New market research documents the shift from print to digital instructional materials in K-12 over the past few years, a trend expected to continue.
California, Texas and Florida are among the states that are ceding more authority to districts in choosing their own instructional materials, the Association of American Publishers reports.
The worldwide education company recently sold back its 5 percent stake in Nook Media, Barnes & Noble’s struggling e-reader division, for nearly $28 million.
Chegg is offering $24-per-hour college counseling to high school students, which the company says is an alternative to costly services.
Free, digital textbooks for K-12 that adapt to learners’ abilities and preferences are under development by OpenStax, a Rice University initiative.
A division of McGraw-Hill is partnering with Follett in an effort to sell e-books focused on test-prep through online forums.
Purchases of instructional materials fell by 4 percent in the 1st quarter of 2014 compared with the same period in 2013, possibly because of districts’ uncertainty about the common-core implementation, according to the Association of American Publishers.
Tom Allen, the president and CEO of the Association of American Publishers, said that number of competing dynamics are shaping implementation of the common-core standards in the states, and that his industry needs to put its stamp on that discussion.
Industry officials offered contrasting views of how quickly the print-to-digital transition in K-12 publishing is playing out.
Weld North, an investment company led by former Kaplan CEO Jonathan Grayer, recently announced two major acquisitions of ed-tech companies, Imagine Learning and Truenorthlogic.