Local+Governance+and+Textbook+Adoption

Local Governance and Textbook Adoption

** Overview **
Textbooks are icons of the American education system. Students have used them in various capacities and forms over the years and are a huge utility to the classroom learning model. As a large part of the climate of the school, textbooks work to combine the framework of the material and the curriculum together in order to help direct classroom learning. Textbook adoption is the process where someone in higher authority – typically the state level of government - creates an approved or preferred list of textbooks that its schools can pick from. By examining various groups - both in power and/or with strong lobbying capabilities, one can gain perspective in how the textbook adoption process develops and what types of factors influence it. The US government has several layers of government that interact and compete to govern across all aspects of society. This system of federalism has become quite complex over time, as both the federal and state government have increased their boundaries through fiscal and legal powers. The level of government that methodically selects these books is the local government – usually represented in school boards and their appointed leadership. Local governance and power over these matters has become increasingly blurred over time, as the federal and state level governments combine fiscal and legal pressure to control local control. This power linkage has been one-sided and the federal government has been assuming a larger role in state jurisdictions while states have been assuming larger roles in local governance (Gerston, 2007, p. 106-109).

** Local Governance and Textbook Adoption as a Trend **
Textbook adoption is a system that has been recently become exponentially more prevalent due to woes extending from the FInancial Crisis of 2008. This change has become more apparent and the incentives are to increase the current trend. As financial pressure and institutional incentives increase to promote textbook adoption, policymakers will have to make decisions that demonstrate how complex the levels of governments have adapted.

** Past and Future **
After the Civil War the former confederate states began issuing guidelines to reflect their version of the war. Since most of the book publishing companies and distribution networks were in the northern US, the southern states distrusted "Yankee" publishers and wanted to have control over their own material. This would set a precedent that was followed up with objections to evolution in the science classroom, objections to Cold War documentations, and critiques of 'Americanist" accounts of history (The Mad, Mad World of textbook Adoption, 2004). This is where the basic incentive among the state level governing agents occurs - the demand to alter the details of material can be greatly reinforced by the ability to expand or tweak existing institutions. Thus, regardless of political affiliation or identity, the incentive to expand control is met with increasingly less difficult barriers as the levels of government are operating under less autonomy from the level above it. As it has become easier for federal and state governments to exert downward pressure, the role of textbook adoption has lessened local autonomy.

** The Encroachment of the Federal and State Government **
School textbooks are an invaluable utility to the learning process. Points of contention are created when textbooks are interpreted as being more socially intrusive or including material that may be more revisionist than a previous account. While decentralized institutions are designed to be more responsive to the stresses and demands in their spatial area, they are not necessarily reflective of the sum total knowledge in each of the subject areas in a school. It is certainly impossible to create a textbook that appeases all issues. However, should subject matter be curved by inputs by activist local governance? Since the passing of No Child Left Behind, it has become easier and more politically possible for the federal and state governments to supersede its previous role in educational affairs. Its power of finance and legal claim have greatly increased, thus making it prevalent that textbook adoption occurs (Heise, 2006).

** Spending, Obligations, and Textbook Supply **
Although nation-wide textbook spending only accounts for only 1% of all education spending, it is still an approximate $14 billion dollar industry (Band, 2013). There is a lot of total revenue in the industry, thus the incentive for book companies exists to support this increase in power from the upper levels of government (The Mad, Mad World of Textbook Adoption, 2004). These companies create a supply of textbooks without respect to quality or accuracy, and the concentration of acquisition for each specific type has contributed to the lack of competition in the textbook industry (Band, 2013). Local schools are then committed to various types of books by either financial obligation or political cozening from the state government. This combined with their lack of funding makes it difficult for them to operate with autonomy. For example, if a local school board decides to accept money in favor of expanding extra core standards or positive behavior intervention programs, then they are obligated due to their desire for financing.This effectively has created the institutional rules for the state level to dictate control without circumventing the law - similar to how highways the federal government funds highway.

To view a proposal regarding an "alternative" approach to curriculum adoption, please download the document below.

**Annotated Bibliography**
Band, Jonathan. "The Changing Textbook Industry - Disruptive Competition Project." Disruptive Competition Project RSS. Disruptive Competition Project, 21 Nov. 2013. Web. 5 June 2014. . Disruptive Competition is an independent think tank in DC dedicated to studying innovation in public policy with an emphasis on the free flow of information. Band focuses on how digital information could potentially change the prominence of physical textbooks while describing the growth and existing role of textbook companies.

The Mad, Mad World of Textbook Adoption. (2004). Dayton: The Thomas B. Fordham Institute. This report details how the history and foundations of textbook adoption and explains the development of public policy on the subject. The Thomas B. Forham Institute seeks to provide research for educators and policymakers to promote education reform to advance higher school standards, higher quality education, and more innovations in the field. This comprehensive report details the political, social, cultural developments, and impact of textbook adoption in the US.

Gerston, Larry N.. //American federalism: a concise introduction//. Armonk, N.Y.: M.E. Sharpe, 2007. Print. Gerston provides a standard on the growth of centralized power and its role in education. Through the growth of federal spending and its ability to borrow money, the government has effectively exerted downward pressure

Heise, M. (2006). "The political economy of education federalism." Emory Law Journal, 56, 125. Heise researches the role of financial influence from federal and state governments and traces how political decisions are influenced by the power of finance.

Matthews, J. (n.d.). "Why Don't We Fix Our Textbooks?" Washington Post. Retrieved May 30, 2014, from []. Jay Matthews explains the costs of using textbook adoption and how it relates to existing power structures that impact the sovereignty and precedence of subject-matter material.

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