Governor's Proposal to Empowers Schools to Use Technology to Best Meet Student Needs
June 4, 2009
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact
Bill Lucia - 916/233-8508
Steve O'Mara - 415/250-6876
(Sacramento, CA) - EdVoice commends the Governor's action to equip California schools for the 21st century with access to high-quality, standards-aligned digital learning materials. The Governor's initiative puts the State Board of Education to work with the Secretary of Education and Superintendent of Public Instruction to help local schools identify free, open-source electronic textbooks that will help kids master California's rigorous academic standards.
“Digital textbooks will empower local schools to innovate to best meet the needs of kids,” explains Rae Belisle, EdVoice CEO and State Board of Education Member. “In this difficult financial time, we need to make sure all options are on the table for educators to help students succeed. Making learning materials digital and available at no cost will allow teachers to draw from multiple high-quality sources in their assignments where previously they had been limited to the one set of hard copy textbooks the district could afford to buy.”
“But we need to do this right. That's why the Governor’s initiative asks the State Board of Education to collaborate with the Secretary of Education and Superintendent of Public Instruction to identify digital learning material that measures up to our rigorous academic standards,” said Belisle. “School leaders have extremely challenging jobs and in many cases don’t have the time and resources search through the plethora of material available online. The Governor's initiative will identify a set of standards-aligned digital textbooks so local leaders don't have to start their searchs from scratch.”
The first phase of the initiative will bring high school math and science classes access to free digital textbooks by fall 2009 - with additional content to follow. The effort will include a list of standards-aligned digital textbooks for geometry, algebra II, trigonometry, calculus, physics, chemistry, biology/life science and earth science courses.
“As a parent, I saw my kids lug home 10 lb textbooks to complete assignments that involved just a few pages of information,” explains Belisle. “There’s no reason for kids to have to do this in the state that’s home to Silicon Valley. The Governor’s initiative will equip our schools with more options to better meet the needs of kids.”
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