As districts implement the Common Core State Standards, 68 percent plan to purchase new instructional materials—an increase from 62 percent two years ago, according to new marketing survey data.
The potential market size for common-core materials is 7,600 district buyers, according to the survey by MDR, a provider of marketing information and services for education based in Shelton, Conn. The information will be included in a broader report scheduled to be published later this month, but MDR shared some of the results with Education Week.
Replacing textbooks with online resources was listed as a high- to medium-priority initiative by 78 percent of the 257 curriculum directors who responded to the survey. Procuring apps was a high-to-medium priority for 77 percent.
Sixty-six percent of curriculum directors—especially those in large, urban districts—plan to create new materials using internal resources, and 58 percent plan to repurpose existing materials.
The survey also notes that 76 percent of districts plan to seek free materials from the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers, or PARCC, and the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium, the two state consortia developing assessments aligned with the new standards.
Among technology directors, 67 percent say they are “substantially prepared” or fully prepared for online common-core testing.
