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Students to have their own textbooks
By ROBERT KING © St. Petersburg Times, published March 26, 2001 As they prepare to replace the social studies books used in middle and high schools, Hernando School Board members are focusing on two issues dear to the hearts of parents: accuracy in the texts and ensuring that every child has a book. Regarding the accuracy issue, teachers who have reviewed the new books are assuring board members they have found no errors. That is a change, some say, from current social studies texts that occasionally put historic events on the wrong date or a historical figure in the wrong place. Regarding the accessibility issue, school district officials say the state is furnishing enough money to buy one social studies textbook for every student. And the district is committed to make it happen. At about $50 a crack, social studies textbooks are a big investment. To supply only social studies books to students in grades 6-12 will cost roughly $450,000. Though parents and politicians place great emphasis on textbooks, educators tend to downplay their importance. Many refer to books as just one tool in a toolbox that includes computer disks, the Internet and supplemental books. "We are not a slave to the textbook," said Don Kern, a history teacher at West Hernando Middle School. "We use it. We don't let it use us. We use it once a week, for part of the period." Textbook errors have caused quite a stir around the country. But in Hernando County, they haven't made many waves. Dan Murphy, the social studies chairman at Parrott Middle School, has noticed "a few inaccuracies" in the Houghton-Mifflin textbooks now used by the school, but "nothing dramatic." Likewise, Chris Wilson, Murphy's counterpart at Fox Chapel Middle School, has noticed "a few leaders in the wrong places" and some mistaken dates. What has been a bigger issue in Hernando County is textbook accessibility. For years, middle schools used classroom sets -- books that stayed with the teacher, not the student -- in most subjects other than math. School officials said it was a cost-effective way to use books in an era when computers and the Internet have opened new doors to information. But parents complained that schools failed to keep their pledge to make take-home books available to families that wanted them. That led the district to begin phasing out the classroom sets. A change in state law, requiring schools to provide one book for each student in core subjects, cemented the transition. In recent years, the district has eliminated classroom sets in science and math. Social studies -- which entails world civilizations, government, economics, sociology, psychology and geography -- is next. At present, West Hernando, Parrott and Powell middle schools are the only schools that use classroom sets. Students who want to check out social studies books must get one from their school library. That will end this fall. Patricia Fostvedt, the social studies chairwoman at Powell Middle School, welcomes the change. "It will be easier because students will have their own book, and it will be available to them at all times," she said. What's more, officials say two of the four middle schools -- and possibly all of them -- will enjoy an unheard of luxury: a set of books for sixth- and seventh-graders that will remain in the teacher's classroom and one book for each child to keep at home. Teachers say the arrangement should eliminate the time-honored excuse, "I couldn't do my homework because I forgot my book," from daily conversation. It should also spare kids the physical stress of lugging the heavy books to and from school. District officials say textbook publisher Glencoe/McGraw-Hill promised to make "free" classroom sets part of its shipment to Fox Chapel and Powell. Officials want to work out a similar arrangement with Prentice Hall, publisher of the textbooks chosen by Parrott and West Hernando Middle schools. That schools will not be all shopping from the same publisher is homage to the philosophy that schools should be able to choose the books they want to use. Textbook accessibility hasn't been a problem at elementary and high schools. Elementary schools rely more on consumable materials, such as workbooks and worksheets, than textbooks. Elementary students also spend most of their time in one classroom. That doesn't lend itself to the book sharing that middle schools have practiced. High schools, with their wide range of academic subjects, have stuck to assigning students their own books.
 © 2006 • All Rights Reserved • Tampa Bay Times
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