Research and Measurement for Studies Weekly

Prepared by:

Mia Gabriel
Ee Chien Chua
Meredith Long
Stephanie Graff
Arianna Pesci
Kristin Beifuss

Table of Contents

Executive Summary .........................................................................i
Background Research ..................................................................1-5
Qualitative Research and Analysis ..............................................6-8
Quantitative Research and Analysis ..........................................9-37
Strategic Recommendations ....................................................38-41
Comprehensive Conclusion .....................................................42-43
Appendix ........................................................................A-1 A-33
Focus Group Transcript ..................................................A-2 A-22
Copy of Survey .............................................................A-23 A-33
Bibliography .................................................................A-33 A-34

"
Executive Summary
Purpose of Research

Studies Weekly aims to provide elementary schools with study materials that serve as an
alternative to textbooks. As a niche product trying to break into a saturated market that has
established products, the research aims to provide the company with an understanding of how it
can effectively break into the market. While the company has made breakthroughs into certain
markets, the research targeted objectives that will arm Studies Weekly with suggestions that can
be implemented based on qualitative and quantitative data that has been sampled and provided
both organically and through outside research.

Research Questions Answered

The research aims to provide a basis of the current situation, and, from there, provide answers
that can help the organization understand the current issues that are preventing the company from
expanding at a move substantive rate. Primary research targets those who have used the
companys products, along with an honest analysis of the social media tactics employed by
Studies Weekly to interact with their target audiences. Additionally, secondary research provides
a benchmark for the company to compare how it can more efficiently gain a bigger market share
while learning from strategies and tactics employed by competitors.

Research Methods Employed

The research conducted primarily focused on primary resources that provided researchers with
an honest look at the company through the eyes of users and possible implementers of the
product. Through a focus group, researchers were able to gather detailed information as to the
strengths and weaknesses of the product and marketing tools. Additionally, a survey provided an
open window for educators to explain their likes and frustrations with the product. Social media
analysis also provides insight into the current state of the companys presence online.

Conclusions

The feedback received was generally negative. The company needs to address certain key issues
that are bring presented by users. Aside from the complaint that the content provided in the print
format is not sufficient, the lack of accessibility to online material is frustrating for a number of
users. The disconnect between print and online material is another visible frustration. Feedback
provided will expand into more detail in the report. If the company is unable to address these
issues and move forward to accommodate a more technologically savvy student population, it
will fall behind. If however, it can do that in the near future, it could pull ahead of the
competition. The company also needs to be more visible with its social media in reaching target
educators.

#
Background Research

Background on organization:
Fourth grade teacher Paul Thompson started Studies Weekly in Utah in 1984. Thompson could
not find a textbook for his class that fit the criteria he was looking for and so he made his own.
His "textbook" was in a weekly magazine format and contained the same material as the core
curriculum. It was then that Studies Weekly was born. His goal was to put textbook content in a
cheap, easy-to-update format that allowed teachers to teach required content that was not
available in textbooks due to either obsolescence or prohibitive pricing.

Ed Rickers, his son-in-law, joined the company in 1997. Rickers founded American Legacy
Publishing, Inc. and began to hire former teachers, editors, illustrators, graphic designers, and
web programmers as the company began to grow.

Studies Weekly publications are now used in all 50 states in more than 15 percent of public and
private elementary schools. While most states have not officially adopted the publications,
Studies Weekly can still go directly to districts to petition adoption on a district-by-district basis.
They are currently officially adopted in 9 states and sell to 350 market segments.

Most of the reviews of the company online come from mothers who home school their children,
a sizeable market for the company. The Better Business Bureau does not currently rate Studies
Weekly.

Studies Weekly wants to become an alternative to traditional textbooks. The company wants to
be used in classrooms across the country instead of textbooks, rather just be used for
supplementary material.

Studies Weekly had a pattern of steady growth since its creation in 1984. Revenue was about
$20K to 30k from 1984 to 1997. At this point there were no full-time employees, just part-time
family employees. In 1997, revenue was up to $100K and Studies Weekly expanded into Texas.
From 1998 to 2004, many new states and publications were added and revenue grew to $2.6
million with about 15 employees. By 2007, revenue reached about $4 million with about 22
employees, from 2007 to 2012 grew to 35 employees and $8.7 million in revenue. Studies
Weekly currently have a 65 percent retention rate from year to year and yearly revenue is $8.8
million. Their projected revenue for 2015 is $15 million.


Resources and personnel

Studies Weekly has about 40 employees who cover editorial content or graphics and the
$
employee breakdown is as follows:

Customer Service (4-6, depending on season)
Graphic Designers (4)
Illustrators (3)
Computer programmers (3)
Content readersrecord audio of the content being read to students via the web
site (3)
Printing and shipping servicescopy machines and UPS shipments, etc. (3)
Packagers (15-20)
Editors (5)
Teacher authorscontract basis (5-10)
Administration (2)


The Industry

Studies Weekly has a major advantage because they are one of the first in the door for textbook
material in an alternative format. While Scholastic and Pearson currently dominate the traditional
textbook market and offer supplemental materials, our research has found that traditional
textbooks may be declining in popularity because of cost and inconvenience (Rapp, 2008). The
article says, The biggest challenge for the makers of e-textbooks is to find a way to break into
the K12 market.

While Studies Weekly does not currently have an exclusive online subscription, it does have a
website with supplemental textbook material especially for the K-12 market. This is a huge
advantage. Scholastic and Pearson also have e-textbooks, although the majority of the content on
these sites is just online versions of their print textbooks and they have little interactive material
available.

The textbook industry is difficult to break into. Very few companies dominate the market and
districts often have long-standing relationships and contacts with these companies. Pearson Ltd.,
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Co. and McGraw-Hill Cos. control 85 percent of the $3.2
billion elementary and secondary education textbook market (Strahler, 2012).

Twenty states are called "adoption states." They adopt a list of state-approved textbooks and bear
the cost of textbooks for all students in the state. Figure 1 shows these states; almost all
adoptions states are in the South, Southwest and West (Tyson, 1997). California, Texas, and
Florida make up about 25 percent of the total national market. Local school districts in the 30
non-adoption states can select their own textbooks, but even the most populous districts have
little influence on what goes into the books.

%

(Fig. 1)

The selection process in individual districts varies; however, the process can be swayed by the
offers made by each textbook provider. These offers may including free teacher manuals, free
training for teachers on how to use the book, free class sets, workbooks, lab manuals, and more.
Free training for teachers in mathematics and science is also very appealing to administrators.

Forecasts by ChicagoBusiness.com estimate that half of the $15 billion-yearly textbook market
will convert into less profitable e-books within the next five years. In Steve Jobs biography, he
labeled the textbook industry as ripe for destruction. This is good news for Studies Weekly
because the company provides the best of both worlds in regards to print and online versions of
textbook materials.

Andrew Morrison, a Deerfield-based senior vice president for strategy and corporate
development at online educator Cambium Learning Group Inc. in Dallas said, much of
educational publishing has benefited from high barriers to entry. But with technical innovations
over the last five years that are accelerating, those traditional obstacles are dramatically reduced
(Strahler, 2012).

The decline of the traditional textbook market is actually beneficial for Studies Weekly. They
can offer traditional textbook material in a cheaper printed format and online supplementary
material for added learning.




&
Learning techniques

Studies have shown that by having students learn through the experience of solving problems,
they learn both the desired content as well as thinking strategies. A lot of this type of learning
can be seen in the eStudiesWeekly product. Students directly interact with the website and can
solve the problems at their own pace. Many of the questions asked in the eStudiesWeekly
programs reinforce thinking strategies while teaching the curriculum (Hmelo-Silver, 2004).

Research also shows that learning core curriculum and problem solving skills is best
accomplished when students are engaged in activities. A TIMSS study looked at the goals of
teachers in the U.S. and found that 61 percent focused on skills, 22 percent on thinking and 6
percent on test preparation (Consiglio, 2005). Simply teaching skills and preparing for tests is not
the most efficient way to learn, as indicated by the previously mentioned studies. Active
learning activities, includes more than hands-on activities and object lessons. When students are
engaged in reading, writing and problem solving, it must become higher-learning tasks such as
analysis and synthesis. Again, the interactivity that is present in the eStudiesWeekly product
helps to engage students, especially with the Revere the Rat character. Many of the tasks in the
program, especially the social studies, require students to analyze a situation and then after
synthesizing all of the information presented to them, make a judgment as to what the right
answer is.


Past promotions, public relations, and marketing

Almost everything related to Studies Weekly online is found on their website. The only site to
mention Studies Weekly in a Google search is their own. There has been very little press or
outside marketing done to spread awareness of the product. On the website, there is a free copy
promotion in an effort to give people a chance to experience the product without charge. At the
very bottom of the website there is a special offer tab for current free gifts with purchases. Under
the testimonials, there is a link to teaching resource sites such as proteacher.net and
AtoZteacherstuff.com where teachers and other administrators can discuss Studies Weekly with
peers. They express how they follow the cores, help making lesson planning easier, but the
testimonials still make the product come across as supplemental.

Studies Weekly has a huge opportunity to expand their social media efforts. They have 250
followers on Twitter and slightly over 1,000 likes on Facebook. The majority of their tweets
have no hash tags and the never tweet at other people; rarely is their product even mentioned.
Their Facebook page does have more useful links than their Twitter and a user can get to their
company blog from the page.


Background on issue:

The Issue (based on preliminary discussion with the client): The magazines are not being used
for a long period of time if they are sold at all.

'
History of issue

Since its beginning, Studies Weekly has struggled to overcome the negative perception that a
textbook magazine is as credible or information-rich as an actual textbook. Although schools are
desperate for cheaper and lighter alternatives to bulky textbooks, district officials are still
hesitant to accept Studies Weekly magazines as legitimate sources of curriculum.

Factors contributing to the issue

To many, light, cheap paper magazines do not feel or look as credible as textbooks. The simple
fact that the magazines are about 5 pages and most textbooks are over 200 pages makes them
seem like supplementary material more than a core source for teaching and learning.



(
Qualitative Research and Analysis

Qualitative Methodology

Participant Selection

Throughout the participant selection process we tried contacting over one hundred different
school administrators across the Utah County area. We contacted these individuals via phone
and did not receive very positive responses. Many people either did not answer, even after
attempting to contact them multiple times, or were just not interested in participating. In an
attempt to get more participants, we contacted a second list of people that included school
principals as well. In the end we had five participants confirm to coming to the focus group. We
sent out a follow-up email to remind our participants of the date and time of the meeting a few
days before the focus group was held.

Focus Group Procedure

Our focus group was held on February 20, 2013 from 5:00-6:30 pm. The meeting was located at
the Studies Weekly office building in Lindon, UT. There were three student moderators
conducting the focus group, as well as another student and our professor there to oversee and
assist the moderators. Ed and one of the moderators introduced and explained the purpose and
intentions of the focus group to the members. The moderators then proceeded to ask questions
that they had previously prepared in order to make the discussion run smoothly. We prepared
and designed the questions in such a way as to encourage a more in depth discussion between
members.

Incentives Used

The incentives used to attract participation in the focus group were $100 for principals who
attended, $200 for district administrators, and refreshments after the discussion. Many people
we contacted were wary of the incentive because they had been warned that people who offer
money usually want something in return. Of course we reassured them that it was only their
ideas and discussion that were wanted, but many still declined. Other people declined simply
because we held the focus group at a time at which they could not make it from work to the
Studies Weekly offices in time. The members who did attend the focus group were happy to
accept the incentives given to them.


Primary Themes

Awareness

One main theme discussed during this focus group was that of Studies Weekly just creating
general awareness for itself. Two of the members had never even heard of Studies Weekly
)
before, and they are both school administrators. The other focus group members have heard of
Studies Weekly before, but they always just thought of it as a supplemental teaching tool to use
in addition to their regular textbooks. It is not viewed as a credible, legitimate textbook, and that
is what needs to change. Peoples perception of Studies Weekly in general is not negative, but it
is also not very serious. They are not seen as a source for education, but more for entertainment
for the children. After Ed gave a short introduction to the magazine product, eStudies, and the
company in general, the focus group members had a more clear and open view of the idea.

Example:

So our elementary one is coming up, now that we know, I thought you were a magazine, I did
not know you were a textbook or could be a textbook. The awareness factor is just not there. We
do district wide adoptions for K-12 for social studies so 62 elementary schools. But if our buyer
doesnt say youve got Holt and Pearson and Studies Weekly then we wont even look at you.

Curriculum

Another major theme discussed between focus group members is the qualitative part of the
magazines. The administrators, especially person #4, discussed the concept of teaching language
arts through teaching social studies, instead of the opposite, which is presently done. They
suggest adding further elements to the magazines and eBook portion of Studies Weekly that will
enhance students language arts knowledge, as well as social studies. They all agreed that the
function of the eBook portion of Studies Weekly that highlights and reads the words out loud to
the children is a great way to help them learn reading and other language arts skills.

Examples:

Were adopting languages, arts and math right now in our district so theres basically a
committee of teachers and administrators that form and just take math for instance. They looked
at 20 different companies, got it down to two, then let the schools pick which of those two they
wanted to use, so we had the choice of two different titles. They didnt force us to choose.
In science or social studies, we dont order it. Its up to us to order it. We dont have a textbook
for language or arts anymore, my teachers use the textbooks as a supplemental book.

tying it into the vocabulary, of the language arts and the science, and the math, because that is
just what we are really accountable for is, and thats where the money is going.

Functions

Another main theme discussed during this focus group was that teachers need to know what is
actually available with a subscription to Studies Weekly. When a teacher or administrator
purchases a subscription to Studies Weekly, they automatically get the online portion with it.
With the online portion there are a variety of different functions that can be used by the students,
parents and teachers. Many administrators and teachers do not even know about these functions
even though they have purchased them. With the modern shift in technology and how it is used
in schools, all of the members agreed that the eBook should and needs to be better advertised and
*
utilized. Studies Weekly staff put so much emphasis on the magazine portion of their company,
and much less attention on getting clients to use their online function. Person #3 really enjoyed
the online portion and suggests that he would be much more interested in that part of the
company than the magazines because his school uses iPads often. They responded positively to
the many different functions provided by the eStudies such as being able to email parents and
students about upcoming tests and assignments. One main comment that was reoccurring
throughout the conversation was that the Studies Weekly magazines should be a supplemental
tool to the online subscription, not the other way around as it currently is. The magazines are
great for lower income schools and other schools that do not have the resources to use the online,
but with all of the new technology, the majority of schools today are moving towards online
textbooks.

Example:

I do like the online piece as well, that I didnt realize that that was available, just so that you
could do as a whole class reading of something, and I think that with the upper grades, letting the
teachers know about the test options and the reports that you can run from those, thats very
valuable information.

Marketing

Person #1 suggested several marketing tactics that he though Studies Weekly could improve on,
and the others all agreed with his statements as well. One point that person #1 brought up was
that just the name Studies Weekly makes the public think that it is just a weekly, current events
sort of magazine, but definitely not a textbook. He also brought up the point that Studies Weekly
needs to market their product as an actual textbook, not as a magazine, so that when teachers and
administrators are looking through the list of publishers for textbooks they see Studies Weekly
right there in the mix of things. Person #1 and person #4 were adamant about Studies Weekly
changing their marketing strategy and how they are viewed by school administrators and
teachers. Person #1 suggested that, once Studies Weekly markets themselves more clearly and
boldly as an actual textbook, not a supplement or magazine, they will soon be more subject to
being even considered and looked at by many more people. One speaker said, If our buyer
doesnt say youve got Holt and Pearson and Studies Weekly then we wont even look at you.
The company focuses so much on marketing the magazine, when they really should be
marketing a textbook, or an online subscription to a credible textbook.


Note: A full transcript of the focus group is located in the appendix.

+
Quantitative Research and Analysis


Survey Design and Construction

Studies Weekly originally designed the survey questions. Ed said that he wanted to know how
people are using Studies Weekly products and what their perceptions are of them. Eds
employees compiled a rough draft of questions, which were given to the class. The questions
were then broken down into three groups: Print Users, Online Users and Demographics. Being
that there were sixty questions or so, the first priority was to establish which questions were
necessary and which were less important, to decrease the total number of questions. This was
done to shorten the survey and limit the possibility of survey fatigue, presumably allowing more
data to be collected.

Filter questions were devised to arrange customers into groups based on how they use Studies
Weekly products: Print only, online only, mostly print and some online, print and online equally
or mostly online and some print. [NOTE: It was discovered after the survey was launched that
there is not actually an option to subscribe to eStudies Weekly only. Users must have a print
subscription in order to access the online features. Technically it is impossible to be online
only, yet there was a small number of respondents who categorized themselves as such an
interesting find.]

Once the questions had been revised they were submitted to Professor Watson and Lincoln
Hubbard for review. There were a few problems that needed to be fixed including some loaded
questions, some biased questions and a few questions that were confusing or hard to understand.

Upon a second revision of the questions the survey was built using a Qualtrics account. The first
question broke respondents into the five groups previously mentioned above and all respondents
ended the survey answering a set of demographic questions.

Once the survey was built, it was previewed by the creator and about twelve other students to test
survey flow, find typos, highlight useless or confusing questions, test free response and ratings
features and ensure general workability of the survey. Some flaws were found in the way
respondents were asked to answer specific questions, and the response type was changed to a
more appropriate and accommodating type for that question.

One negative aspect of this survey that remained was that if respondents labeled themselves as
using both forms of Studies Weekly, they could have to answer up to 35 questions which makes
for a long survey. Many of the questions Eds team wanted answered were very technical about
specific features of the print and online formats, nonetheless, it was felt that these specific
feature type questions would give a broad understanding of what users think about the products
they use.

#,
While a random sample survey would have been more effective as to generalize the results to a
broader population of subscribers, this survey was carried out as a pure convenience survey.
While the data cannot be statistically generalized, it will provide good general insight into
current usage of Studies Weekly products by roughly 9 percent of subscribers, and offer effective
starting points for future surveys and data collection.
Studies Weekly subscribers are scattered throughout the whole United States, therefore the most
effective and efficient way to distribute this survey was via the Internet.

Sample Size

Again, this survey was a convenience survey, given to virtually all of Studies Weeklys
subscribers via the intent, to get as many responses as possible. Two lists of around 10,400 total
Studies Weekly subscribers were provided by Ed, and the survey was sent directly to these
individuals email accounts from the Qualtrics website. A link was given to recipients to follow
and take the survey over a secure network, keeping their identity and information confidential.
Each individual who took the survey was labeled with a distinct code from Qualtrics to ensure
that each individual could only take the survey once and prevent ballot box stuffing.

Around 200 of the subscribers on the lists did not have email addresses and could not be given
the survey. Another 200 or so had inactive email accounts and the survey could not be sent to
them either. These two errors resulted in about 10,000 email accounts actually getting the survey.

However, though there were around 10,000 accounts that got the survey, around 100 or more
sent back automatic replies saying that particular school was on spring break a lack of foresight
in the timing of distribution.

The survey was first launched on Monday, March 25 at 9:30 a.m. MST to try and get as many
respondents as possible on the first day this being between 8:30 and 11:30 a.m. nationally, a
time when most professionals would normally be checking emails. A reminder email was sent
out to all survey recipients who had not yet taken the survey on Thursday, March 28 and
Monday, April 1, both around the same time the initial email was sent. These email reminders
proved to be very effective in gaining responses, as the large majority of the responses came in
immediately after the emails were sent out.

As to not skew or alter the results while the data was being compiled, the survey was closed at
9:30 p.m. MST Monday, April 1. A total of 926 surveys were completed, accounting for 9
percent of the surveys distributed.

Demographics

Of the 926 surveys completed by users of Studies Weekly products, 50 percent are in their first
year of subscription.
##
now |ong have you been a subscr|ber of Stud|es Week|y products?
# Answer

8esponse
1 1hls ls my flrsL year 462 30
2 2-3 years

363 39
3 6+ years

101 11
1oLal 926 100

Forty-five percent of respondents teach 4
th
grade, 30 percent teach 5
th
grade and 22 percent teach
3
rd
grade. The state with the highest number of respondents was Florida with 17 percent,
followed by Texas with 10 percent. The most common age range of respondents was between 41
and 50 with 32 percent, followed by 51-60. Forty percent of respondents have been teaching
between six and fifteen years. Only 18 percent of respondents are National Board certified.

Wh|ch grade(s) do you teach? Check a|| that app|y.
# Answer

8esponse
1 klndergarLen

62 7
2 Crade 1

83 9
3 Crade 2

126 14
4 Crade 3

206 22
3 Crade 4

419 43
6 Crade 3

279 30
7 Crade 6

96 10

Results

Categories: The first question of the survey asks respondents to indicate to what extent they use
Studies Weekly products based on the following categories: Print publication only, online
publication only, mostly the print publication and some online features, the print and online
features equally or mostly the online features and some of the print publication. Most
respondents (57 percent) said they are print only users, followed by mostly print and some online
(23 percent).

#$
# Answer

8esponse
1
SLudles Weekly prlnL
publlcaLlon only
324 37
2
MosLly SLudles Weekly prlnL,
parLlally eSLudles Weekly
onllne


214 23
3
SLudles Weekly prlnL and
eSLudles Weekly onllne
equally


148 16
4
MosLly eSLudles Weekly
onllne, parLlally SLudles
Weekly prlnL


13 1
3
eSLudles Weekly onllne
publlcaLlon only


27 3
1oLal 926 100

The most interesting find of this question is that 27 respondents said they use the online material
only, even though in order to have access to the online material, customers must subscribe to the
print version. Major findings from the main two categories, print and online, will be addressed
respectively.


Print Demographics

Technically all subscribers use the print publications by necessity but a breakdown of those who
identify themselves as print users only shows that about 46 percent are in their first year of
subscription, 56 percent teach 4
th
and/or 5
th
grade, and have been teaching for an average of 14
years (29 percent for 21+ years though). See the following two charts.

now |ong have you been a subscr|ber of Stud|es Week|y products?
# Answer SLudles Weekly
prlnL publlcaLlon
only
MosLly SLudles
Weekly prlnL,
parLlally
eSLudles Weekly
onllne
SLudles
Weekly prlnL
and eSLudles
Weekly
onllne
equally
MosLly eSLudles
Weekly onllne,
parLlally SLudles
Weekly prlnL
eSLudles
Weekly onllne
publlcaLlon
only
1
1hls ls my flrsL
year
241 112 77 8 23
2 2-3 years 231 74 36 3 2
3 6+ years 33 28 16 2 0
1oLal 327 214 149 13 27

#%
Wh|ch grade(s) do you teach? Check a|| that app|y.
# Answer SLudles
Weekly prlnL
publlcaLlon
only
MosLly
SLudles
Weekly prlnL,
parLlally
eSLudles
Weekly
onllne
SLudles
Weekly prlnL
and eSLudles
Weekly
onllne
equally
MosLly
eSLudles
Weekly
onllne,
parLlally
SLudles
Weekly prlnL
eSLudles
Weekly
onllne
publlcaLlon
only
1 klndergarLen 34 12 6 1 9
2 Crade 1 43 21 9 1 11
3 Crade 2 76 23 13 0 12
4 Crade 3 101 38 33 1 11
3 Crade 4 243 89 69 6 12
6 Crade 3 143 69 43 6 17
7 Crade 6 31 22 12 1 10
1oLal 693 296 189 16 82


Print Usage

Print users were asked which Studies Weekly Publication they use between social studies, math
and science. An astounding 91 percent said they use social studies, 26 percent use science and
only 2 percent of the 899 print users said they use math. Clearly, social studies is the
moneymaker and math is missing the boat.

Comparing this information to a crosstab of demographics, it is seen that the biggest users of the
social studies publication are 2
nd
and 4
th
grade teachers and the smallest users are 6
th
grade
teachers. Math is used most by kindergarten teachers (15 percent) and least by 4
th
graders (.2
percent). Science is used mostly by kindergarteners as well (43 percent) and least by 4
th
graders
(20 percent). Being that only 2 percent of all print users use math this could mean that either the
quality of the math publication is not high enough and perhaps there are other programs by
competitors that are being used instead, or it could mean that math is not a topic in which
teachers want anything other than a standard textbook for. Further research is needed for these
conclusions.
#&

It was interesting that the split between which subscribers use Studies Weekly as their acting
textbook or supplemental material was almost dead even, 51 percent textbook and 49 percent
supplemental.
Does Stud|es Week|y act as your c|assroom textbook or supp|ementa| mater|a|?
# Answer

8esponse
1 AcLlng 1exLbook 436 31
2
SupplemenLal
MaLerlal
443 49
1oLal 899 100

Though 51 percent of print users say Studies Weekly is their acting textbook, this gives
interesting findings when comparing it to the question Consider the material your curriculum
requires you to teach. Approximately how much of that material does Studies Weekly help you
teach? (0 to 100 %). As the chart below shows, all of the publications received rather low scores
with social studies (the most used print publication) being the highest at an average score of
66.33 percent, meaning on average teachers use the Studies Weekly social studies for three-fifths
of their teaching. It seems like these numbers should be higher if Studies Weekly is the acting
textbook for these subjects. If subscribers are only using their acting textbook this much, what
else are they using to instruct students?
#'
Cons|der the mater|a| your curr|cu|um requ|res you to teach. Approx|mate|y
how much of that mater|a| does Stud|es Week|y he|p you teach? (0 to 100 )
# Answer Mln value Max value Average value SLandard
uevlaLlon
1 MaLh 0.00 100.00 1.84 10.28
2 Soclal SLudles 0.00 100.00 66.33 33.69
3 Sclence 0.00 100.00 20.30 34.30

However, the question Does Studies Weekly act as your main text or supplemental material
was asked again (to the same people as above) in a different way, with more specific types of
usage, and the results were much different. In the chart below it is seen that only 38 percent of
respondents said Studies Weekly is their primary/only text material and only 36 percent said that
Studies Weekly is supplemental to other material. Perhaps this indicates that with more
technology and alternative teaching methods available in schools, maybe a large percentage of
teachers prefer not to have only one textbook as is traditional, but rather teach from an array of
materials.
now do you use Stud|es Week|y |n re|at|on to other teach|ng mater|a|s?
# Answer

8esponse
1
SLudles Weekly ls my only/prlmary LexL
maLerlal


340 38
2
SLudles Weekly ls supplemenLal Lo
oLher LexL maLerlal


324 36
3
SLudles Weekly ls used alongslde oLher
LexL maLerlals equally


171 19
4 CLher [lease explaln]

64 7
1oLal 899 100

Comparing both of these questions in a crosstab to which publications customers use, it is seen
that, once again, social studies beats out the other two publications in the number of people who
use it as their acting/primary text material.

#(
As far as how often respondents use Studies Weekly, 72 percent use it between once a week and
daily. The highest frequency of use is two to three times per week.
now often do you use Stud|es Week|y |n your c|assroom?
# Answer

8esponse
1 never

3 1
2
Less Lhan Cnce
a MonLh


23 3
3 Cnce a MonLh

38 4
4
2-3 1lmes a
MonLh


187 21
3 Cnce a Week

221 23
6
2-3 1lmes a
Week


269 30
7 ually

134 17
1oLal 899 100

While 72 percent of customers use Studies Weekly between once a week and daily in their
classroom teaching, only 52 percent ask their students to take Studies Weekly materials home in
that same time frequency. Being that 20 percent of respondents never require students to take
their materials home with them, a good follow up question for a future survey would be Why or
why not?
now often do you ask your students to take the|r Stud|es Week|y mater|a|s
home?
# Answer

8esponse
1 never

180 20
2
Less Lhan Cnce
a MonLh


63 7
3 Cnce a MonLh

61 7
4
2-3 1lmes a
MonLh


131 13
3 Cnce a Week

267 30
6
2-3 1lmes a
Week


109 12
7 ually

86 10
1oLal 899 100

#)
It would seem as though, considering 52 percent of print users require their students to take their
Studies Weekly materials home with them at least once a week, a nice and simple way for this to
happen would be to use the online features and activities.
However, the final question that print only (57 percent of all respondents) users were asked
was Are you aware of the content available on the eStudies Weekly website? Nearly half of
these respondents (46 percent) said yes. Those who answered yes were asked to explain why
they do not use the eStudies website.
|ease |nd|cate the reasons you do not use the eStud|es Week|y webs|te.
# Answer

8esponse
1 l prefer prlnLed maLerlal Lo onllne maLerlal

86 38
2
l lack Lhe proper Lechnology Lo effecLlvely
use onllne maLerlal wlLh my class


43 19
3
1he webslLe was Loo dlfflculL Lo use [lease
explaln]


19 8
4 CLher [lease explaln]

81 33
1oLal 229 100

As the above chart shows, 38 percent said they prefer printed material over online material -- an
opinion not easily changed. But, the second largest reason, with 35 percent of these respondents,
was that of the other category. There were two common themes among the 81 explanations:

1. The website was not user friendly.

Very confusing and not user friendly.

I found the info once and then couldn't figure out how to use it after that.

2. Time issues.

I simply haven't taken the time to become familiar with it.

Haven't had the time to explore with all of the curriculum and state demands.

I really haven't had the time to explore the online material but I do like my students to
have the hard copy to highlight key information.

The registration process and setting up user accounts for my students was too time
consuming. We need a quicker way for students to get on and take a test easily or take a
quiz as a whole group....more like www.brainpopjr.com. This would give your rich
content more exposure to the students.

#*
Technical issues with the website will be discussed later. Mixing the above two issues (the site
not being user friendly and not having time to figure it out) causing people to not use the website
could mean either a better help section needs to be added or video tutorials should be made to
accompany the website (how to register, the different features, etc.).


Print Perceptions

Now that the usage of Studies Weekly print publications has been addressed, a look into how
customers perceive the products will be addressed. In regards to the basic elements of
illustrations, activities, content and convenience for the print publications, customers seems
pretty satisfied. As the chart below indicates, the highest ranked feature is the convenience of
Studies Weekly. A convenient way to teach high-quality content is definitely a strong selling
point.
|ease rank the Stud|es Week|y e|ements ||sted be|ow from 1 to S (1- needs
|mprovement, 2- sat|sfactory, 3- average, 4- good, S- except|ona|) on the|r
performance.
# CuesLlon 1 2 3 4 3 1oLal
8esponses
Mean
1 lllusLraLlons 8 30 110 381 370 899 4.20
2 AcLlvlLles 44 62 207 369 217 899 3.73
3 ConLenL 20 26 83 312 436 899 4.29
4 Convenlence 24 20 74 237 324 899 4.38

Activities received the lowest average score. Comparing this with the free response question for
additional comments, one user said Stories help it come to life for students; crosswords each
week [are] repetitive. Perhaps a wider variety of, or more in-depth activities would get this
element a higher score.
Respondents were asked how likely they are to recommend Studies Weekly to other teachers and
the results were very favorable, as the chart below indicates.

#+
now ||ke|y are you to recommend Stud|es Week|y to other teachers?
# Answer

8esponse
1 very unllkely

68 8
2 unllkely

13 2
3
SomewhaL
unllkely


23 3
4 undeclded

39 4
3 SomewhaL Llkely

83 9
6 Llkely

232 28
7 very Llkely

417 46
1oLal 899 100

With such a high number of people saying they are at least likely to recommend the product to
other teachers (74 percent of 899 respondents) perhaps it would be worth the time to research
how cost-effective a referral/reward program would be to help market Studies Weekly.

Analyzing responses in the additional comments question, there are several common themes
that customers like very much about Studies Weekly products:

1. Content is very good.

Our third grade teachers love and depend on Studies Weekly to enhance the education of our
students. It puts the information in their hands and also allows parents to review learning
material.

2. Its an excellent tool for homeschooling.

As a first year homeschooling Mom, Studies Weekly has been an absolute lifesaver for
teaching my daughter 4th grade Science. She loves the newspapers and the curriculum is
not only teaching what she needs but is fun too! I enjoy the layout, the extra activities,
the quizzes and all of the extras like the review questions and additional places to go for
information. It gives us plenty to do in each week.


3. People like that it goes along with common core.

They are invaluable. They completed cover all fourth grade TEKS. Our students are so
excited to read and learn from the papers. The writing is kid-friendly, on grade-level, and
well done.

On the other hand, there are some things that customers do not like about the print publications:

1. They want new, more challenging and a larger variety of activities for each week.

$,
The crossword puzzles are not beneficial in this day and age. The students need to be doing
charts and graphs; filling in graphic organizers; responding to open-ended questions;
incorporating math into social studies; working with timelines; and doing a variety of these kinds
of activities with each newspaper. The activity page is where we get our daily grades. The tests
need to be the kind of questions that make the student go back in the text and search for the
answers.

I have to create additional worksheets to accompany the text. The common core requires
students to seek out "evidence from the text" to support their answers. I would LOVE it if your
product came with open-ended questions that were rigorous. Also, vocabulary exercises would
be great!!

2. They hate the way the material is packaged; it's a pain and a hassle to separate the issues.
(Some respondents suggested they want all of the issues in one shipment to have more control
over when they teach certain things. This clearly could become an issue of storage space in a
classroom.)

We HATE the way the materials are packaged. They are a pain and time consuming to
separate. Nine consecutive weeks in one bundle is very inconvenient. Please put all of
Week 1 together, all of Week 2, etc. It would be nice if the "activities" were more
academic. They are often just "fun," time fillers, and if we want to do something
meaningful, we have to develop something on our own. Scholastic Weekly Reader does
a really good job of designing lessons and tasks/assignments that go with their texts.
Maybe you guys could look at them and add some "meat" to the lessons. Thanks for
listening to our input.

3. Information not always age appropriate (this could be the case with math and science since
they are rarely used).

Very odd information not appropriate for kindergarten, well order scholastic next year.


Online Demographics

The demographics of those who say they use the online features vary across the board. One
would assume that it would be the youngest and newest teachers who are more apt to use the
online features, but the following two charts show that this is not necessarily the case and the age
and length of years teaching is a relatively nonsymmetrical curve.

$#
|ease se|ect your age.
# Answer SLudles
Weekly
prlnL
publlcaLlon
only
MosLly SLudles
Weekly prlnL,
parLlally
eSLudles Weekly
onllne
SLudles Weekly
prlnL and
eSLudles
Weekly onllne
equally
MosLly eSLudles
Weekly onllne,
parLlally SLudles
Weekly prlnL
eSLudles Weekly
onllne publlcaLlon
only
1 30 or younger 42 28 20 0 3
2 31-40 120 37 44 6 3
3 41-30 181 62 42 4 9
4 31-60 141 38 38 2 7
3 61+ 41 9 3 1 1
1oLal 323 214 149 13 27

now many years have you been teach|ng?
# Answer SLudles
Weekly prlnL
publlcaLlon
only
MosLly SLudles
Weekly prlnL,
parLlally eSLudles
Weekly onllne
SLudles Weekly
prlnL and eSLudles
Weekly onllne
equally
MosLly eSLudles
Weekly onllne,
parLlally SLudles
Weekly prlnL
eSLudles
Weekly onllne
publlcaLlon
only
1 0-3 77 33 28 3 7
2 6-10 91 30 37 2 1
3 11-13 106 32 24 3 4
4 16-20 99 28 22 3 3
3 21+ 132 31 38 2 10
1oLal 323 214 149 13 27

Putting the two above charts together it can be seen that the largest users of online only are the
teachers who range in age from 41-50 and have been teaching for 21 or more years.

Online Usage

Online users were asked how often they use eStudies Weekly in class. Of 403 users, 33 percent
of them said they use it two to three times a week and only 16 percent said they use it daily, as
the chart below indicates.

$$
now often do you use eStud|es Week|y |n your c|assroom?
# Answer

8esponse
1 never

17 4
2
Less Lhan Cnce
a MonLh


33 9
3 Cnce a MonLh

23 6
4
2-3 1lmes a
MonLh


62 13
3 Cnce a Week

63 16
6
2-3 1lmes a
Week


133 33
7 ually

66 16
1oLal 403 100

However, only 24 percent said they visit the eStudies website two to three times a week and only
5 percent daily. This seems strange in that they need to visit the site in order to use the online
material.
now often do you v|s|t the eStud|es Week|y webs|te?
# Answer

8esponse
1 never

4 1
2
Less Lhan Cnce
a MonLh


73 18
3 Cnce a MonLh

43 11
4
2-3 1lmes a
MonLh


79 20
3 Cnce a Week

86 21
6
2-3 1lmes a
Week


96 24
7 ually

20 3
1oLal 403 100

How often teachers use eStudies in their classroom instruction could hinge on whether or not
teachers typically use technology in their teaching. This question of how often teachers use
technology was asked of both print users and online users. Of the print users, 57 percent said that
they use technology daily and 20 percent said they use it two to three times a week.
Unsurprisingly, perhaps, of online users, 70 percent said they use technology daily and 16
percent use technology two to three times a week. It stands to reason that the more a teacher uses
technology on a regular basis, the more likely they are to use the online features in their teaching.
$%

Looking at the above crosstab of age versus the use of technology in teaching, the results
measure up that the biggest users of technology in teaching are teachers between the ages of 41
and 50. These results match the age and length of years teaching as those who labeled
themselves as online only users. Thus, it is shown once again that the older generation of
teachers is either more capable or more willing to use technology of any kind in their classrooms.
Just like print users were asked about their students home use of the print publications, online
users were asked how often they ask their students to use the website at home. Forty-seven
percent of online users said they ask their students to use it at home with parents at least once a
week. This is lower than the number of teachers who ask their students to use the print
publications at home at 52 percent. This could be, however, due to the lack of computer and
Internet access outside of school for many students. Online users were asked how their students
most often access eStudies Weekly. Of all online users, only 44 percent said their students access
the website via at-home computers. The majority of access to the website is done through school
computer use. This could indicate that the lack of at-home computer and Internet access could be
a barrier to more online users.
Online users were asked about how their students use the many features on the website. For
teachers who require their students to use the website at home the testing feature was the most
used followed by the audio reader. The testing feature falls under the convenience selling point.
For teachers who only encourage students to use the website at home the audio reader was the
most used feature followed by the highlighted text. For both sets of teachers, the email feature
was by far the least used out of them all.
The final usage situation online users were asked about was which teaching situations did
eStudies Weekly help them in. As the chart below indicates, fitting science and social studies
$&
into the literacy block is the most common situation that eStudies is most helpful in teaching.
Just like social studies is the big seller for print publications, it is seen that the website is most
helpful for aiding in teaching social studies. It should be noted again that the top three helpful
situations all easily fall into the convenience selling point.
D|d us|ng eStud|es Week|y he|p you w|th the fo||ow|ng s|tuat|ons? Check a|| that
app|y:
# Answer

8esponse
1
1o flL sclence or soclal sLudles lnLo Lhe
llLeracy block
267 66
2
1o "caLch up" sLudenLs who have
mlssed class Llme


128 32
3 1o dlfferenLlaLe lnsLrucLlon 231 62
4
1o accommodaLe LSL, LLL, 304 lan,
ClfLed/1alenLed ldenLlfled sLudenLs


170 42
3
1o mulLl-Lask durlng your
lnsLrucLlonal day
208 32
6
1o asslsL you ln savlng your volce
(sore LhroaL or lllness)


134 33


Online Perceptions

Online users were asked a series of questions to gauge how they view the online experience.
First they were asked about how helpful they think the many features are. As the below chart
indicates, the audio reader and testing features were ranked the highest, with average helpfulness
scores of 4.02 and 3.76 respectively. Once again, the email feature was ranked as the least
helpful feature.
$'
Cn a sca|e of 1 to S (1 be|ng extreme|y unhe|pfu|, and S be|ng extreme|y he|pfu|) how he|pfu|
are the fo||ow|ng eStud|es Week|y features |n teach|ng mater|a| to your students? Se|ect
"Don't Use" |f you do not use that feature.
# CuesLlon uon'L use 1 2 3 4 3 1oLal
8esponses
Mean
1 Audlo reader 116 8 16 36 63 163 402 4.02
2 PlghllghLed LexL 122 20 18 60 76 106 402 3.66
3 Lmall 313 23 23 23 6 10 402 1.33
4 1esLs 120 17 21 34 62 128 402 3.76
3 uocumenL based quesLlons 118 11 26 66 84 97 402 3.69
6 Medla buLLon conLenL 187 23 27 63 49 31 402 2.79
7 8evere Lhe 8aL 203 26 28 49 43 31 402 2.63
8 CLher feaLures 200 23 23 72 37 43 402 2.63

Next, users were asked how likely they are to recommend eStudies Weekly to other teachers.
Looking at the graph below it is seen that the very likely and likely options are the highest.
However, the percentages of favorable options (somewhat likely to very likely) are a touch
lower than the print users and the negative options (somewhat unlikely to very unlikely) are
a touch higher.

now ||ke|y are you to recommend eStud|es Week|y to other teachers?
# Answer

8esponse
1 very unllkely

43 11
2 unllkely

11 3
3 SomewhaL unllkely

11 3
4 undeclded

29 7
3 SomewhaL Llkely

37 9
6 Llkely

94 23
7 very Llkely

173 44
1oLal 402 100

As with print, online users were asked to give additional comments about eStudies Weekly and
there were both positive and negative themes.

The positives:

1. Many teachers love the audio reader and really enjoy the different accents.

My class enjoys listening to the readings online. The characters easily draw their
attention and they would rather listen/follow along than read themselves."
$(

The negatives:

1. Technology issues, such as slow loading speeds and login errors.

We have had a lot of difficulty accessing the site. All of us (5 classes) have students
who can't get logged on . . . Some students can only log on from a teacher's computer at
the teacher's desk. The concern is that the eStudies website wasn't ready for the load
we have.

Website rarely works.

2. The testing feature.
Overall, teachers want more control over the questions and ordering and how
many times the test could be taken. They want to be able to print out the tests, and want
to ensure all the test questions have answers in the material. Teachers also suggested
making the tests available over the audio reader. (Though this was one of the highest
rated features, it apparently could be rated even more helpful if it had some work done.)

It would be VERY HELPFUL to have the tests read to the students. My kindergarten
students and some of my first graders cannot read the tests on their own.

I wish the students were not allowed to take the tests more than one time. Or, could it be
a settings option for teachers to say how many times students can go in and take the tests
online?

The only reason I rated Tests as a 1 is because they are not always available. I had my
students take them on the computer to save paper, and now they don't even have all of the
tests available!

Key Points from the Survey

1. Social studies is the money maker for both the print and online publications. Math is
virtually unused.
2. The group that loves Studies Weekly has shown that convenient quality is the value that
customers get from Studies Weekly products.
3. The audio feature and testing feature are solid gold for the online publication.
4. The website needs its technical issues cleaned up and made more user friendly.




$)
Social Media Analytics

NUVI, a real-time social analytics and engagement platform was used in tracking and
understanding the quantity and quality of engagements Studies Weekly online. NUVI is an
analytics platform that track social conversations in real-time on the web. This platform, through
visualizations, shows you what people are saying about your product or words related to your
product. It is set up by setting tracking key words associated with your product and shows you
posts and discussions by those word associations. Through various screenshots, this section
summarizes the online impact of Studies Weekly, along with suggestions on how the firm can
better implement tactics and strategies that will help it maximize its reach and engagement of
potential customers.


There were 15 mentions in the past two weeks of the keywords Studies Weekly. As will be
shown in more detail later, none of those mentions was in reference to the alternative textbook
company Studies Weekly.



$*
Of those discussions picked up by NUVI, none of the influencers relate to Studies Weekly. To
create a sustainable online presence for Studies Weekly, the company should consider
implementing various tactics that will allow the company to gain a strong presence online. To do
that, the publication could consider targeting 1) education bloggers 2) educators on Twitter 3)
education YouTube channels. The company should also consider reaching out to organizations
like Teach for America. Working with organizations that are trying to change the education
system could be key targets for an organization like Studies Weekly.

This word burst demonstrates all words that were associated with mentions of Studies Weekly.
As you can see from the word burst, not one of the mentions is about the company Studies
Weekly. This word burst can be helpful in what words to avoid and what words to push in order
for Studies Weekly to gain a more prominent online presence. While the way SEOs track words
constantly changes, there are ways to optimize getting this particular Studies Weekly higher in
searches. More importantly, Studies Weekly needs to have people searching for it by promoting
it in other ways, whether it is by a school tour or advertising in education publications.



$+
These are the examples we mentioned earlier about what was found on the reach feed that show
what the analytics picked up with the words. The studies weekly that were picked up were not
associated with the Studies Weekly associated with this project.

























Even though the mentions found on these sites have nothing to do with
Studies Weekly, these are good indicators of where to start conversations
about Studies Weekly. Post a YouTube video about why Studies Weekly is
effective; create a Twitter handle to spread blog posts and other news about
Studies Weekly.








These keywords that are trending indicate that other topics unrelated
to the textbook alternative company, but with those key words are
being discussed. It reinforces the fact that Studies Weekly has little to
no reach or presence online.



%,

NUVI was unable to pick up Studies Weekly activity on Facebook. From data collected directly
from their Facebook page, Studies Weekly has posted 42 times in the past four weeks. According
to that data, the week of February 17, 2013 was the most popular week for Studies Weekly.
Houston, Texas generates the most interactions, with 35-44 year olds also being the most
interactive.




The majority of posts about Studies Weekly came from internal posts. The last interaction on
Facebook from another source was on February 12, 2013. From January 1, 2013, seven posts on
the Studies Weekly page have been from other users. The majority of the posts were questions
for Studies Weekly. They were neither fully positive nor fully negative, but more about
confusion the users had.















%#













































%$
There were a few positive posts for Studies Weekly. With one being more recent, from January
2013 and the other back in August of 2012.













































%%
Studies Weekly has a Twitter account. Below are some of the Tweets published by Studies
Weekly.







%&
Looking over the Tweets, they could be better optimized for the online medium. There is no use
of hashtags or Tweeting to any influentials, which is part of the opportunities of such a site as
Twitter. The tweets are at times vague. Posting a Yay with a picture fails to let followers know
what they are clicking on. There isnt a draw. But, if the tweet said Its finally Friday! Anyone
as excited as this couple? #TGIF.




























A better text for the above post would be:


According to the Twitter Help Center, one uses hashtags in order to categorize their Tweets and
help them show more easily in Twitter Search. Twitter warns not to over-tag a single Tweet.
They recommend using no more than two hashtags per Tweet. They say to use hashtags only on
Tweets relevant to the topic. Hashtags.org offers an overview of popular hashtags used on
Twitter. Studies Weekly could find relevant education hashtags and start using them in order to
make their Tweets more visible. Hashtags can occur anywhere in the Tweet at the beginning,
middle or end. Hashtagged words that become very popular are often Trending Topics.
%'

An education Twitter account for Scholastic Teachers is a good example of using hashtags and
getting conversations going, along with retweets or favorites.

















Along with looking to others for examples, by reaching out to other education professionals and
influencers, Studies Weekly can expand their influence and awareness. These are some examples
of possible people to start Tweeting. If Studies Weekly just made a cool science YouTube video,
tweet Bill Nye about it. If there is a program that an education writer like Diane Ravitch would
be interested to know, send her a Tweet. These are other examples of education professionals
and influencers to reach out to.




















%(






Edu chats are a way to know when people are discussion topics on Twitter that you can be a part
of. They allow you to get in touch with other people who are interested in the same topics you
are, have influence or experience and can bring awareness and exposure for Studies Weekly.










%)
Studies Weekly also has a YouTube channel with 47 subscribers and 2,261 views. The videos
have views and are a good online presence for Studies Weekly. The threat is that targeted
demographics may not know they exist. Interconnecting social media is a good way to spread
awareness and reach. By Tweeting links to YouTube videos, or posting on Facebook about a
video or about your Twitter page can bring greater online presence and attract more followers to
each. Making sure the Tweets, Facebook posts and videos are relevant and display Studies
Weekly as educational experts will increase likelihood that targeted demographics will consider
Studies Weekly as a viable alternative to regular textbooks.


From the research done through Facebook and NUVI, it has been decided that Studies Weekly
has little to no presence online. Interactions on Facebook, other than what is put out from the
administrators of the page, are little and far between. On NUVI, the discussions found were
unrelated to the textbook alternative company that is Studies Weekly. The research did give
ideas on how better to interact with the online community and start discussions about Studies
Weekly.

To gain an online presence, Studies Weekly needs to start selling and placing their products in
such a way that educators start getting curious enough about the product to search for more
information about it online. Also, the company needs to start using social media sites to promote
their products, using technology available today to target specific audiences. The company
should develop a strategic outreach plan, and track the progress of their efforts month to month,
so they can adjust their goals and expectations accordingly. The success of awareness and sales
through social media will be based on how well the company can first reach out to their target
audiences through grassroots efforts.

%*


Strategic Recommendations


SWOT

Strengths
Cheaper than traditional textbooks
Can be updated regularly to accommodate for changes in curriculum
Can incorporate current events into the curriculum
Now are online with e-Studies Weekly where teachers can track students progress
QR codes in magazines
Motivated and dedicated staff with teaching experience

Weaknesses
Teachers reusing the same magazines year after year
Dont yet have a completely online subscription
Not many employees and a small budget, which limits the number of potential of
subscribers
Confusing website

Opportunities
Online growth
Increased acceptance of magazines over textbooks
(http://www.scholastic.com/browse/article.jsp?id=3750551)
Declining textbook market with the rise in prices, cuts in budgets and inconvenience of
traditional textbooks

Threats
Market domination by other companies
Increasingly sophisticated e-books
Not being accepted in crucial adoption states
Parents who do not support the product being used in the classroom instead of a
traditional textbook


Situation Analysis

Studies Weekly has been growing steadily since its creation in 1984 and the current retention
rate from year to year is 65 percent. The 35 percent of Studies Weekly customers that are not
renewing their subscriptions present a major opportunity for the company. If major causes for
discontinuing membership can be determined, these problems can be solved and the retention
rate can be increased. Studies Weekly also has a major opportunity to increase awareness about
%+
the company. They are still small and relatively unknown and they have major opportunities for
growth.
Potential difficulties for Studies Weekly increasing its retention rate and brand awareness include
the already saturated textbook market and major competitors that offer many of the same and
similar products that Studies Weekly does. Other threats include parents who do not want their
children using Studies Weekly products in place of a textbook, the increasingly sophisticated e-
textbook market and not being accepted in crucial states and districts. If these difficulties are not
overcome, Studies Weekly will not reach the widespread adoption and acceptance that it desires.


Core Opportunity

Because Studies Weekly currently has a retention rate of 65 percent, increasing retention will be
key to improving the company. Studies Weekly is currently a relatively small company and
increased brand awareness will be necessary to expand the company.

Strategic Recommendations and Tactics

Through the use of social media and mass media, we can persuade educators and administrators
to see Studies Weekly as a viable textbook alternative and increase subscriptions.

Print Materials

Through our research, we discovered that educators hope to see improvements in the print
materials, such as:

Receiving Studies Weekly all in one shipment, in order to organize and plan lessons
accordingly
Organize by weeks have all of Week One together, Week Two, etc.
Include maps and graphs to use as examples in non-fiction text for writing
Meticulously edit content to guarantee accuracy in information and grammar
Issues already separated for easier organization by educators
Smaller sizes for student usability
Increase variety of activities for comprehension, other than crosswords
Include a vocabulary section
Lessen the answer choices on evaluations to four to improve teachers grading
experiences and lesson workload

Online Materials

Through our research, we discovered that educators hope to see improvements and increased use
with E-Studies Weekly, such as:

Improve navigation and design of the website for user friendliness
Randomize the online tests
&,
Implement the feature of online test questions being read aloud
Ensure online articles match up with current print edition
Implement an online feature for teachers to track and print students online evaluations
Develop an app edition, for classrooms that are moving towards tablet use
Update online content regularly
Implement online help in a chat format with someone always on call

Social Media

Through our research, we discovered Studies Weekly has little to no online presence and can
increase their visible, online presence, by:

Implementing the use of Hashtags on Twitter
Inter-connecting posts on Facebook, Twitter, the website and YouTube
Entering Edu Chats
Tweeting and creating online relationships with education influencers
Increase use of words in posts related to Studies Weekly to increase search-ability
Make use of trending education topics on Twitter and Facebook
Increase traffic to YouTube channel by posting links on Facebook and Twitter
Regularly and relevantly update Facebook page
Regularly and appropriately update Twitter page

User Group

What: Industry event sponsored by Studies Weekly.

Speakers: NYU Education Curriculum Professor Dr. Diane Ravitch and Columbia University
visiting professor of practice Dr. Eric Nadelstern.

Goal/Objective: To increase awareness and interest of/in Studies weekly at a sponsored event
surrounding curriculum-expert speakers.

Agenda demo, speakers, networking.
Booth with Studies Weekly materials. Dr. Diane Ravitch of NYU. Cocktail and
networking hour prior to dinner, pitch by Studies Weekly, then dinner and speakers.

Suggested cities to start
Salt Lake City, then Seattle, Portland, Los Angeles, Orlando, Charlotte, Albany, Chicago.

Timeline of execution
7:00pm 8:00pm cocktail and networking hour.
8:00pm - 8:30pm - Studies Weekly Pitch.
8:30pm 10:00pm desserts and speakers.


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Venue Options
The Marriott hotel in Salt Lake City.

Menu
Open bar
Catering provided by Marriott
Dessert buffet

Pre-post event meetings and planning

Call the speakers months in advance and plan their travel accommodations. Meeting eight
weeks in advance to plan the invitations and the guest list (50 100 people). Meet six weeks in
advance to finalize invitations and mail invitations, discuss with caterers and plan menu. Start
receiving RSVPs at five weeks out. If not enough people are responding yes, post the event on
LinkedIn, education blogs, and professional sites and tell there is a limited space so to register
online before it fills up. At three weeks prior, plan the goodie bag for guests and make
arrangements for materials. At two weeks prior, put the goodie bags together. At two weeks
prior, finalize with caterers and location host, arrangements for the speaker to be confirmed. One
week prior to the event, check over details.
The week after the event, discuss what worked and what didnt work and what to do
differently next time. Follow-up with contacts made at the event.

Giveaways
Studies weekly kit includes brochure, fact sheet, promotional photos and a sample of
the product. Also, 2 lotteries of $30 pre-paid visa cards.

Thank you gifts to speakers
The gift will be an engraved pen with the speakers name and Studies Weekly event
name and date, along with set of stationary.

Costs

Stationary set 29.00/a piece
Visa pre-paid cards 60.00
Fact sheet 6.99/500
Brochure $49.99/100
Promotional photos $14.95/100
Sample product whatever the studies weekly printing cost is.
Airline ticket - $300 - $500 round-trip
Guest accommodations - $200/night at Marriott
Food - $20-50/plate
Room charge - $300




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Comprehensive Conclusion

Conclusion

The research and data collected from the focus group, survey and social media analysis indicated
Studies Weekly has many areas in which they can improve their product to better meet the needs
of their existing clients and potential clients. They also have many opportunities to grow and
gain an increased awareness of their company.

Strengths and Limitations:

Total Scope of Research

Extensive background research via:
Studies Weekly website
eStudies Weekly
Research of competitors
Other online sources

Focus Group
Conducted at Studies Weekly warehouse
Consisted of 5 people

Survey
926 surveys completed
Completed online via Qualtrics

Social Media
Social media analytics on Studies Weeklys Facebook, Twitter, website, blog and
YouTube channel

Strengths of Research

The survey research conducted gives a wide range of teachers both old and young with a range
of experience. All respondents are current Studies Weekly users and therefore can provide
important information on the effectiveness of the product in their classrooms. The surveys
completed give Studies Weekly a comprehensive idea of what works and what needs
improvement in order to continue growing as a company.

Additionally, the information received from the focus group provides a greater understanding of
why a school or district would decide to purchase or not purchase studies weekly products for
their classrooms. The research received many insightful themes that will better enable the
improvements needed to increase subscriptions and retention of subscribers.

&%
The social media insights show a cost-effective way to reach a larger audience and a way
teachers can communicate or have an open discussion regarding the products. The social media
research provided several very helpful insights.

Limitations of Research

While the survey was sent out to over 10,000 teachers, we only received a little over 900
completed surveys. This is 9 percent of the surveys distributed and not necessary an accurate
depiction of the sample population.

Other limitations include how the focus group was administered. The focus group was held at the
Studies Weekly offices, which influenced biases in answering questions. The participants were
also offered incentives to come to the focus group, which caused some to turn down the offer,
and the ones who did accept to again have some bias in answering the questions.

The focus group was also limited to only principles and school board officials. There could have
been more insight given if teachers were permitted to join, seeing as they use the products in
their classrooms.

Following a social media analysis, limitations were found because there is little to no content
being produced about Studies Weekly. The social media analysis program used did not pick up
content produced by Studies Weekly on Twitter, Facebook, or YouTube and we relied on our
own analysis of what Studies Weekly personally produced. The program used did not pick up
mentions about Studies Weekly on Facebook, but we did our own analysis using that platform,
including our own analysis of Twitter and YouTube.





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Appendix

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Focus Group Transcript





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Below is the transcribed conversation that the members of the focus group engaged in. The focus
group participants names have been replaced with numbers in order to keep their opinions and
answers confidential.

Start

Moderator (Ryan): We would like to hear what your impression is about Studies Weekly and
about their competition with textbooks.

Participant #1: As he was giving the two of us a tour downstairs, I remember seeing the Studies
Weekly material two of three times through my career and the quality of the materials is great. I
do appreciate the perspective but if you are really trying to look at ways to introduce it as a
primary source of material I think you reverse the market strategy. Its an electronic textbook
with supplemental reading.

Participant #2: Thats what I was thinking.

Participant #5: Thats exactly it.

Participant #3: First thing I thought.

Participant #1: Because there is a big push and need economically to have text available
electronically. You have materials that have been approved and used as the core material and you
can think a little more broad about what audience you want to target with which tool and why. I
think some of the obstacles that you run into when you go through the front door with a sample
is that the sample looks like disposable material. Thats by design right? Because the intent is to
use learn, use it, get rid of it, and move on. But the push, as you move forward with new core
standards and new assessments, across the country, the intent going to be to have access to
formative assessments that are already built into the materials, thinking about how intern
assessments relate to that and then whats a summative at the end. So there are put together
different ways but if you were to think about it as a electronic text, rather than a text-in-pieces
thats delivered overtime in bite size chunks, you might have a different way to deliver that or
approach that. So I was just thinking for our population, most people dont recognize the Salt
Lake City School District has been a majority minority district for a long time. Over a 100
different languages spoken, over 37 percent are limited English proficient.

Moderator (Ryan): And you speak 50 of the 100, right?

Participant #1: Yeah, I wish.

(Laughter)

And so you could potentially rethink and developmental costs are probably outrageous but if
youre actually trying to help a learner, you have an online text thats now supplemented with the
reading so you build reading proficiency, you have an online text that is supplemented in
Spanish, so they you get both what the teacher delivered in what maybe is your native language.
-.&
There are lots of different ways to think about that. But I do believe that people falsely assume
that its consumable material that is an extra. Then in Utah you have the economic dilemma
where you can probably get over the hurtle of you actually did a deeper cost analysis so you
know how much a textbook costs and you compare the textbook costs to the subscription and it
looks like it is a net savings but youre going to keep that text book for how long and how does
that compare economically. Are you trying to sell that it is more current? Well that works in
science but not s much in social studies because much of the content is more constant.

Moderator (Ryan): Participant #2?

Participant #2: So I dont know if this is something that you have the answer to, just as Im
thinking, do you know if like the kindergarten or first grade texts are written at an average first
grade reading level? Because if they are, then I would look at is as we are, now with, you know,
looking at more non-fiction texts for the kids to be using and reading themselves, either the
teacher reading to them in guided, shared reading or the kids reading to themselves in guidance
reading and learning about the text features and structures, that would be a great way to bring
this in. Thats how we are getting a lot of our non-fiction, or not a lot, some current non-fiction
in lower grades, is through the scholastic news, the other companies, the weekly reader things
that are coming in to get some really good non-fiction reading in. So, for me as an administrator,
I would bring that back to the teachers and I would let them know, this is a great text to be using
in your classroom during reading time to teach the science or social studies core. I do like the
online piece as well, that I didnt realize that that was available, just so that you could do as a
whole class reading of something, and I think that with the upper grades, letting the teachers
know about the test options and the reports that you can run from those, thats very valuable
information. And then, just some of the other things Makell said about the costs compared to
textbooks and keeping things updated.

Moderator (Ryan): Perfect, thank you Participant #2, Participant #3?

Participant #3: You know, as I was watching that the thing that probably came up to me the
most was, this has a variety of resources. So, as we start looking with the child, we are always
looking for, how do we help that child that struggles, how do we help the gifted and talented
child? All of the sudden, they can delve into the e-program that we saw, I all the sudden saw a
number of ways of, for lack of a better term, centers that kids could be engaged in to do, you
know, different activities that not everyone has to do it. I like the fact that the reader actually
highlighted the words, so the child could actually track the reading as they go. And I think that
was important to me. So I looked at it more as a resource-based, that sort of thing. Downstairs I
talked to him about the idea of could you make that into a, I saw the teachers edition, I went
wow that, that was much more impressive to me than the newspaper so to speak, because I saw
the lesson plans and teachers are used to those lesson plans and I asked, could you put the
weekly into a workbook type format? because teachers are used to tearing out pages of say a
math, you know heres the sheet that I want you to do, its just torn out of the book. So we do
consume some of those things that they do, so that isnt going to be too foreign to them, I think
just the whole idea of overcoming that thing might be, you know, like he told us downstairs, the
first thing you look at is supplemental. Its got supplemental written all over it. And I thought
-.'
that might be one of the things you might look it is could you actually make that into a workbook
that could be removed as you teach that lesson.

Moderator (Ryan): So youre saying the same format instead of a newspaper, it would be a
workbook though. Same size but just turned sideways and in more of a book format. When you
say that I think of old math notebooks that you tear them out. I remember doing that as a kid.
That was probably 40 years ago when I was a kid. I see what youre saying. Participant #4, go
ahead.

Participant #4: My first thought is the same thing. When I see something that you get every
week, its supplemental. There are a dozen that are out there that look just like that. They come
but you also have your textbook. Its like an extra thing. So I agree, I would market it as a
subscription to online textbook that if you want you can also purchase the classroom set or
however you want to do that. Looking at it from a teachers perspective, I dont want to feel like
my curriculum is in someone elses control every year. For example, Im teaching the civil war
and this year this is what someone chose to highlight and I have these great activities and things
that i am going to use. The next year it comes, and its still the civil war but its different because
you could hire a paraprofessional to come in and teach the magazine each year. Does that make
sense? I havent seen a teachers book but I want my curriculum to have a little bit of consistency
so I can develop some other things. Elementary teachers love to have themes and activities. I was
never an elementary teacher but I would watch and see how they would do all that. A secondary
teacher is going to have assessments that they write and specific things that they need to know if
you do this youll be able to do this particular assessment. Youll be ready for this. So if I feel
like the curriculum is going to change next year when that weekly reader comes back I'm going
to be disinclined to want it. I would want to be reassured that these things are going to be hit
every year. It might look a little different or come in a different order but this stuff is whats
constant and this is what you can tailor to your class and to your needs and this is what we will
guarantee youre going to have every year. These topics and standards are going to be covered
every year. I would be personally concerned about that.

Moderator (Ryan): So youre looking for that consistency?

Participant #4: I would be so I could tailor it to my class. If you subscribe to Up front or any
of these other ones that secondary teachers love, theyre very current event like. Its something
that when the lesson is over you say, lets read this or this is really cool, lets do this activity.
I just think thats how the teachers would look at Studies Weekly. The name doesnt look like a
textbook to me. The name says that its sort of an ancillary that I may get.
Ryan: I know this is off the cuff, but do you have any suggestions of what would work better to
kind of say it is not so (sentimental I do not know what Ryan said here)? I mean, like I
said...(cut off)

Participant #4: I mean obviously with all the different grade levels, you need something that is
constant across every grade level and then maybe the name of the content. I dont know what it
would be. I mean, (noise) like Focus or something. So, Youve got World History In Focus,
Second Grade Social Studies In Focus..
-.(

Moderator (Ryan): Okay.

Participant #4: I dont know.

Moderator (Ryan): Yeah, yeah...

Participant #4: Weekly makes me feel like, I mean I had a friend stay with me over the
weekend and I get my newspaper thrown in my drive way and he about died that I still read the
newspaper that way.

(laughter)

Moderator (Ryan): It wasnt online (small chuckles)

Participant #4: But yeah, (stumble) and I just think maybe thats how ...what was I going to say
about that, but, it just seems very old fashioned. I mean, I like it, but....

Moderator (Ryan): Something about holding a newspaper, right.

Participant #5: Um, my thoughts, as Ive thought of this, kind of go along with what Mackell
was saying because my world lately has been dealing with curriculum budgets and what is the
legislature, doing, you know, to us and our budgets and how much are we going to have for
textbooks and whats it going to look like in the future and, um, were talking about in the
district these seven year cycles which in the past, its been you look at one content area and you
have the book publishers come in and present what they have and decide what it is you want.
And that world is changing. And our conversations now are around one to one computing, and I
think, Salt Lake, arent you doing some with one-to-one

Participant #1: Well we have one school that is doing it...

Participant #5: Park City thats doing this (interjection from other mans statement) Cause I was
talking to Barbara, yes, and um, so were looking at that and that one-to-one computing and it
means each child is going to have a tablet. Were looking at that very closely. The legislature is
looking at helping with money to have one-to-one computing, that these things can be
downloaded on and that students can carry around and use from, for several years. So, um, the
things that were dealing with right now are the new technology movement, the one-to-one...

Moderator (Ryan): (Interjects) Real quick. Is there anybody that is using it now in the districts
that you know of?

(noise, everyone talking)

Participant #3: All of my sixth grader kids have a laptop.

Moderator (Ryan): And is it all a tablet of some sort? Or is it just a laptop?
-.)

Participant #1: Its a laptop.
(noise, everyone talking)

Participant #3: And were moving, were moving to iPads, because I can buy three iPads at the
cost of one laptop.

Participant #5: And weve been looking at Chrome books.

Moderator (Ryan): So that this Studies Weekly Internet thing its not a hard pitch is what
youre saying? Because it is so... (cut off)

(noise, people talking over each other)

Participant #3: We wouldnt even care about the printed copy

Participant #5: Were moving, were moving away from this. This looks great and all, for my
generation, yes, but what were dealing with now is that one-to-one computing and whats
available for students to be able to download, and especially in Social Studies. There is not a lot.
This is the year were adopting Social Studies and uh, our teachers are split half and half as to
whether theyre going to order books, this is, you know from our secondary and elementary,
sixth grade and up, but are they going to adopt some materials that theyre paying 80 dollars a
book for or are they going to try to find websites and things that they can buy and uh, purchase
and spend on Chrome books and laptops and iPads and then use the curriculum available there.
So, thats the one thing. The other big thing were dealing with is home to school connection
because parents are saying what can we access at home. I mean the math, the language arts, and
uh what can we access at home thats in the subscription that you are buying that we can help out
students with.

Moderator (Ryan): So what do you think of the email thing that we just showed?

Participant #5: I like that. I think thats a great proponent. Thats a big selling factor nowadays.
When students get home, they can talk to their parents about and parents can talk to them and
they can study. They can study the same kind of things along with the curriculum with what the
state is asking you to learn. So I was just visiting today with the state office with one of the
associate superintendents and she said that they need to keep their eye on the k-3 reading money,
that the state legislature is quite a bit of money in k-3 to do something and I said well what are
the changes going to be. Do you think theyre going to take that money away? Do you think that
theyre going to lower it? And she said no but I think whats going to happen is that theyre
going to direct how that money is used. Theyre going to give it to the district and say
technology. Thats how that money is going to be used in the reading and so youre going to
have to be more willing to do more with technology, to make that change. So Im with her and
switching that focus around, and how that ties into the common core and how this integrates; the
words integrate. Because social studies for some reason or another doesnt get the same focus
through our legislature because of the year end testing one of the few things, they dont get the
same emphasis. The ones that get the emphasis are the ones that are tested, the ones that get the
-.*
money put into them, Math and science. I had a lot of money given to the district for math and
science. And language arts, but language arts isnt given the money that math and science is. But
the more it can be integrated, the more it can be shown that were teaching social studies through
and by reading. The new common core, so much more writing than weve ever had.

Participant #4: Id like to point out that she said that wrong. We should be teaching language
arts through social studies, not teaching social studies through language arts.

Participant #5: But thats happening.

Participant #4: EXACTLY backwards. So that language arts wags this huge tail. We can teach
science in elementary school and language arts but really were teaching it during reading time.

Participant #5: These are the skills that are being taught, these are the social studies that are
impacting language arts,

Participant #1: So I think what I hear is happening we should be able to say, look you can teach
social studies, but our social studies curriculum actually addresses the common core, These
reading skills, these writing skills.

Participant #5: Yeah social studies would rule, but what it impacts are the skills, what theyre
learning in language arts.

Participant #1: We keep compartmentalizing these different things, science has its time, and
what were really saying is that the new thing is integration. And I think thats what I hear the
most. What I keep hearing is that we dont have time. As a matter of fact I have teachers right
now, Ill give you an example. 5th grade team teaches social studies all of US history in 4
months. At the beginning, because the last 4 months is going to be science. Because science is
going to be tested, so its more current with the kids.

Participant #3: We tend to compartmentalize these different things; science has its time, social
studies has its. And what were really saying is the new thing is integration.

Participant #5: Especially in elementary school.

Participant #3: Thats what I hear. We do not have time. As a matter of fact, I have a fifth grade
team that teaches social studies -- all of US history -- in 4 months, because the last four months is
going to be on science, because science is tested, so that way its current with the kids. In their
minds instead of teach social studies throughout the year, they do this and make the shift. Why
dont they teach social studies and science throughout the year? Its because they dont have time
to do it all.

Moderator (Ryan): So they do that for the testing? Is that what youre saying?

Participant #3: Yeah, so science is taught second because then it stays fresh in the kids minds,
because science is taught at the end of the year.
-.+

Participant #5: But if youre taking your social studies and youre showing where the standards
are met in the Language arts and in the science, but its your social studies standards, but this is
where it crosses over, and this is where you see it meet the other curriculum.
Marcus: It seems like all of you are leaning towards newer technology, so if this format address
all your issues, would you still be wary to accept it because it isnt technology advanced?

Participant #1: Yes. Overlapping a few other marketing answers for a minute. If you wanted to
test something for delivery, something as simple as folder that has all 28 lessons in it at the same
time, so it looks like it has it covered, and it looks like its a years worth of content -- that could
create some logistical issues in the classroom -- But there is something to be said about kids
tactile experiences -- being able to pull what it is youre going to learn this day or this week or
whatever. I know for our district, even though we hope to be at a one-to-one ratio, not all
learners are effectively instructed through technology. There are some serious limitation about
what you can see, what you interact with, and how you experience the content. So I dont want to
imply that you should abandon paper. But you asked a question related to marketing and you
asked a question related to name. Daily studies sounds better than weekly studies if youre trying
to have people feel that its relevant and current and needed. If youre trying to market
connections with the home, a simple email with a picture of the front page of this weeks session
to the family so they know what theyre looking for, can make those connections. We do the
same things with kids, ultimately when we get that one-to-one ration youre pushing out heres
what it is. It looks like most of them, if you have 7 weeks worth of materials but theres five
pages in each one, or six, or eight. You probably already have a daily lesson anyway thats
already there that could be delivered in a daily format. But the leaning towards technology is
economically driven. Textbooks have become so cost-prohibitive that were looking for other
alternatives, and there are grants to try and write the text in an electronic format.

Moderator (Ryan): So the textbooks arent piloting this. Its the teachers trying to get them to
change, is that what you mean?

Participant #1: Well, theres two or three things playing all at the same time. Theres currently a
lag in delivering common core materials in consistent fashion across the country. Like we saw
downstairs Texas-specific, because Texas is big enough that on their own they can demand a
publisher to respond to them. But common core materials for Math, English, Language Arts, are
a little bit delayed -- more so in math than in English/Language Arts -- that align with the
common core. So how is that then put together? Yeah teachers have done a lot the last year or
two to try and fill in those gaps with district help and support. So theres a need for the materials.
Teachers have done a lot the last year or two and this year in trying to fill in those gaps with
district help and support theres a need for materials. The challenge with social studies and
science is that competing for the time and how you integrate it. Which I think is the point that
Kristin is trying to make, that if youre trying to push this content in other content area youre
defeating the purpose of integrating both the vocabulary and the instructional objectives in ways
that help kids make it relevant and learn better.

Participant #3: Our district adopted secondary social studies last year, so this is our first year
with it. And we bought classroom sets of actual textbooks is all and then just online subscription
-.#,
to the textbook for every student, that we have for ten years. So in ten years, well be forced to
do something.

Moderator (Ryan): So its a licensing you bought?

Participant #3: Yeah, but what we wished is they would have licensed the district, we had to
buy an exact number of actual licenses which we feel like theyre probably going to change.

Moderator (Ryan): So what if your students change?

Participant #3: Then its like an actual physical book, its assigned to them, but digital and we
have to switch it. We learned a ton going through it, one of the things we learned is that we
would never, we have 4 different publishers were working with, we would never do that again.
If we were doing it again we would say, all will adopt from one publisher, I dont care which one
it is, you can choose but youre all adopting from one publisher, were not going work on all
these platforms, this is ridiculous. The other thing weve discovered would be really nice is
science did it the year before, they did all adopt from one publisher and if we have chosen that
same publisher the kids would have one log on and a virtual desk would open up with their
science book and their social studies book, and the next year theyd use that same logon but
thered be two new books. I mean its just so tidy, so if you dont really care which book is
which it would have been really, really nice, because right now its just really messy for different
kids and parents have to remember logins and some of the publishers have been better working
with us, letting the kid use the login that they already use for the district email and stuff, but
some have been a little bit not able to do that. One of the things we wanted to do but couldnt,
which probably would be easier for you was to buy (or select a-la-carte) so the teacher would be
able to say, these are the modules or topics for the Civil War (or whatever) and the teacher
could look through them and maybe the district buys the rights for every teacher to have this
many modules during the course of their year or whatever it is.

Moderator (Kristin): The school doesnt order the same material for every teacher?

Participant #3: Right the teacher would order it.

Moderator (Ryan): Is that the same for every district?

Participant #3: No, nobody does that, that would be lucky, we would love that. Teachers would
love that.

Participant #1: The ability to select on their own.

Participant #2: Like they do now with the regular textbook, they can say read this section, skip
this section. Ordering process ordering issues.

Participant #3: Were adopting languages, arts and math right now in our district so theres
basically a committee of teachers and administrators that form and just take math for instance.
They looked at 20 different companies, got it down to two, then let the schools pick which of
-.##
those two they wanted to use, so we had the choice of two different titles. They didnt force us to
choose. In science or social studies, we dont order it, its up to us to order it. We dont have a
textbook for language or arts anymore, my teachers use the textbooks as a supplemental book.
Participant #5: We do adopt district-wide books in language arts in elementary. We have in the
past secondary but that is where the big controversy this year is that a lot of them dont want to
order the material books. They want a classroom set, as Chris was saying, they want that
resource but they want the students to have it online to whatever textbook that is.
If were thinking about science and social studies and focusing on those, I just am really trying to
think of the experience Ive had, and I just think if its not some big district adoption thing, I
think its just great to have the schools be able to purchase their own science or social studies
curriculum supports.

Participant #1: Most districts will centralize English, language arts and math, um, the
expectations, again, around the state-wide assessments will be to potentially be to have far more
commonality because of interim assessments and the ability of the teacher to move forward with
assessments. That if the interims become assigned with dates, then curricular mapping and
timelines will be far more universal across the state.

Participant #5: And that seems to be where theyre headed, the state.

Participant #1: Now, the state made a mistake, just in my judgment, because they put high-
stakes science, science is now high-stakes, so that's sinking...

Moderator (Ryan): When you say high-stakes, what do you mean by high stakes?

Participant #1: As part of the accountability model, so high stakes plays into the score that a
school gets, itll play into the ranking that a teacher gets, as both of those move forward. So, uh,
as science is less likely to be independent, two or three years from now than it has been in the
past. Social studies... uh there is some talk across the country on having some common core-
standards, but theres so many debatable values in social studies that its just not going to happen
in most people's lifetime. So social studies will still be far more open and individualized than the
other...

Participant #3: But were moving a lot more to non-fiction type texts and so thats where that
social studies.

Participant #5: Thats because in the common core, thats where that ---

Participant #3: Thats where it really fits in very well because thats where we will use social
studies materials to actually be part of our literacy base of what we study.

Participant #4: You know, that makes an interesting kind of idea, because if Im a language arts
teacher, or if Im a sixth grade teacher, who is in charge of language arts, maybe weve sort of
dulled out.. I know I do this... on our team, uh, this teacher X does social studies, you know,
whatever, maybe youre marketing to the wrong people. You need to talk to the English teachers
-.#$
and say, You can teach English this way, you can teach reading this way, this is a reading
program. It happens to look like a social studies curriculum but its really a reading program.

Moderator (Ryan): So kind of combining the two is what you mean to make them

Participant #4: Well, I am just kind of thinking outside the box...

Moderator (Ryan): Yeah, yeah, yeah

Participant #4: Because in our elementary schools, especially Title schools, if you dont do well
on math, you dont go to social studies because they divide you up and you go to math
remediation and all the smart kids go to social studies but everybody else is in math remediation,
or learning to read because social studies doesnt matter... So this needs to be the curriculums
you go get in that reading period.

Moderator (Ryan): Yeah, learn how to read and write through social studies. Interesting.

Participant #2: Its social studies content, but with the reading skills and the reading
expectations and the reading levels. We do a lot of leveling libraries. Theres the Gasik Bennell
leveling libraries, I mean, theres a lot of different, um, level libraries, but this is leveled even.

Participant #4: But the people with money are not the social studies people. The people with
money are language arts and math...

Moderator (Ryan): Because of the testing, right?

Participant #2: Thats what I was referring to earlier with using it for reading, um, I can use my,
thats how our teachers are paying for, or Im paying for, um, the weekly things or the non-
fiction text that I bought for science and social studies is through my trust-land money, because
thats something I have more control over and I can pay for language arts, math and sometimes
science out of that money. So if I say Im buying nonfiction texts to match up with the common
core in social studies or common core in science, I can justify those purchases, but if Im just
buying something for science or for social studies its much more difficult or impossible to use
that money.

Participant #5: Money is for the greatest need, so its going to be for your math and your
language arts, its not going to be for science or social studies. If this was a reading program, it
would be more eligible for more things. Its very engaging, thats a real plus.

Participant #1: The focus goes back to whats measured, because of the high stakes with
language arts and math, and its important that resources go there, because thats whats expected
to show up on the scores for the school. And part of my understanding of studies weekly, is it is
K-8 materials, is that accurate?

Moderator (Ryan): Correct.
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Participant #1: Ok. Because I dont think Ive seen anything beyond k-8.

Moderator (Ryan): No, it doesnt go through High School.

Participant #1: So as you think about the experiences in K through 8, the high stakes testing is
going to be 3 through 12 as we go forward. Its been essentially 3 through 8 and then some
hits/misses 9th and 10th, but if the social studies were recast as civics, youd have a whole
different market, too.

Moderator (Ryan): Can you expound on that? Civics?

Participant #1: And maybe its more regional than it is national, but there is an interest in civics
or citizenship education related to democracy

Moderator (Ryan): Like government classes in high school?

Participant #1: Yeah, and so social studies has broader meaning and usually gets chunked in
American Studies, World Studies, sometimes it can even become Modern or Ancient and a lot of
different connections to that, but the state core curriculum has a thread of civics through it that is
not tied together really well, that would lend itself to this kind of a delivery system, because no
one does it quite as well as other people may like. And you could potentially argue the same
thing in financial literacy, that theres a big interest in that type of a delivery in more chunks of
consumable, or viewed as more consumable material.

Moderator (Kristin): So if you could personally improve a textbook, would you want to add in
more of the civics into textbooks, or would you rather have a supplemental something to teach
finance or civics?

Participant #1: My background is secondary social studies, so I, um, the elementary look and
feel of these materials dont naturally appeal to a secondary person. But the engagement for the
younger person is related to the story and the image and where those intersect, and thats again
back to maybe thinking about why you would want it to be electronically delivered because they
spend a lot of time with graphics and images it would look quite nice on that type of a delivery.

Moderator (Kristin): And how often do you, anyone can respond, how often do your schools
order new materials? Does it depend on the subject, because of financial reasons?

Participant #3: Social Studies, its interesting that I bought a social studies book for my school
10 years ago, I will not replace that.

Participant #5: Ours is on a seven-year rotation, but were changing the looks of that this year. I
mean, it is going to be what is needed in the schools, especially if we have one-to-one computing
it is going to be what is needed by those teachers that they can grasp to use this one-to-one
computing.
-.#&

Moderator (Marcus): What do teachers say to you guys and what is your opinion on these
newer formats of learning such as, you know, the magazine type or even the digital type? What
is your...I would like to know more about what teachers tell you about their feeling towards that.

Participant #2: Depends on the teacher.

Participant #5: I have one teacher, at one of the high schools, this is his 50th year. Hes going to
tell me a lot different than those who are just coming from BYU who have two to three to four
years in there, but the majority are looking toward what is coming in technology. Theyre
looking toward how they need to improve their skills to be able to help their students be more
technologically astute in studying. Or else the student will help the teachers, I dont know which,
but theres more of a push towards that. Im with her, I mean I think theres a place for those, but
they are the supplemental to the technology and whats coming, what were looking at.

Participant #1: The push to electronic textbooks, from my view, is not driven by quality or
research-based decision making.

Participant #5: Its coming so fast. Its economic.

Participant #1: And because its economically driven, and this is just part of the market, the
textbook publishers have placed their content out of the reach of normal school districts, and so it
doesnt matter how good it is. There is a point at which you cant afford it, so the interest in
those electronic textbooks is probably for mostly the wrong reasons. So your question, which
was how to teachers feel about using technology, again my view, the teacher who gets the
advantage of technology, youre talking interactive whiteboard or smart board, youre not talking
digital textbook, so thats a whole other way to think about this.

Participant #5: Theyre such different levels.

Moderator (Ryan): Is that pretty common that youre using that in your schools? Ive heard of
those digital boards like you talked about.

Participant #1: It depends on the teacher, it depends on the school.

Moderator (Ryan): Is it a demographic difference? An age difference?

Participant #5: Ours is from a somewhat age difference.

Participant #3: But its interesting because its even changing, you know, the interactive
whiteboards and things like that. I have teachers now who can take an iPad and do exactly the
same thing with an iPad and not spend the eleven hundred, the fifteen hundred, two thousand on
the interactive whiteboard because they can do the same thing with an iPad.

Participant #1: No, but hey project it on the whiteboard for the class. Yes, they do...from the
-.#'
iPad, you dont need an interactive board; theyre just projecting it. But the point is that its
interactive...the actual projection.

Participant #1: Another case in point is, Ive got a...(interject: all you need is a white
wall)...what Im trying to say is, what matters is the interactive material with the class from a
visual prompt. So there may be a whole different way to deliver this content in one-page visual
prompts in a classroom. That would be far more interesting and engaging to teachers.

Moderator (Ryan): Lets take that for a second. What do you think...we talked about Revere the
Rat...you saw a little clip...is there some way that there can be some video and some visual?
Where the teacher can also interact? Is that what youre talking about? Would that be more
effective?

Participant #1: Its a prompt, its a learning prompt.

Participant #3: I think Chris touched on it. Because he said I wanna take this piece, but I
wanna add my own little pieces to that. So I see them using that, but actually going out onto the
net and bringing in a piece of their own stuff that would actually supplement whats there. The
whole opportunity is that it gives them opportunity...Ive got a son thats in college right now
and he did not buy one textbook this year. Everything is on his iPad.

Moderator (Ryan): I would love to not have to buy a textbook...

(laughs)

Participant #3: But you understand what Im saying...

Moderator (Ryan): Yeah, of course, of course.

Participant #4: I have a couple thoughts. One is, having adopted all online digital textbooks last
year...number one, its not any cheaper. They charge you just as much. It was 75 dollars a license.
Its just as much for those licenses. The only difference is that those licenses will actually last 10
years, and a book wont; youll be replacing that book in five or six years. The license really will
last that long. So, and, I was totally impressed with some of the interactive maps and some of the
kind-of cool digital things that they now have, even though theres a lot of criticism that this is
just a PDF of a textbook, theres a lot of other stuff. They have, you know, made it a lot more
sexy than it used to be and its a lot more kind-of cool that way. But to the question about what
teachers say, we have teachers who just love the new books and teachers who absolutely hate the
new books. And I get letters, you know, requests from teachers every year, for online magazines
or a classroom subscription to Newsweek. But there are those teachers who absolutely love
textbooks and they dont want online stuff because theyre not to that point. And so its like
Andrew said, its up to each individual teacher. If I could do anything to a textbook for my
classroom, I would want to be able to go to some sort of dashboard somewhere and say these
are chunks of text and these are related videos or related audio clips or related interactive maps
or related whatever and I can choose from those, and the format I would want to presented to
kids would absolutely be digital. But I would want it to be I dont want to say Facebook, because
-.#(
it would be Facebook like. (Ryan: social media network). I give you the page, I give you this site
and you go to it. Here are the things to read, here are the videos that I uploaded for you to watch,
its all customized, I have also added some YouTube videos that I found and some things that I
can talk to you on this and you can talk back to me on this. You can talk to each other on this, I
put the pieces there and this is. That would be what I would do, that would be what I would want
to build, so it wouldnt feel like a textbook, or a newspaper, it would feel like a social network
site. Or like BBC.com or something, or if I want to read this article I do, or if I want to click on
this I do, or if I want to respond to this article down below, I can. Thats what it would feel like
and look like and they all look like

Participant #5: Isnt it like a concept behind the flipped classroom? I mean the students choose
all these things to learn before.

Participant #4: Yeah, but Ive got to say I am the worlds biggest critic or skeptic I guess of the
flipped classroom

Participant #5: I have not tried, Im just wondering.

Participant #4: It sounds so good, but heres the thing. Kids dont do their homework.

Participant #1: Yeah. (laughs)

Participant #4: So what makes us think they are going to watch their teacher give a lecture?

Participant #5: Well. Im wondering, I still

Participant #4: Thats the idea of a flipped classroom. In class I do all this stuff in groups and
whatever and then I go home and I watch the lecture.

Participant #5: Or could they choose those articles, Im just wondering if

Participant #4: I just think they are not going to do a lot more at home regardless. They dont do
stuff at home b/c theyve got soccer and music and friends. And all the flipped classrooms in the
world are not going to make them so they do their homewoek at home, thats what I think.

Participant #5: We havent tried them, I just think

Participant #4: Well I think thats fine but I dont know they understand the , the idea is that
they go and watch the lecture as opposed to have watched it at school. They did something with
their peer at school.

Participant #5: Does it have to be a lecture though, I mean, does it? Can it be articles they read?

Participant #4: Well, they can already do that. The flipped classroom is that they go home and
watch the lecture.
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Participant #5: Okay.

Participant #1: theres some evidence on flipped classrooms that its pretty narrow band of math
that its effective.

Participant #4: Because they can watch it over and over and in math ---

Participant #5: Oh yeah, in math.

Participant #4: And in math its not a lecture its a demonstration.

Participant #1: Right.

Participant #4: They need to watch that demonstration, but just cause. I thought this was
exciting the other day I was listening to somewhat was on in PR, I was listening to it as a podcast
later. But this woman was talking, shes written a book called the defense of introspective or
introverts or something and shes talking and I dont know if this data is out there but she says
theres all these studies that show we are really going overboard on students working in groups.
That most creative thinking actually comes when students are brainstorming with themselves,
when they are doing what we used to call just sitting and thinking, meditating or whatever. She
says theres all this research, it was really just kind of an exciting program b/c everything that we
promote in our district right now is kids working collaboratively and very, very, very
collaborative. But she was talking about how thats really great but a lot of students are more apt
to come out of their shell when they are responding to something like within editorial comment
after theyve read something like in an article or online article. Thats when youll get their deep
thinking. Because they are not going to share in a group, and thats something that we cant do
yet, unless you know textbook provides you that opportunity yet. You have to go to a movie or a
blog or something to give students that opportunity. That would be super cool, but Im a
secondary teacher so um, elementary kids, maybe not so much. But I still think looking at it
online, if it looks like a magazine, its going to look dated.

Participant #4: Im a secondary teacher so um, elementary kids, maybe not so much. But I still
think looking at it online, if it looks like a magazine, its gonna look dated. And the online
textbooks look like a textbook. I wish they didnt. It isnt a textbook, but it looks like one. I mean
it is, its just a textbook online. Someday it wont be. I guarantee it wont be, it will be something
different.

Moderator (Ryan): I just want to go really quickly and get some last minute thoughts from all
you folks of what youve seen in studies weekly, kind of want to talk about the textbooks,, what
would be the most effective, um, maybe it could be your last minute thoughts, and anything you
really want to hit home, if we can go through really quickly, one by one on that.

Participant #1: It seems as though the original intent and mission to try and deliver a high
quality, chunked curriculum that is consumable on a weekly basis, that missions been written
out, are you at the end of that type of a delivery? I dont know, I dont know. I think theres
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something that its probably somewhat a inter-related, it is certainly far less viable 5th 8th
grade than it is K-4. And so, um, how do you then want to, uh, engage learners with a tool like it
currently exists probably needs to think about that audience and developmental learning in some
different ways than maybe its gone currently. If its back to a marketing question there are
probably different ways to deliver it through the front door of either curriculum directors or
principals that maybe would get it looked at by different people. I think thats the challenge for
any textbook publisher is to get it looked at by enough people that that hard work can be
discovered by the end user. Because most teachers dont have time to go out and shop the
materials, but theyll steal em from you. Um, so, samples work well with teachers. If theyre
high quality samples, it gets their attention.

Moderator (Ryan): Participant #2

Participant #2: Um, I think the idea is great, and I think getting it to the right people is
important. So Ive like the focusing on the language arts part of it, but you can teach your
language arts with these science and social studies curriculums, um, and then, I, I like the two
options, with having the electronic and the paper, and just thinking of my school, um, we, its an
old school, even though were in a nice area, so we dont have projectors in every classroom, we
dont have Elmos in every classroom, we dont have iPads for every student.

Moderator (Ryan): What was the thing you mentioned, the what, Elmos?

Participant #2: Oh, sorry. Like, document cameras.

Moderator (Ryan): Ok.

Participant #2: We dont have those in every classroom, and we dont have enough iPads for a
classroom set for anybody. So, I think having those options for the paper, um, for the people who
need it or the kids who need it, or the teachers who need it, but then the areas that are going more
electronic, having that option available as well, so people can use what theyre comfortable with.
Um, but I just think getting it to the teachers somehow to look at and focusing again on language
arts, non-fiction texts, and teaching your science and social studies that way.

Participant #3: We took a little tour and the question I asked him down there, is, uh, Is there
any, uh, have you thought of anything else other than the magazine format? And to me, he pulled
out a teachers manual and it had the cover, it didnt look like a magazine at all, it just had- he
opened it up and there was the lesson plan, all the supplemental things that you can do with it,
and I thought Oh, Ive never seen this. All Ive seen is the magazine come in to my school and
so, with my fourth grade teachers- the only team that uses it is fourth grade right now and its a
supplement to a very expensive textbook that I just bought that incorporates both science and
social studies- their core and that was the textbook I bought and they look at that as a weekly
reader. That is their weekly reader, so to speak, their magazine aspect of it. So its strictly used as
a supplemental thing. But for the first time I saw that teachers edition I went Oh. Now if you
had that- I dont know that teachers have ever seen that and maybe they have and thats just a
lack of me understanding the whole program, but I thought if they had something like that, could
you make that into a workbook type form then that might be more intriguing to the teacher than
-.#+
magazines because I think in their minds they have, we, they have stereotyped this approach as a
weekly reader and I think weve kind of talked about that. Thats in their minds, that is exactly
what that is, and thats called supplemental, thats not called main text. And so, it needs to be
marketed more with the- we just gotta get out there- this is a main text, you do not have to buy a
book, you do not have to do this, this becomes that, and uh, that, I think that would be helpful if
they looked at it that way. I think they all look at it as strictly very supplemental and we- that
needs to be an overarching message that goes out to them that this, this is- and the ebook aspect
really pushes that agenda that this is the textbook as opposed to, you know, the magazine. That
doesnt look like the magazine so-to-speak, the ebook part.

Participant #4: I have three thoughts. Number one- youre absolutely, absolutely right, teachers
need- and so just to echo what he said- teachers are gonna want to see not just the magazine,
they want to see this is the teacher part of it and they, I dont know maybe they just need to
concretely see this is the teacher part looks like when its all complete, even if I only get a piece
each week, at the end of the year this is what it looks like and maybe next year I could build on
this cause theres gonna be some consistency so100% absolutely right. The second thing that I
would say- I love the idea that there are teachers who are always gonna want to see print, there
can be schools that are always gonna want it, or at least in our lifetimes, not gonna have
technology, and there are gonna be schools that say Look we dont trust the technology so we
want a backup so I think, I think operating in a magazine format is still great. Its consumable;
its not that expensive to buy new ones. Our math adoption, secondary math adoption is all
consumable products, so anyways. But I think for me the most exciting aha moment that I had
is I still like to read my Time magazine land my Newsweek like this and my newspaper like that,
but nobody else does that I know, they all like it another way. Yeah, so and I dont know but you
can, as an example. I read the Wall Street Journal. And I know that for no cost, I get access to
their online version. Not that I use it, or look at it, but whatever time magazine do to their online
presence, the same addition, this is the paper version, I know what it does, nothing, you read it.
And theres an online version of that, whatever theyve done, to that when they put it online, I
would be looking at that to see what it is. Are there poles? Are there video clips? Im guessing
those are the things that there are, thats what Id be adding to my magazine from online. Then I
would market it at schools as an online one that if they want it they can still use it. But its an
online thing that replaces your textbook.

Participant #5: Well, I think theyve said it all. I think it does come down, at least in our
district, to economics. Were looking at very tight budgets. Were looking at a lot of cuts across
the district and yet we wanted to deliver the very best curriculum to our students as possible.
And, so whatever you can do to help package it so we can use it, because there are some things
out there we cant even touch. And theyre very interactive, and they're very good but even if we
get them into our school we might even find a way to keep them, if we really like them but its
economics right now. And then again, tying it into the vocabulary, of the language arts and the
science, and the math, because that is just what we are really accountable for is, and thats where
the money is going. and then, pilots, when I put a committee together to look at curriculum, they
narrow it down, yes, but then, we take it and we pilot it for 6 months, then we narrow it down to
three. All of the 27 schools will use those three for six months, well have it in different schools,
and different grade levels, then they come back to us. But, once people have done a pilot in
something, they don't want to give it up. And so I really limit the pilots in the district, because
-.$,
once they have seen it, once they like it, they fight for it. And, so we really narrow it down
before we turn the pilots loose in the district but if you can get some teachers piloting and let
those teachers see it, feel it, smell it, touch it, you know, I think theyd like it, but when.. ahh, I
dont know, I echo what theyve said, but those are my other thoughts.

Moderator (Marcus): Can I ask one quick follow up question? A number of you mentioned
getting them to the teachers right? Are you saying, well, at the same time, youre saying there is
a committee that says what is aloud, so Im confused there, like saying get it to teachers, help the
teachers see this and this but they dont have any say unless theyre passed from the committees,
is that correct?

Participant #5: Well probably what you need to do is find out the procedure in a lot of the
different districts, I mean.

Moderator (Marcus): Can I ask one quick follow up question? A number if you mentioned
getting them to the teachers, right? Are you saying, well, but at the same time theres a
committee that decides what is allowed, so Im confused there. Like, youre saying get it to the
teachers, help the teachers see this and this, but they dont have any say unless theyre asked
from the committees. Is that correct?

Participant #5: Well, what you probably need to do is find out the procedure in a lot the
different districts, because we all may not follow the same thing. But yes, in my district, it
would go through a committee; however, there are a lot of teachers on that committee. I mean,
theres one or two from every single school there and the responsibility of those that are paid to
be on this committee in my district have the obligation of going out and letting their teachers
know what they have seen, what they have heard, what it is that they would like to, um, they
have quite a bit of say. And then we do open nights, open houses, for them to come and see
before the decision is ever narrowed. So a lot of the teachers have a say on it, but theres a
committee who have the obligation back in their own schools.

Moderator (Marcus): So basically, through the back door, the teachers influence would come
in?

Participant #5: Yes.

Participant #4: Yes. But like, UCSS, the counsel of social studies here, has a conference every
spring and every fall, and they have vendors that just, I mean, no cost. Its not even like
UEA. You dont even have to rent space. You just set up in this hallway and you can show
teachers and then they go back and they ask for it.

Participant #5: This is what, Ive seen this-

Participant #4: When theres somebody, they go to their (?) or they go to the committees and
say, hey lets look at this.

Participant #3: Its probably cost prohibited, but along those lines, when we saw those Texas
-.$#
materials, so the Texas materials out there have a picture of the state in every corner so you
know its a Texas curriculum. If you could customize it with the school name on it, then a
subscription is viewed a whole different way.

Participant #5: Whole different way. That would be a great marketing strategy.

Participant #4: And thats easy online.

Participant #5: And that would be outdone. Its like what they say, people like to hear their own
name. You see your school, your state-

Participant #3: Your district.

Participant #5: Your district, yeah. Your superintendent (laughs) no.

Participant #3: Thats like the kiss of death. (laughs)

Participant #1: There is a little bit of concern because if this is put out there with 20 other texts,
I worry that the teachers even in that committee are not going to get a good vision. I like the
thought of this pilot thing because I think the pilot actually puts it out there amongst them and so
even if its offered to those on the committee to go out and pilot this out in their classrooms for X
amount of weeks-

Participant #4: You could offer it to the districts. Well give you this many if you want to
have four or five teachers pilot I, or whatever.

Participant #1: I worry that thrown in with all these other books, its going to be overlooked as:
No. But if its given to them as a pilot, then possibly now theyre using it, then all of a sudden
theres a whole different take on that because now theyve used it within that-

Moderator (Marcus): And they see the second side.

Participant #1: Yes.

Participant #5: Well, and I always allow, what, an hour per publisher to come in and let that
committee see whats there and often times theyll say oh yes my teachers are familiar with this.
Theyve seen this. They would like to have that piloted in our school. But I try to get all, like if
I narrow it to three, I try to get all three of them out into a school used at different grade levels
trying it across. Because, like I say, once theyve piloted it, its hard to take it away from them
most of the time.

Participant #4: I have one last question because we just did this adoption thing last year and so
our person goes to the rims its actually our buyer, she invites these people to submit, for example
the 7th grade, Gibsmith didnt even bother to submit because they know theyre the only game in
town, so we didnt buy it. I was just a little mad because they didnt even bother to submit and
their materials are not good. Gibsmith is a local textbook company but theyre the largest state
-.$$
textbook company in the country. What Im trying to say is we didnt look at you for grades 7 or
8, why didnt we look at you for 7 or 8? So our elementary one is coming up, now that we
know, I thought you were a magazine, I did not know you were a textbook or could be a
textbook. The awareness factor is just not there. We do district wide adoptions for K-12 for
social studies so 62 elementary schools. But if our buyer doesnt say youve got Holt and
Pearson and Studies Weekly then we wont even look at you.

Moderator (Andrew): You know it would be interesting to know what are the events and
activities that you go to for evaluating these kinds of things because then we can pass it on to Ed
because theyre missing out on some key opportunities.

END


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Copy of the Survey
-.$&
Thank you for agreeing to take part in the survey about the Studies Weekly product(s) you use.
Your feedback will help us improve our service to you and your students. The survey takes about
seven minutes, and all answers are anonymous.

1. Please indicate to what extent you use Studies Weekly products (eStudies Weekly online
publication and Studies Weekly print publication).

! Studies Weekly print publication only (1)
! Mostly Studies Weekly print, partially eStudies Weekly online (2)
! Studies Weekly print and eStudies Weekly online equally (3)
! Mostly eStudies Weekly online, partially Studies Weekly print (4)
! eStudies Weekly online publication only (5)
2. How often do you visit the eStudies Weekly website?

! Never (1)
! Less than Once a Month (2)
! Once a Month (3)
! 2-3 Times a Month (4)
! Once a Week (5)
! 2-3 Times a Week (6)
! Daily (7)
3. How often do you use technology in your teaching? (example: videos, slideshows,etc.)

! Never (1)
! Less than Once a Month (2)
! Once a Month (3)
! 2-3 Times a Month (4)
! Once a Week (5)
! 2-3 Times a Week (6)
! Daily (7)

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4. How often do you use eStudies Weekly in your classroom?

! Never (1)
! Less than Once a Month (2)
! Once a Month (3)
! 2-3 Times a Month (4)
! Once a Week (5)
! 2-3 Times a Week (6)
! Daily (7)
5. Do you require your students to use the eStudiesWeekly website?

! Yes (1)
! No (2)
! I encourage it, but I dont require it (3)
6. How often do you ask your students to use eStudiesWeekly at home with theirparents?

! Daily (1)
! 2-3 Times a Week (2)
! Once a Week (3)
! 2-3 Times a Month (4)
! Once a Month (5)
! Less than Once a Month (6)
! Never (7)
7. How do your students most often access eStudiesWeekly?

! In-class computers (1)
! In-class tablets (2)
! In a computer lab (3)
! At-home computers (4)
! Cell phones (5)

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8. On a scale of 1-5 (1 being rarely/never, 5 being very often) Please indicate approximately how
often your students use the following features on the eStudiesWeekly website? Select "Don't
Use" if you do not use that feature.

Don't Use
(1)
1 (2) 2 (3) 3 (4) 4 (5) 5 (6)
Audio reader (1) ! ! ! ! ! !
Highlighted text
(2)
! ! ! ! ! !
Email (3) ! ! ! ! ! !
Tests (4) ! ! ! ! ! !
Document based
questions (5)
! ! ! ! ! !
Media button
content (6)
! ! ! ! ! !
Revere the Rat (7) ! ! ! ! ! !

-.$)

9. How do your students most often access eStudiesWeekly?

! Personal computers/tablets (1)
! School computer/tablets (2)
! At-home computers (3)
! Cell phones (4)
10. On a scale of 1-5 (1 being rarely/never, 5 being very often) please rank approximatelyhow
often your students use the following features on the eStudiesWeekly website? Select "Don't
Use" if you do not use that feature.

Don't Use
(1)
1 (2) 2 (3) 3 (4) 4 (5) 5 (6)
Audio reader (1) ! ! ! ! ! !
Highlighted text
(2)
! ! ! ! ! !
Email (3) ! ! ! ! ! !
Tests (4) ! ! ! ! ! !
Document based
questions (5)
! ! ! ! ! !
Media button
content (6)
! ! ! ! ! !
Revere the Rat (7) ! ! ! ! ! !


-.$*
11. On a scale of 1 to 5 (1 being extremely unhelpful, and 5 being extremely helpful) how
helpful are the following eStudiesWeekly features in teaching material to your students? Select
"Don't Use" if you do not use that feature.

Don't
Use (1)
1 (2) 2 (3) 3 (4) 4 (5) 5 (6)
Audio reader (1) ! ! ! ! ! !
Highlighted text
(2)
! ! ! ! ! !
Email (3) ! ! ! ! ! !
Tests (4) ! ! ! ! ! !
Document based
questions (5)
! ! ! ! ! !
Media button
content (6)
! ! ! ! ! !
Revere the Rat (7) ! ! ! ! ! !
Other features (8) ! ! ! ! ! !


12. On a scale of 1 to 5 (1 being extremely unsatisfied and 5 being extremely satisfied) how
satisfied are you with the following eStudiesWeekly features. Select "Don't Use" if you do not
use that feature.

Don't
Use (1)
1 (2) 2 (3) 3 (4) 4 (5) 5 (6)
Audio reader (1) ! ! ! ! ! !
Highlighted text
(2)
! ! ! ! ! !
Email (3) ! ! ! ! ! !
Tests (4) ! ! ! ! ! !
Document based
questions (5)
! ! ! ! ! !
Media button
content (6)
! ! ! ! ! !
Revere the Rat (7) ! ! ! ! ! !
Other features (8) ! ! ! ! ! !

If 1 Is Not Selected, Then Skip To Did using eStudiesWeekly help you wit...

-.$+
13. Please explain why you rated ${q://QID63/ChoiceGroup/SelectedChoicesForAnswer/2} as a
1. (You can press the 'back' arrow below to review your answers.)

14. Did using eStudiesWeekly help you with the following situations? Check all thatapply:

" To fit science or social studies into the literacy block (1)
" To "catch up" students who have missed class time (2)
" To differentiate instruction (3)
" To accommodate ESE, ELL, 504 Plan, Gifted/Talented identified students (4)
" To multi-task during your instructional day (5)
" To assist you in saving your voice (sore throat or illness) (6)
15. Does eStudies Weekly act as your classroom textbook or supplemental material?

! Acting Textbook (1)
! Supplemental Material (2)
16. How likely are you to recommend eStudies Weekly to other teachers?

! Very Unlikely (1)
! Unlikely (2)
! Somewhat Unlikely (3)
! Undecided (4)
! Somewhat Likely (5)
! Likely (6)
! Very Likely (7)
17. Please share any additional comments about eStudiesWeekly with us.



18. Which Studies Weekly publication(s) do you use? Check all that apply:

" Science (1)
" Math (2)
" Social Studies (3)
19. Does Studies Weekly act as your classroom textbook or supplemental material?

! Acting Textbook (1)
! Supplemental Material (2)

-.%,
20. How often do you use Studies Weekly in your classroom?

! Never (1)
! Less than Once a Month (2)
! Once a Month (3)
! 2-3 Times a Month (4)
! Once a Week (5)
! 2-3 Times a Week (6)
! Daily (7)
21. How often do you use technology in your teaching? (example: videos, slideshows, etc.)

! Never (1)
! Less than Once a Month (2)
! Once a Month (3)
! 2-3 Times a Month (4)
! Once a Week (5)
! 2-3 Times a Week (6)
! Daily (7)
22. How often do you ask your students to take their Studies Weekly materials home?

! Never (1)
! Less than Once a Month (2)
! Once a Month (3)
! 2-3 Times a Month (4)
! Once a Week (5)
! 2-3 Times a Week (6)
! Daily (7)

23. Please rank the Studies Weekly elements listed below from 1 to 5 (1- needs improvement, 2-
satisfactory, 3- average, 4- good, 5- exceptional) on their performance.

1 (1) 2 (2) 3 (3) 4 (4) 5 (5)
Illustrations
(1)
! ! ! ! !
Activities (2) ! ! ! ! !
Content (3) ! ! ! ! !
Convenience
(4)
! ! ! ! !


-.%#
24. How do you use Studies Weekly in relation to other teaching materials?

! Studies Weekly is my only/primary text material (1)
! Studies Weekly is supplemental to other text material (2)
! Studies Weekly is used alongside other text materials equally (3)
! Other [Please explain] (4) ____________________

25. Consider the material your curriculum requires you to teach. Approximately how much of
that material does Studies Weekly help you teach? (0 to 100 %)
______ Math (1)
______ Social Studies (2)
______ Science (3)


26. Please indicate the percentage of students in your classroom that have either a laptop or a
tablet. (0-100 %)
______ % (1)

27. How likely are you to recommend Studies Weekly to other teachers?

! Very Unlikely (1)
! Unlikely (2)
! Somewhat Unlikely (3)
! Undecided (4)
! Somewhat Likely (5)
! Likely (6)
! Very Likely (7)
28. Please share any additional comments about Studies Weekly with us.


29. How long have you been a subscriber of Studies Weekly products?

! This is my first year (1)
! 2-5 years (2)
! 6+ years (3)

-.%$
30. Which grade(s) do you teach? Check all that apply.

" Kindergarten (1)
" Grade 1 (2)
" Grade 2 (3)
" Grade 3 (4)
" Grade 4 (5)
" Grade 5 (6)
" Grade 6 (7)

31. In what state do you currently teach?



32. Please select your age.

! 30 or younger (1)
! 31-40 (2)
! 41-50 (3)
! 51-60 (4)
! 61+ (5)

33. How many years have you been teaching?

! 0-5 (1)
! 6-10 (2)
! 11-15 (3)
! 16-20 (4)
! 21+ (5)

34. Are you National Board certified?
! Yes (1)
! No (2)

35. Are you aware of the content available to you on the eStudiesWeekly website?
! Yes (1)
! No (2)
If No Is Selected, Then Skip To End of Block

-.%%
36. Please indicate the reasons you do not use the eStudiesWeekly website.

! I prefer printed material to online material (1)
! I lack the proper technology to effectively use online material with my class (2)
! The website was too difficult to use [Please explain] (3) ____________________
! Other [Please explain] (4) ____________________


-.%&
Bibliography

Consiglio, V. (2005). How do students learn best? Adlai E. Stevenson High School.
Retrieved from:
http://www6.district125.k12.il.us/~vconsigl/teacherpage/ResearchPaper.pdf

Hmelo-Silver, C. (2004). Problem-Based Learning: What and How do Students Learn?
Springer Link. Retrieved from:
http://link.springer.com/article/10.1023/B:EDPR.0000034022.16470.f3

Rapp, D. (2008). The End of Textbooks? Scholastic. Retrieved from
http://www.scholastic.com/browse/article.jsp?id=3750551

Strahler, S. (2012). Textbook case of a dying biz. Chicago Business. Retrieved from:
http://www.chicagobusiness.com/article/20120303/ISSUE01/303039966/textbook -case-
of-a-dying-biz

Tyson, H. (1997). Overcoming Structural Barriers to Good Textbooks. University of North
Texas. Retrieved from: http://govinfo.library.unt.edu/negp/reports/tyson.htm