the eighth grade CCSS in mathematics will be part of the next full adoption in that subject.
