The world’s largest education publisher, Pearson, reported its biggest loss in one year. The CEO of the corporation may be forced out.
Pearson has reported a pre-tax loss of £2.6bn for 2016, the biggest in its history, after a slump at its US education operation.
The world’s largest education publisher, which in January saw almost £2bn wiped from its stock market value after issuing its fifth profit warning in two years, reported the record loss after taking a £2.55bn non-cash charge for “impairment of goodwill reflecting trading pressures” in its North American businesses.
A spokesman said the charge related mainly to historic acquisitions of Simon & Schuster Education and National Computer Systems, purchased in 1998 and 2000 respectively, as a “necessary consequence” of the lower profit expectations announced last month.
In January, the company slashed its profit forecast for this year by £180m and scrapped its target of £800m for next year. It also announced that it planned to sell its stake in the world’s largest book publisher, Penguin Random House, to strengthen its balance sheet.
The profit warning was prompted by the collapse of its US higher education business, which is struggling with a decline in textbook sales and the transition to digital learning. The US business accounts for two-thirds of Pearson’s revenues and profits.
The news earlier this year led to Pearson’s biggest ever one-day share price fall and prompted speculation that John Fallon, the chief executive, may be forced out of the company.
“I am a shareholder and I share the frustration of all shareholders,” said Fallon, when asked whether he should continue to lead the company. “My conversations with the chairman and the board are all about ensuring we lead Pearson through this transition as quick as possible. My job is to get on and stay very focused.”
Having bought up a very large share of American education–textbooks, testing, curriculum, online charter schools, teacher certification, the GED–Pearson has few here who will shed a tear over its poor financial condition. De-acquisition might be a very good thing indeed.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Oh boy, the 1st post! If I may humbly set the tone:
YAY!
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This the BEST News ever so far.
MAY tge Deformers follow suit.
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Pearson destroys what it touches. That’s a stock drop I hope deepens and continues. Good news, but then there’s this, “Despite the poor performance of the company, senior executives will still enjoy splitting £55m in bonus and incentive payments…” In addition to profiting at the expense of the American public, Pearson executives can’t even keep from enriching themselves at the expense of their own declining business.
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I have asked this before and I don’t think anyone ever responds. Who exactly holds a gun to Pearson’s customers heads and forces them to purchase Pearson products and services?
Should K-12 school districts write and print their own books, write, score and deliver their own tests? Why does New York outsource testing new teachers instead of New York doing it themselves? Why do states use PARCC instead of keeping it in-house? Anyone want to to answer these questions? I am truly interested in hearing the answers.
You all do realize for Pearson to exist there has to be a customer base. They are not some Mafioso organization running a protection racket.
And in the big scheme of things, they are a pretty small company. Sure the numbers are in the billions, but Uber has a market cap of $68B, while Pearson is a measly $6B. Do you all hate Uber?
Do you all realize how many Pearson employees, the front line employees, are former educators, teachers mostly? A huge percentage are. These people are committed to education as much as anyone who posts on this site. And I don’t see them praising Betsy Devos and her agenda to destroy public schools. Do you really think they are rejoicing at the downfall of the public education teacher and will cheer when they lose their jobs?
I have personally been in K-12 public schools where teachers and students love Pearson products. I’ve heard kindergarten kids sing along, had an 8th grade girl tell me she loves Pearson math, because they made it fun. I have seen kids cheer and thank the Pearson man when he came to address a technical problem and gets them up and running again. Any of you ever experience that?
You can call out the top line Pearson management all you want, but to wish the rank and file ill will is just mean spirited.
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You ask a lot of questions that could be answered with some basic research. Perhaps your time would be better spent looking up the answers to some of the questions you pose. By the way, my kid’s Pearson math materials are lousy, so anecdote proves exactly nothing.
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Please educate me Ray. I’m well versed in Pearson hatred already, no need to research it anymore. I’m curious what the educators that visit this site think. I assume a lot of the posters are in education? So why do the schools, states ,etc, spend money with Pearson if it is such a loathsome organization? Why outsource to Pearson at all? Why not just keep it all in-house?
What say ye Ray?
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NoReformNeeded,
Another reason for Pearson is that they have fed the belief that everything must be standardized and uniform. Also that teachers can’t be trusted.
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One of the best postings I have read about open source vs textbooks and the relationship to the common core was on this blog by Bob Shepherd. Here is the link:
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PS, actually Yes, some of us loathe Uber. As Ray notes, a tiny spot of research on one’s own can help dispel so much fog in the brain.
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And I don’t like AirBNB. In the town where I live, the practice of renting to strangers was undercutting small inns that are inspected and pay taxes. It also harms neighborhoods by a steady influx of weekenders who don’t care about quiet or cleanliness. The town board is trying to limit it.
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NoReformNeeded,
Pearson has gobbled up almost every competitor. There were once many publishers. Now there are only two or three. Pearson has a lobbyist in DC and in state capitils to protect the demand. That’s one reason but not the only one.
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NoReformNeeded: ” I have asked this before and I don’t think anyone ever responds. Who exactly holds a gun to Pearson’s customers heads and forces them to purchase Pearson products and services?”
It’s not gun, it’s bribery. Pearson, similarly to other textbook publishers, offer kickbacks to departments or colleges if they adopt a book for a course.
You could say, profs suck, but that’s not exactly how it is: with public higher getting less and less state funds (good chunk of which happens because states spend more and more on outsourcing to private companies like Pearson), colleges may not have any other choice but accept bribery textbook companies if they want to survive.
Then there is blackmail too: each year publishers release a new edition to their books so that kids don’t buy a used book. The 11th edition of a book differs from the 10th very little, if at all. So what publishers do is declare that the accompanying 11th edition online software package (which includes home work assignments and grading) can be purchased only with the 11th edition of the book and the publisher doesn’t let you log in with a 10th edition access code.
I remark that there is no reason for changing math textbooks. Most of the stuff we teach in college was discovered 200 years ago. Calculus was discovered 350 years ago.
A Calculus book nowadays is $200 and weighs 7-8 lbs. But you can get free calculus books online, or you can buy a hard copy which weighs 2 lbs and costs $30.
K-12 works differently from higher ed: there, politicians are bribed to adopt a textbook or a testing system for their whole state. This is a great deal for a publisher, because a state adopted textbook or testing system can mean hundreds of millions of dollars, and the politicians will even sign off on the publisher’s conditions, like forbidding kids to discuss even among each other the test questions, or forbidding parents’ access to their kids’ tests or even test scores.
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Hell,, geometry was discover by Euclid over 2000 years ago and has changed very little.
Physics is very similar to math in the regard that there is not much new under the sun when it comes to most stuff.
The best texts (including advanced ones) are often half a century old or more and can usually be had in paperback form as reprints for almost nothing ($15 or even less). These books are often very small (less than 200 pages) but very clearly written (by folks like Einstein, Fermi, Pauli, Pauling, Feynman and others).
Feynman Lectures on physics are now available online for free.
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Yeah, Poet, do you know of a better college physics textbook than the 50 years old by Feynman?
When I want to get a great source for fun, interesting math problems for high schoolers, I always have to go back to the Russian ones from the 60’s and 70’s.
I think writing great textbooks is very difficult, and it requires a special talent and personality, like what Smullyan had.
The textbook publishers, on the other hand, pretend that hundreds of great new textbooks come out every year, and colleges, schools need to keep up with the newest.
Textbooks, or books in general, are unlike cars, their value don’t diminish with time. In fact, time is needed to figure out their real value.
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Okay, RFN, if I may answer your questions:
No one!
Books; I guess they could if they wanted to. But there is isn’t anything inherently wrong in buying a text. I’ve chosen my texts from a selection of many. Gotta know what you want, first. Tests; there is no need for any tests other than those that are generated by the classroom teacher that address the needs of the teaching and learning process for his/her particular class.
I don’t know.
I don’t know.
I don’t know.
Don’t hate UBER.
No, please tell us how many employees there are.
I don’t know what they cheer or rejoice at.
No, haven’t used Pearson products in the classroom so I’ve never seen such a look of joy on the faces of kids (TIC).
Okay questions answered. How about answering a few of mine:
Why do you use a pseudonym instead of your legal name?
What is your legal name?
If you won’t give it why not?
Do you work for Pearson?
What is your public school teaching experience?
Do you have any public school administrative experience?
What made you pick the pseudonym “NoReformNeeded”.
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I work in IT. I dot a lot of work in Public Schools, K-12, nationwide. I have zero teaching experience and zero administrative experience.
I do have friends that have worked or do work at Pearson. I however do not work there.
My real name is my own business. Apparently I behave well enough for Diane not to have banned me. My posts are not trolling or combative. I do ask questions as I wish to learn and understand.
I use NoReformNeeded because that’s my belief. I believe in public schools. I believe they are a big part of what makes the US great and it’s a part of being a democracy. In general I dislike charter schools. I dislike privatization in general. I dislike standardized testing. The IT industry is big on testing and it’s no indicator of someones ability to perform in the IT industry.
I’d say I agree with the people on this site more often than not, that’s why I come here. I don’t come here to argue.
My goal was to make two points.
Pearson does not exist in a vacuum.
US Teachers have more in solidarity with the Pearson front line employee than they could ever imagine. They have the same end goals.
Just like teachers can get hijacked by their administration or their governments, Pearson employees can be hijacked by their upper management.
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Thanks RFN. It helps me to understand the postings better if I know a little about where a “person is coming from”.
I agree with your two points.
Especially the thought that the “front line” employees whether in the business or public education sector are at the mercy of the management and/or administration (which are really one and the same thing usually inhabited by those seeking personal gain over justice concerns).
Now in the private sector, that attitude can make sense (hell, I didn’t start teaching until I was 39 and worked in the business sector all those prior years) but in the public education realm, justice MUST trump self-interest. It is the nature of the enterprise that determines whether justice or self-interest should (or can) dominate and guide our actions. If I may leave you with a final thought from an astute Frenchman:
“Should we therefore forgo our self-interest? Of course not. But it [self-interest] must be subordinate to justice, not the other way around. . . . To take advantage of a child’s naivete. . . in order to extract from them something [test scores, personal information] that is contrary to their interests, or intentions, without their knowledge [or consent of parents] or through coercion [state mandated testing], is always and everywhere unjust even if in some places and under certain circumstances it is not illegal. . . . Justice is superior to and more valuable than well-being or efficiency; it cannot be sacrificed to them, not even for the happiness of the greatest number [quoting Rawls]. To what could justice legitimately be sacrificed, since without justice there would be no legitimacy or illegitimacy? And in the name of what, since without justice even humanity, happiness and love could have no absolute value?. . . Without justice, values would be nothing more than (self) interests or motives; they would cease to be values or would become values without worth.”—Andre Comte-Sponville [my additions]
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“Just like teachers can get hijacked by their administration or their governments, Pearson employees can be hijacked by their upper management.”
This goes without saying: our hate is not directed to all the individuals working for Pearson; they can have all kinds of reasons for working for the publisher. But Pearson’s corporate model and tactics have no room in education.
Those textbook writers who got rich, and think, they deserve their wealth—they need to reevaluate.
Here is a ridiculous story about a Calculus book author, whose book’s newest edition (though the author died 3 years ago) is now over $300 after tax on amazon and it weighs 8 lbs
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/for-millionaire-mathematician-james-stewart-music-will-play-on-after-his-death/article20714879/
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Mate, do you mean bribery and blackmail? That’s you answer? Got any data to back it up. Seems illegal to me.
Godwins Law hold true once again.
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Huge political contributors, thanks to Citizens Untied, have become the legal bribe.
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About Pearson lobbying,, you can just search this blog, but here is one article that can get you started.
http://www.alternet.org/education/corporations-profit-standardized-tests
Here are two articles about the reality of textbook kickbacks.
http://blogs.harvard.edu/infolaw/2008/07/10/custom-textbooks/
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/textbook-publisher-kickback-scam/
As for Godwin’s law: mabbe I should have brought up Stalin or just a generic criminal to provide a less obvious excuse to avoid understanding my point.
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Time to forget Goodwin’s Law. It is a thought, not a law.
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Swacker’s Theorem:
It is impossible to reference Hitler and his Nazi regime no matter how relevant and pertinent the reference is without someone bringing up Godwin’s Law.
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Great result, Duane; I think you should publish it. Ah, actually you just did.
I have a related one: Godwin’s Law outlaws the validity of any reference to Hitler.
Corollary: Hitler’s name cannot be brought up in any conversation, even in the form of “you know who”
Let’s not interrupt the celebration of our brainstorm by bringing up that Godwin himself allows mentioning youknowwho in connection with Orange Finger Donnie or any other politician. It follows that he approves mentioning youknowho in relation to Pearson, since they influence politicians.
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Good one mate! (no, that’s not a misspelling of your name-LOL!)
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Mate,
Godwin was wrong. His so-called law is invalid.
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“History Helps Us Understand Change and How the Society We Live in Came to Be. The second reason history is inescapable as a subject of serious study follows closely on the first. The past causes the present, and so the future.”
https://www.historians.org/about-aha-and-membership/aha-history-and-archives/archives/why-study-history-(1998)
Hitler, who is was, what he did, is part of world history, and if political correctness (right, left, liberal, conservative, moderate, etc.) says we cannot use this name when a powerful person acts the same way or even similar, then we have learned nothing.
“There is no question that Hitler’s personality exuded pathological narcissism or what I have called psychopathic narcissism (see my prior post), and may have met modern diagnostic criteria for narcissistic personality disorder.”
https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/evil-deeds/201412/how-mad-was-hitler
Malignant narcissist: Donald Trump displays classic traits of mental illness, claim psychologists
Why psychiatrists are speaking out about Donald Trump’s mental health. He believes Trump shows signs of “malignant narcissism,” which is defined as a mix of narcissism, antisocial personality disorder, aggression and sadism in Campbells’ Psychiatric Dictionary
http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/donald-trump-mental-illness-narcisissm-us-president-psychologists-inauguration-crowd-size-paranoia-a7552661.html
https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2016/06/the-mind-of-donald-trump/480771/
https://www.usnews.com/news/the-report/articles/2017-01-27/does-donald-trumps-personality-make-him-dangerous
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“A huge percentage are. ”
What’s the huge percentage? Yeah, I met adjunct profs who switched to working for Pearson and similar because they were making $20K with their PhD.
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I would say depends on the business unit within Pearson. Some groups as high as 50% to 65%. Not sure what the overall company numbers would be.
Of course some divisions would be zero. Accounting, facilities, warehousing, IT, etc, those personnel would not need a background in education to perform their duties. Those would be support roles.
I wonder what the percentage of teachers is in a public school district? Probably pretty high I would assume. Also, I wonder what the percentage of administration personnel vs teachers looks like. Then a look at compensation would be interesting I bet. Probably looks nothing like the private sector. Probably very flat organizations with a very narrow salary range. A lot of solidarity one would assume. Mission over self interest.
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“I have personally been in K-12 public schools where teachers and students love Pearson products. ”
The same way, there are people love Microsoft products like Windows. Most people on this blog probably use Windows. So what? People love sugar too, but is it good for them, is that the best food they can consume?
Pearson, similarly to Microsoft, gobbled up competition, and some of the gobbled up competition offered free products which are now sold for big bucks, and well loved by kids and teachers.
In general, it’s difficult to claim that Pearson products are of high quality, so reporting occasional good experience means nothing.
I claim, both in textbook and software, you can find the highest quality free products, and schools and universities pay billions for nonfree products only because of bribery and blackmail.
It’s time to boycott Pearson and Microsoft.
Makes no sense not to.
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I’m sure Pearson could show you numbers, efficacy studies, and I have no doubt you’d view them with an open mind. No doubt at all. Right?
Microsoft. Have you seen the story where the city of Munich went open source Linux and are now returning to Microsoft Windows? I wonder why they are making that move?
Who exactly in a school district would build a district curriculum from all these disparate open source programs/tools? The individual teachers? Curriculum directors? Administration?
Is there no where on the internet where one can have a dialog anymore? Where one can ask questions? One can learn without a knife fight? Is every sites goal just to be an echo chamber and re-enforcement of ones beliefs? Isn’t this a blog about Education?
You see, I’m just an IT guy. Not an academic heavyweight. I came across this site when I was researching the current trends in education.
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“’m sure Pearson could show you numbers, efficacy studies, and I have no doubt you’d view them with an open mind. No doubt at all. Right?”
I think we can both agree that the above question is slightly provocative. Hence when you complain
“Is there no where on the internet where one can have a dialog anymore? Where one can ask questions? One can learn without a knife fight? ”
I am at a loss. Especially, since you continue
” Is every sites goal just to be an echo chamber and re-enforcement of ones beliefs? Isn’t this a blog about Education?”
So, for example, when I gave you some detailed, precise answers—drawn from my 30+ year experience in teaching math in college—to your original question about why people adopt Pearson, you calmly evaluated my answer as echo.
If you read some of the blog posts here in the last year or so, you probably noticed, Pearson is one of the greatest forces that try to privatize public education. In light of this realization, when somebody appear to defend Pearson, it should come as no surprise that some of the reactions are impatient.
One can bring up positive stories about Gates, Microsoft, Pearson, but these stories cannot mitigate what they have done to education—in particular my children’s education.
If this opinion appears closed minded, then perhaps the following question can help you relate to this closed mindset.
If Hitler and the Nazi party was so bad for Germany and the world, how come the roads built during Hitler’s time are still used and enjoyed by the Germans and other Europeans, and one of the most popular cars here in the US is Volkswagen, Hitler’s own initiative in the 1930s so that all people should be able to own a car?
That’s the nature of crimes: once you committed them, you’ll be guilty. Many of us here claim, what Gates and Pearson have done in experimenting with our kids is a crime, and they have to pay for it sooner or later.
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I am an educator NoReform and will tell you the bigger populations dictate what they want in the text and the smaller states have limited ability to shop for something different. I’ve been on some review committees and can tell you that states like CA, TX, and NY are the voting states when it comes to content–voting with bucks, that is.
Also, I believe the pendulum is swinging away from testing (I hope and believe and dream) our children will be using their time more productively, investigating problems, reading-reading-reading, and jumping with two feet into what is meaningful to and for them.
be
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I am an educator, Nationally Board Certified. All my coworkers hate Pearson, from textbooks to testing for public schools: Expensive and poorly written. As an adjunct, I witnessed my adult students being subjected to the new Pearson Certification mess, badly designed and with a bell curve that guaranteed high failure rates for subjective assessments of video and written submissions, meaning more money for Pearson. Plus, why would a child “cheer” the Pearson man? Sounds creepy and unrealistic. I trained with Pearson for the teach certification to help my college students, it was a joke. Pearson makes $300+ from each while paying evaluators $75, not worth the 5 hours to properly evaluate submissions.
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I believe the kids”‘cheered for the Pearson man” as they had a Pearson product they enjoyed using, that had been having some technical issues, and he was there to resole it. What’s creepy about that? What’s so unrealistic about that? You do realize Pearson has acquired many companies over the years, some with some fantastic products that the kids actually enjoy using. Hard to believe I guess, but true none the less.
I assume you are referring to edPTA? Not an area of expertise for me. But I would ask again, why and how did Pearson get that contract? Everyone hates Pearson, but again Pearson doesn’t use guns to get the business as far as I know.
Why no anger at the state for doing business with Pearson?
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” Everyone hates Pearson, but again Pearson doesn’t use guns to get the business as far as I know.”
This is weird. Why do you pretend, this was not addressed here before? Search for the words bribery and blackmail on this page, and you’ll see the description of the modern, 21st century weaponry used by Pearson and which are much more effective than guns.
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Pearson made political contributions that buy so many elected officials.
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Couldn’t happen to a more deserving company.
Mary
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If Pearson fails and the over emphasis on high stakes stops, this is great. The sad part is that in this current climate it will only be considered an opportunity for another corporate profit-driven entity (at The People’s expense) to step in and fill the void. I hate to be pessimistic but my optimism will be restored if community leaders are one step ahead of this and think about how this vacuum might be filled by corporate ed reform types in the age of Trump. Chances are strong that what replaces this vacuum will not be something in the best interest of our public school students. What might this be and how can it NOT become a “done deal” … unless by miracle it is something that benefits public school students?
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Artseagal,
You are right. If we could stop the high stakes testing and make textbooks free, no one would rush into take their place. That makes the opt out of testing crucial. Shrink the market. Take charge.
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“make textbooks free”
I don’t know about high school, but college textbooks are already free. Colleges just don’t use the free ones.
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College textbooks are NOT free, in fact, they are ridiculously overpriced.
Yes, POWER TO THE LEARNERS!
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But if Pearson goes down, how will we know if the childrens learned?
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Psychics…I mean economists can always tell us that with no data whatsoever.
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“Science Reformed”
Economists and crystal balls
Reading palms in shopping malls
These will sort the students out
Let you tell the good from lout
Pearson test is so passe’
“Science” is the bestest way
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Economists can always bring data, even about our students’ learning, the problem is that the data doesn’t mean anything.
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“The profit warning was prompted by the collapse of its US higher education business, which is struggling with a decline in textbook sales and the transition to digital learning. ”
This is the bad news in the good news. And I can tell you, digital learning in higher is spreading with full force. All in the name of saving money, making education cheaper, which tuition or fees or both are going up by 7% a year.
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“I am a shareholder and I share the frustration of all shareholders” — Pearson CEO Jimmy… er John Fallon
Sharing is what it’s all about. He must have learned that in kindergarten .
“My conversations with the chairman and the board were all about ensuring we lead Pearson through this transition as quick as possible”
Well, if you consider the last days of terminal cancer a transition — to death — then the quickest way to lead the patent through the transition is with a fatal dose of morphine. Is that what Jimmy Fallon means?
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Hopefully, there won’t be a resurrection.
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I think American teachers and students are the ones who will have to be resurrected after being crucified by Pearson’s Pilot.
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“Pearson’s Pilot”
Pearson’s Pilot
Crucified
Education on the cross
Nailed with mallet
Up and died
Education simply lost
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Poet, you sound Macbethianly dark.
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It might not be true but I totally attribute some of that loss to this blog! Thanks again for doing this every day!!!
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Don’t take this as some kind of victory. Pearson straddles the world of print and online. The real end game of privatizers…..”technology in the classroom” and eventually just “technology” is alive, well, and chugging ahead at full steam.
Pearson simply may be poorly led, or poorly adapting.
Other, more nimble and many times more dangerous enterprises are forming every day to push forward what will inevitably be a teacher-free education.
Pearson is the GM of the Ed world. It’s troubles in no way signal trouble writ large for educational privatizers…..much as GM’s troubles weren’t ever about trouble with the idea of cars.
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Just saw your comment after I posted my own observations that follow soon after here. Yeah….everything you say makes sense.
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Someone is doing their homework, not just replying from emotions.
“Pearson simply may be poorly led, or poorly adapting.”
And there are plenty of small Silicon Valley startups ready to pounce.
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Just curious… the entry says, “…..after taking a £2.55bn non-cash charge for “impairment of goodwill reflecting trading pressures” in its North American businesses.”
What does that phrase “impairment of goodwill” mean? Is that some sort of technical, legal, economics terminology… or…???
On another note: It is pretty amazing how anything on paper and textbooks specifically seem to be biting the dust these days. Sorry to see that in a way but that’s me, a creature firmly rooted in the mid-20th century. LOL
I’ve been looking to replace the outdated textbook I use in my college credit American Government course and the book I was checking out goes for $170….$150 at the cheapest. And, that’s softcover, I believe. The digital versions seem to cost a lot,too. I informally polled my 12th grade students (a great group) just to see what they thought…should I get the actual, paper textbook….would they even use it. Most said no, they would not open it -unless I devised a way to make them somehow, I guess.
I’m trying think of the last time I went into a brick and mortar bookstore and bought a book of any kind for $170…..never? Why the high cost of these textbooks? No wonder why Pearson is hurting. What public entity can afford these prices?
I have this theory, well, theory makes it sound quite complicated. Nickname, is a better word. I call it the Ripoff Economy…like how in everyday life we just keep getting nickel and dimed by big corporations. For eg. crappy pencils that you can’t sharpen right and paperclips that fall apart if they twist and staples that are so cheap and thin they clog up the stapler. I received index cards that weren’t on card stock….it felt more like paper. It just seems like schools are a special target for this sort of corporate ripoff….yet, we always hear these so-called titans of industry yak yakking about how schools should mimic business. Yeah, right! So Pearson….. sorry for the rank and file employees but the bigwigs seemed to have been running the ship aground. I guess they’re messing up the lives of all of us regular folks.
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There are good free e-texts for many introductory college level science courses like physics and chemistry.
Perhaps there is also one for American government?
Forcing students to pay 150 or more for a single introductory level text is a total scam. Unfortunately, companies like Pearson get away with it because they offer online problems and tests which the students need a special code to access — and can only get by either buying the text or paying a separate fee. Many profs apparently find the convenience of the latter too hard to resist.
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Mak grequired texts online and free is a major step towards breaking the publishers’ stranglehold
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Good questions Duane!
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Exactly! AND want to sell their own books, sometimes.
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“I informally polled my 12th grade students (a great group) just to see what they thought…should I get the actual, paper textbook….would they even use it. Most said no, they would not open it -unless I devised a way to make them somehow, I guess.”
This is controversial, isn’t it: do we really want to replace regular books with ebooks?
Do we want kids to sit in front of a computer or squint over their phone for hours every day, while they study?
Printing out ebooks is what many kids do, but that is still an enormous waste of trees since every new, say, 11th grader would print out a new book.
My feeling is that cheap but durable textbooks, which then are used for generations, is the solution.
I don’t know about other subjects, but in the material used in K-12 math, nothing new happened for hundreds of years, and in K-8, for over 2 thousand years.
Some might say: “but teaching methods have changed”. True, but kids don’t really learn from textbooks. They learn from the teacher, and books just need to summarize the essential material and perhaps have some sample questions to the student.
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It’s basically an accounting write down, or an adjustment of an assets value. They bought some Simon and Schuster assets and NCS. The current value is less than what it was when they bought them, so they had to adjust the values in their assets sheet. It’s not a loss of actual cash.
Don’t hold me to that as I am no accountant.
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Me neither. I just got my taxes back from the accountant and now I’m really lost. Thanks.
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Thanks for the advice. Yeah…um….I do like paper textbooks better. I have a history textbook that I still use sometimes in class…..it was cheap, short and to the point and matches the NYS curriculum exactly. The issue with government is that I’d like something that mentions elections post 2008. That seems essential. Maybe something will turn up online as suggested…something cheap or free. Or, I’ll keep filling in that space on my own. I just can’t see asking the district to pay thousands of dollars for something kids won’t use.
My own attitude towards books seems to be changing, much to my own chagrin. I was cleaning out a bookshelf the other day and thought, well, I can toss that volume…just look up the reference material online. Funny thing is, I look at my own handwriting now.. or work I typed up myself for classes, and it all seems strangely out of date. Alien to me. It’s like finding a filmstrip from the 1970s, but it’s my own script. It’s me.
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“What does that phrase “impairment of goodwill” mean? Is that some sort of technical, legal, economics terminology… or…???”
It’s accounting terminology used in annual reports & such. According to Investopedia, “goodwill” is used to describe acquisition by a company of assets for more than their proven value, presumably with the expectation of recouping that premium from future use of the assets. “Impairment” describes the failure, for any of a variety of reasons, of those assets to generate the anticipated returns.
http://www.investopedia.com/terms/g/goodwill-impairment.asp
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Comparing elementary math programs, this is, by far the best program I have seen. It is one used in Germany. This allows you to look into the third grade edition. http://flashbook.westermann.de/denken-und-rechnen-978-3-14-121323-2#/22 and here is the site:
https://verlage.westermanngruppe.de/westermann/reihe/DEREGSAA11/Denken-und-Rechnen-Ausgabe-2011-fuer-Grundschulen-in-Hamburg-Bremen-Hessen-Niedersachsen-Nordrhein-Westfalen-Rheinland-Pfalz-Saarland-und-Schleswig-Holstein#3_Schuljahr
It makes Pearson’s Envision products look like cheap junk- which they are. So are all the others I have seen. We need to look beyond our borders to make schools the best they can be –
David Di Gregorio
Parent and Educator
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But if we use that, won’t we first have to teach German?
I took German and I’d have to say it was harder than elementary math.
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We can draw ideas from this – or Westermann can consider a version in English – customized to region / state as they do. Bavaria edition has maps photos for their region as does Hessen, Berlin, etc. Text book / work books can easily be created as a team – administration – faculty – unions – etc. Forget Pearson and the other robbers – we, educators do it ourselves.
Here is what I recommended for my son’s K-8 district as they are about to spend a pot full of money on an off the shelf more or less JUNK:
I would like to suggest going about this in a completely different way. Here is an article explaining how this was done in Minnesota: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/11/09/minnesota-teachers-write-_n_1084972.html . Rather than spending $80 – 90,000 on an out of the box math program, I feel we can do better than following what all other surrounding districts have done. No one out-of-the-box program will satisfy everyone – this is why I would highly recommend we do something different, using our funds as follows:
1. Establish a team of faculty strong in math expertise and instruction and other motivated teachers interested in assembling a program customized to Englewood Cliffs – making sure there is a familiarity with state standards per grade.
2. Invite them to study math programs and math teaching methods – send them out to learn about the Aesthetic Realism Teaching method – essential!! Have a good look at Montessori, Waldorf, let them study how math is handled in Finland, Germany, France – China and Korea.etc. Pay them a stipend. Require them report findings to faculty.
3. Start compiling an outline and use the bountiful resources on line – and start creating our own, localized math program. As work is done, assembled, and approved, pay stipends to those faculty working on it. Perhaps there is an illustrator in house – or a spouse that can help colorize the program.
4. For the lower grades 1-2-3, publish a soft covered book and work book. For upper grades 6-7-8 have it available on line. Prek and K look carefully at how Montessori prepares through hands on manipulatives.
Yes, there is work involved in this, but unless there is an off the shelf math program that shows as much quality as the one I have seen used in Germany, published by Westerman, localized to the state and region of the students, the best alternative is to make our own program where in the process, your teaching staff becomes more developed – and has a true stake in our children’s success – combining the best from all that’s out there. And the monies that would be spent on an off the shelf program goes well earned into the pockets of those on our teaching staff working on it – and their names go on the completed product.
David Di Gregorio
Englewood Cliffs Parent / Educator
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The idea is good: each school or school district chooses a book, they rework it for their taste, and then they print and bind the book locally. I’d reduce the price to $5 at most, though, so that every parent could afford it.
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When I finally got to pick my own text series I opted for a small foreign language specialty book company. Lot better than the big three text publishers at a cheaper price.
In the large district I was in we all voted, supposedly, on a book. The one that won, at least according to the central office, no one that I spoke with had voted for. Hmmm, wonder where some of the exorbitant cost of texts goes???
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Bring administration – faculty – unions – etc.and professional development all together:
From above: We can draw ideas from this – or Westermann can consider a version in English – customized to region / state as they do. Bavaria edition has maps photos for their region as does Hessen, Berlin, etc. Text book / work books can easily be created as a team – administration – faculty – unions – etc. Forget Pearson and the other robbers – we, educators do it ourselves.
_____________###______________
Here is what I recommended for my son’s K-8 district as they are about to spend a pot full of money on an off the shelf more or less JUNK:
I would like to suggest going about this in a completely different way. Here is an article explaining how this was done in Minnesota: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/11/09/minnesota-teachers-write-_n_1084972.html . Rather than spending $80 – 90,000 on an out of the box math program, I feel we can do better than following what all other surrounding districts have done. No one out-of-the-box program will satisfy everyone – this is why I would highly recommend we do something different, using our funds as follows:
1. Establish a team of faculty strong in math expertise and instruction and other motivated teachers interested in assembling a program customized to Englewood Cliffs – making sure there is a familiarity with state standards per grade.
2. Invite them to study math programs and math teaching methods – send them out to learn about the Aesthetic Realism Teaching method – essential!! Have a good look at Montessori, Waldorf, let them study how math is handled in Finland, Germany, France – China and Korea.etc. Pay them a stipend. Require them report findings to faculty.
3. Start compiling an outline and use the bountiful resources on line – and start creating our own, localized math program. As work is done, assembled, and approved, pay stipends to those faculty working on it. Perhaps there is an illustrator in house – or a spouse that can help colorize the program.
4. For the lower grades 1-2-3, publish a soft covered book and work book. For upper grades 6-7-8 have it available on line. Prek and K look carefully at how Montessori prepares through hands on manipulatives.
Yes, there is work involved in this, but unless there is an off the shelf math program that shows as much quality as the one I have seen used in Germany, published by Westerman, localized to the state and region of the students, the best alternative is to make our own program where in the process, your teaching staff becomes more developed – and has a true stake in our children’s success – combining the best from all that’s out there. And the monies that would be spent on an off the shelf program goes well earned into the pockets of those on our teaching staff working on it – and their names go on the completed product.
David Di Gregorio
Englewood Cliffs Parent / Educator
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“Bring administration – faculty – unions – etc.and professional development all together:”
Good idea. Teachers would be happy to participate if their teaching load would be reduced to the load of the rest of humanity: 4 classes a day.
I also remark that books don’t play such an important part in kids’ learning. They learn from the teacher, and usually just solve hw problems from the book.
As for college: When I went to college in Hungary 30 years ago, we didn’t have any textbooks whatsoever. Profs did write books, and they were dirt cheap, but very few profs taught from them.
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I tend to not use a textbook but it is nice to have some comprehensive source to refer to. Or, on a very practical note, if I had to be out for some extended amount of time….what to leave a substitute who might not know the subject area. It happened a number of years ago when my wife was very ill and I was out of school. I was glad to have an economics text as a back up. There is no real Plan B in most high schools except what teachers scramble to put together, often at very difficult times. But I do like your idea.
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Also – it is ESSENTIAL that such a math program be related to all other subjects as is done by Westermann to a great extent.
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I see several comments suggesting K-12 schools buy this product or that product. Again, no one answered, why outsource at all? Why doesn’t a district or state just build their own curriculum and education products/tools? Then the corruption, the bribery, the lobbying, etc, all goes away.
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“Again, no one answered, why outsource at all? Why doesn’t a district or state just build their own curriculum and education products/tools? ”
That’s the way to go, imo. But states don’t have to invent the wheel: they can use the thousands of free or cheap books and software to create their own blend for their states.
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Pearson is about to lose even more money because the DeVos voucher agenda, for sure, doesn’t want to share any voucher money with godless corporations that profit from tests, tests that might reveal what a huge failure the voucher program is.
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Boy, this is really late to the party. I hope that someone else besides Diane reads it. Having retired after Pearson monopolized the publishing/”standardized” testing industry, I can assure you that NO children on any of my caseloads (I was a middle school L.D. Resource Teacher)–nor any of the general education students, for that matter, “cheered” at either the tests or the endless test prep materials. In fact, students hid under their desks, fell asleep, cried, threw up, hit themselves in the head repeatedly, stating, “I’m stupid, I’m stupid, I’m stupid,” until I had to send for the school nurse. One child disrupted the entire class by shouting & throwing pencils that stuck into the ceiling (I rang the office for the school social worker to get him, & he was gone for a time, but the principal brought him back, insisting that he was now “ready to take the test” (he was not, & continued to be disruptive…until the social worker returned & kept him; I had to administer the test to him during the make-up week, on a one-to-one basis, which meant that I could not provide services for the other students for an entire week (and–the entire time–he begged me to give him the answers,,,or at least a “hint.”) My ADHD students finished tests that were supposed to take 5o minutes or more (generally more, as sped students were allotted “extended time”) in 10-15 minutes or less.
There is so much more to say about this, but NoReformNeeded, to bed I must go.
However, I’ve got a book for you to read: Todd Farley’s masterpiece (yes, MASTERPIECE!), “Making the Grades: My Misadventures in the Standardized Testing Industry.” (Bennett-Koehler Publishers, Inc, San Francisco, 2009) His writings can also be found on Huffington Post Education.
And…haven’t you all wondered just who owns Pearson stock?
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Yeah, I do wonder who owns the Pearson stock. Who?
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People who know a lot about education, surely.
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Please have a look to see what I have stenciled – I leave it at the end of my driveway:
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David–should have rechecked this post earlier–hope you see this comment that your refuse container is, indeed, great!
BTW–ILL-Annoy’s 4-year, $160 million, NO BID (i.e., illegal)* testing contract w/Pearson is up this year. Also, head of ISBE ruled that high school students did NOT have to take PARCC this year, only SATs (don’t think they’re taking ACTs anymore, either). 6 north suburban supts. wrote a letter to Tony Smith, thanking him, but asking him to also do away w/elementary PARCC testing, & asked to meet w/him.
Didn’t happen.
*Also, along w/NYT article cited above, same shenanigans occurred in ILL-Annoy, & a retired district supt. wrote a letter to the state A.G.& the 2 Chicago dailies–not published & A.G. didn’t investigate.
So, yeah, still wondering just who owns Pearson stock. Would that WikiLeaks (or someone!) had that info. for all our inquiring minds!
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