(From a Letter to Superintendents from Paige Pierce-Phillips, Director, Instructional Materials, Oklahoma State Department of Education)
March 13, 2012
Dear Superintendent,
On behalf of the Oklahoma State Textbook Committee I want to inform you of changes being made to the textbook subject cycle. This year, the Science and the Social Studies adoption cycles will be reversed. The adoption cycle, effective July 1, 2013 through June 30, 2019, will include the Social Studies, Pre-Kindergarten through Fifth-grade Reading and Language Arts, and Computer Education/Instructional Technology.
· Science and The Arts (including Fine Arts and Music) textbooks will be adopted in 2013, effective July 1, 2014 through June 30, 2020.
· Reading, Literature, and Language Arts for grades 6 through 12 will be adopted in 2014, effective July 1, 2015 through June 30, 2021.
· World Languages, Health, Vocational Education, and Computer Education/Instructional Technology will be adopted in 2015, effective July 1, 2016 through June 30, 2022.
· Mathematics will be adopted in 2016, effective July 1, 2017 through June 30, 2023.
These changes will allow sufficient time to review and revise Science standards including the addition of the Common Core Science Literacy standards modeled on the Oklahoma C3 Social Studies Standards. It also permits the bidding and adoption of Science instructional materials correlated to the revised standards and helps districts avoid buying non-aligned Science instructional materials.
In addition, this closes the gap in the revision of state academic standards and the acquisition of supporting instructional materials from two years to one year. This also allows districts to purchase elementary Reading materials for use in the lower grades to help prepare students for the Common Core assessments that include informational texts. Also, it allows districts to purchase Reading materials that meet the literacy standards of the Reading Sufficiency Act with appropriate Lexile complexity.
Finally, it combines the pending adoption of the Pre-Kindergarten through Fifth-grade Social Studies and Reading, using the guidance of topics in the new C3 Standards for Social Studies and the need for informational texts in conjunction with the Reading adoption. This allows the districts greater flexibility in managing the demands of these two partnering disciplines.
We are aware that these changes may cause some gaps or overlaps in contracts, but the changes actually get rid of some gaps that would otherwise exist.
Attached:
Changes to the Oklahoma Textbook Adoption Cycle
NEW Oklahoma Textbook Adoption Cycle Timeline