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List:       textbook-l
Subject:    Re: [Textbook-l] Textbook development and role of Wikibooks
From:       Sanford Forte <siforte () ix ! netcom ! com>
Date:       2006-10-27 9:46:38
Message-ID: E7DAC68F-C109-40F3-8FF9-5A26535F5D98 () ix ! netcom ! com
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Many states have curriculum framework standards. Textbook companies  
write their books based primarily on standards from California,  
Texas, and Florida. They try to write books that will meet the  
standards in those three states. If they get a book or program  
adopted, especially in elementary language and/or other early  
development programs in just one state, they can break even, and  
leverage that win to adoption in smaller states. From there, it's all  
gravy. The K-12 textbook sector is a $6-7B enterprise. Margins are  
pretty good.

It's not rocket science to write a book that conforms to standards,  
but it *does* take discipline. The irony is that so may people in  
open source are extraordinarily creative types, so writing to a  
"standard" can seem a burden. That said, writing to these standards  
is the ONLY way to get past peer review, and get a book or program  
materials recommended on a list of valid choices for adoption.

It's also important to realize that writing a book for elementary  
education - like a language development book - is a HUGE undertaking.  
It's better to start with something for high school, because the  
process by which high school books are adopted is less demanding.

Something like this really needs critical mass, and MUST be managed,  
like any other project.

Here are the California State Department of Education Curriculum  
Frameworks
http://www.csun.edu/~hcbio027/k12standards/

Cheers,
Sanford


***************************************
Sanford Forte, Director
California Open Source Texbook Project
Palo Alto, CA
http://www.opensourcetext.org





On Oct 24, 2006, at 4:59 PM, Jimmy Wales wrote:

> Robert Scott Horning wrote:
>> I do have the attitude that the volunteers at Wikibooks have the
>> capability of creating the kinds of textbooks that you are looking  
>> for,
>> Jimbo.  And that other than recruiting more talented wordsmiths we  
>> can
>> pull off the kinds of ground breaking shifts in the textbook  
>> publication
>> industry that have only been hinted at so far.
>
> I agree with this completely of course.  I don't know how it can  
> happen,
> but a part of what needs to happen is that Wikibooks needs to really
> encourage people to make use of the existing frameworks... Sanford can
> probably help us by pointing out where to find them on the web, etc.,
> and by being here to help start making the right kind of noises to get
> them adopted, at least in California, which is one place to start.
>
> --Jimbo
>
>
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> Textbook-l mailing list
> Textbook-l@wikimedia.org
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>

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