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Educators Weigh E-Textbook Cost Comparisons
Educators Weigh E-Textbook Cost Comparisons
During the first-ever Digital Learning Day, U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan and Federal Communications Commission chief Julius Genachowski unveiled an ambitious plan earlier this year to get schools to switch from print to digital textbooks by 2017.
Dubbed the Digital Textbook Playbook, it's a recommendation for how schools could transform instruction, improve achievement—and save money.
The idea of "getting more" out of textbooks by going digital—with content that's interactive, connected to other classroom technology tools, and distributed through platforms students are familiar with—appeals to many educators.
But some experts, district leaders, and publishers themselves question whether that content is readily available on the market and at a price that can actually save schools money, especially given the cost of the technology required to distribute it.
And even if districts can find the money to make such a switch, will there be enough academic gains to make the investment worthwhile?
Recent policy decisions and multimillion-dollar purchases by districts suggest many aren't waiting for definitive answers.
McAllen Independent School District, McAllen, Texas
Enrollment: 27,000 students (67 percent eligible for free or reduced-price meals, 92 percent Hispanic)
Textbook Initiative Started: Fall 2011
Expenditures: $20 million total over five years (three years remaining). $6.5 million on infrastructure, including broadband and equipment; $12.1 million for devices, cases, and apps; $1.2 million for professional development
Funding Sources: E-rate, American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, private donations, technology budget, special education budget, Title I funding
Devices Purchased: 27,000 iPad 2s
Digital Textbooks: 80 percent PDF, 15 percent interactive, 5 percent teacher-generated content
Notes: Encouraged local businesses to offer Wi-Fi so students could use devices outside class; students allowed to download music on devices; partnering with Abilene Christian University for research.
Pinellas County Schools, Fla.
Enrollment: 104,000 students
Students With Internet Access: 50 percent
Textbook Initiative Started: March 2010
Devices Purchased: 2,350 Kindles with Wi-Fi ($177 each, four-year shelf life); 1,000 Kindle Fires ($199 each), 3,100 Kindle readers, 7,500 iPads
E-textbook Publishers: CK-12 (free), Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Pearson, Cengage Learning
Funding Sources: Voter referendum, advance on school technology funds
Notes: First districtwide client for Amazon Kindle device; sent books to third-party company to “Kindle-ize” books with note-taking capabilities; Amazon delivered customized reading lists through a cloud service to each student.
Vail School District, Ariz.
Enrollment: 11,000 students
Textbook Initiative Started: May 2008
Devices Purchased: 1,300 MacBooks ($800 each); 102 iPads ($500 each); 120 iPod Touches ($200 each); 400 Hewlett-Packard netbooks ($400 each)
Classroom Hardware Purchased: 100 interactive whiteboards, document camera in each class
Expenditures: $500,000 on property and liability insurance, $40,000 per year on Internet services
Course Material Expenditures: $10 per student, down from $60 per student
Notes: District stopped purchasing new textbooks, both print and digital; all course material is free and/or generated by teachers; largest school district in Arizona with all schools rated as “excelling.”
Riverside Unified School District, Calif.
Enrollment: 44,000 students (67 percent eligible for free or reduced-price meals)
Textbook Initiative Started: May 2009
Devices Purchased: 4,500 Hewlett-Packard netbooks ($300 each); 4,500 Android devices, including Lenovo slates and Kindle Fires ($200 each); 3,000 iPod Touches ($200 each); 500 iPads ($500 each)
Digital Content: 60 percent e-textbooks, 40 percent open content
Notes: Students without devices follow Bring Your Own Technology approach; district had to cut $200 million from its budget in recent years; students use Houghton Mifflin Harcourt’s Fuse Algebra app ($40 each) and CK-12 Flexbooks (free).
Florida has already passed legislation requiring districts to spend half of their instructional-materials budgets on digital content by 2015-16. Alabama is considering a bill that would use $100 million in bonds to give digital textbooks and tablets to students.
California, Indiana, Utah, and Washington state have all passed legislation promoting digital education content.
The textbook and technology industries have responded. Apple Inc. has sold 1.5 million iPads to K-12 schools. In January, the "big three" publishers—Pearson, McGraw-Hill Education, and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt—announced a much-publicized deal with Apple to provide a line of electronic textbooks exclusively for the iPad.
Since that announcement, two school districts have agreed to what may be the largest bulk educational tablet purchases in the country.
The 135,000-student San Diego district is spending $15 million to supply ...
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