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Table of Contents Executive Summary 4

Purpose..4 Research Questions4 Methodology..4 Important Discoveries5

Background.6
About Studies Weekly...6 Social, Economic, Political Environment..8 Competitor...11 Studies Weekly Past Promotions & PR...14 Competitor Promotions and PR...17 Supplemental Education..18 Resource for Studies Weekly..19

Primary Research.23
Qualitative methodology.23 Qualitative analysis.24 Thematic Analysis...28 Quantitative Analysis..30
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Quantitative methodology...31 Survey Results & Analysis..32 Key points47 Social media analysis...48 User Group..59

Strategic Recommendations..63
SWOT Analysis ..63 Situation Analysis ...63 Core Problem ..64 Recommendations...64

Conclusions & Recommendations...65 Appendices.66

Appendix A: Focus Group Transcripts.67 Appendix B: Qualtrics Statistical breakdown & Survey Questions........86 Appendix C: Background Sources102

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Executive Summary
Studies Weekly has provided teachers with an engaging way to teach students K-6. The materials offered by Studies Weekly assist teachers by: 1) creating a fun environment for teaching the sciences and social studies 2) preparing students for state standardized tests and 3) providing the most up to date materials on the curriculums. Despite the benefits of subscribing to Studies Weekly, there is currently a low understanding of these benefits, which results in a lower subscription rate. Purpose of Research Since its conception in 1984,Studies Weekly currently holds clients in about 15 percent of the public and private schools in America in at least one grade level. This is around 70,000 (or 5 percent of nationwide) classrooms and 1.5 million students. By 2020, the company would like to increase their presence to 50 percent of schools. Studies Weekly is seeking to increase its subscriptions which can only happen when it understands the current perceptions out there about Studies Weekly. This study sought to better investigate the disconnect between the benefits offered by Studies Weekly and the perceptions people had about it. Research Questions Answered The following questions guided our research and our goal to understand why some schools have not adopted Studies Weekly as a viable curriculum material. How is Studies Weekly being perceived by current customers? How is Studies Weekly being perceived by school administrators? Why do teachers choose certain textbooks over others?

Research Methods Employed To better understand the history of Studies Weekly, our background research sought to investigate the education industry to gain insight into what prominent textbook providers are doing. Research for this report included a thorough study of the textbook industry and how teachers and administrators select materials for their curriculum. With the familiarity of Studies Weekly, we conducted a focus group with school administrators to hear their opinions of Studies Weekly. This helped us better understand how Studies Weekly can reach to school administrators and market its product as a viable curriculum material. This also helped us to gain insight into school administrators criterias when choosing a curriculum material for a school. From this research we were able to gain many insights into the school administrators feelings
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and thought process regarding Studies Weekly and further investigate our assumptions through a survey to the current Studies Weekly users. An invitation to the survey was sent out to ____ current Studies Weekly users through email. The survey was written to gather information from current Studies Weekly users of their opinions of the different features offered by Studies Weekly. ___ percent responded to the survey within a 1 week span. The questions to the survey are provided in the Appendix B. Most Important Discoveries Focus Group When searching for curriculum materials the important factors included an official education material appearance, current information and cost efficient. Teachers and administrators are interested in updated curriculum; however, they dont want to change their lesson plans dramatically each year. The price has to be right for a perceived supplemental magazine. Survey Data
1 2 3 4 Social studies is the money maker for both the print and online publications. Math is virtually unused. The love group has shown that convenient quality is the value that customers get from Studies Weekly products. The audio feature and testing feature are solid gold for the online publication. The website needs its technical issues cleaned up and made more user friendly.

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Studies Weekly Company Background

About Studies Weekly

Studies Weekly started with founder Paul Thompson doing all the production work at his home. He was a fourth grade teacher who disapproved of the schools state history Textbook. So he decided to put the information about the history of the state into a magazine format. And thus, studies weekly came about. Between 1984 and 1997 there were no other full-time employees, only part-time family helpers. In 1997 a new state (Texas) was added to the market requiring extra manpower and a few full-time employees. By 2004 Studies Weekly had a staff of about 15 full-time employees and added an additional seven employees over the next three years. Currently, Studies Weekly has 35 full-time employees, about 15 of which handle customer issues and the business side. Because a typical textbook is too big for kids, too expensive, boring, and usually costs over $70 dollars per textbook, Studies Weekly has created an easier, cheaper, and more practical alternative. Studies Weekly's goal is to make their newspapers the new textbook. Because of the facility of Changing Studies Weekly the curriculum is updated on a regular basis, quicker and more efficient than textbooks are updated. Profitability has ranged over the years in relation to sales and number of employees. Between 1984 and 1996 revenue ranged from $20,000-$30,000 with 50 percent profits. When schools in Texas were added as clients in 1997, revenue went as high as $100,000, but profits dropped to about 40 percent due to increased staff and operations. By 2004, revenue increased to $2.6 million with new publications and many new states with purchasing orders. Annual revenue increased again to $4 million by 2007 and has risen to $8.7 million since, with a profit margin ranging between 11 and 13 percent (see Figure 1). President Rickers said the most costly expense for Studies Weekly has been initially working with extended family and buying everyone out and paying off all the debt as a result. Currently, Studies Weekly holds clients in about 15 percent of the public and private schools in America in at least one grade level. This is around 70,000 (or 5 percent of nationwide) classrooms and 1.5 million students. By 2020 the company would like to be in more than 50 percent of the classrooms nationwide. This translates to roughly $80 million a year in revenues.

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Revenue and Profit by Year

10 REVENUE ($MILLIONS) AND PROFITS PERCENTAGE (10=100) 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 0.02 1984 0.1 1997 2004 YEAR Revenue Profit 5 4 2.6 1.8 1.1 2007 4 8.7

1.3 2012

Currently, Studies Weekly holds clients in about 15 percent of the public and private schools in America in at least one grade level. This is around 70,000 (or 5 percent of nationwide) classrooms and 1.5 million students. By 2020 the company would like to be in more than 50 percent of the classrooms nationwide. This translates roughly to $80 million a year in revenues. But there are some challenges that are holding Studies Weekly back. As for the reputation of Studies Weekly, the retention of the product is doing decent but not outstanding. About 65 percent keep Studies Weekly from year to year. Reasons for teachers not using the program anymore are: 1) There are a few complaints with how the system is run 2) Some teachers that adopted it change the grade in which they are teaching and they adopt the teacher in whose place they follow instead of using Studies Weekly again 3) Teachers quit teaching 4) Teachers re-use the newspapers so they don't subscribe every year.

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A perception that has not helped in distributing the product and getting people to adopt it is that people think that a magazine cannot be a textbook because of what they're used to. To make this effort be known, Studies Weekly has used a "bottom-up" method sending brochures and samples to help people understand how Studies Weekly will facilitate in the teaching and learning process. Eds idea is that as teachers get involved and participate they will see how helpful the process is. Once they realize this they will share it with fellow teachers. One of the biggest challenges that Studies Weekly faces is establishing effective processes that control operations consistently so that quality is high in product creations, shipping, customer services, etc. One of the biggest breakthroughs for the company was becoming adopted by the state Department of Education in Florida, which lead to nine other state adoptions. Another highlight for Studies Weekly has been winning the support of South Carolinas third grade. Eighty-two percent of the states third grade students now use Studies Weekly. Studies Weekly Background Research: The social, economic and political environment in which it competes in: I feel that Studies Weekly is trying to enter the Testing and Educational Support Industry So below are the social, economic, and political environments in which it currently competes.

Social, Economic, and Political Environment

Social environment: The adoption of instructional materials is a process that occurs at the state and/or local level. The National Association of State Textbook Administrators (NASTA, 2012) has over 60 years of collaboration with American Publishers and it focuses on standardized specifications for print textbooks. NASTA membership has 22 Adoption States. NASTA is a national organization comprised of textbook adoption states. Publishing is a competitive industry therefore, publishers take different approaches in the learning materials they publish (Association of American Publishers). Currently there is still the stereotype that textbooks are best at teaching children in grades k-6 the materials they need to learn, so it will be difficult to change that perception into viewing Studies Weekly magazines as a core material rather than supplement material. State Instructional Materials Review Association (SIMRA, 2012) supports state education agencies in affecting student achievement through thorough review of alignment, accessibility and quality of instructional materials. SIMRAs website states that it follows its five common
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criteria for vetting quality instructional materials based on: Content, equity and accessibility, assessment, organization and presentation, and instructional design and support (SIMRA, 2012). Economic environment: There are some major competitors in this market already and Pearson PLC is one of the worlds largest publishers of education textbooks and books.

The Above graph from IBIS World depicts the operating conditions in this testing and educational support industry. It shows that there is a low level of capital intensity. This means that like the rest of the education sector, the Testing and Educational Support industry is labor intensive. The industry provides a range of educational services that usually involve face-to-face contact with clients. This includes specialist services to cater to the individual needs of the client, the development of which is labor-intensive. In spite of this, the use of technology is increasing the industry's capital intensity. Educational support service providers are increasingly offering services via the internet, increasing capital costs and simultaneously reducing labor costs (IBIS World). Computer software allows for the automation of test delivery and grading services, again reducing labor requirements. As a result, wages have declined marginally as a proportion of industry revenue in the five years to 2012, a trend that is expected to continue over the next five years (IBIS World). In 2012, IBIS World estimates that wages and depreciation represent 33.7% and 2.6% of industry revenue, respectively. This means that for every dollar spent on the use and replacement of buildings and equipment, another $12.97 is spent on wages.

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Political Environment: McGraw Hill are textbook producers that are now offering reading programs built on the common core state standards reported a Bloomberg article supplied by the PR Newswire. IBISWorld reported that the major companies in the Testing and Educational Support Industry are: Pearson PLC, Educational testing services, and others. The graph below depicts the percent of major players in the Testing and Educational Support Industry.

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The chart shows the market share of each major player and the collective concentration of all dominant industry players. According to IBIS World a major player is a company that generates more than 5% of industry revenue. Often companies that have less than 5% market share are listed if they are fast growing or have a unique business model (IBIS World). It has been said that major players that enjoy a large market share often benefit from cost advantages that provide a competitive edge. IBIS World stated that where industries have a high level of market concentration, the dominance of a select few companies acts as a potential barrier to entry for new competitors in the industry.

Competitors Competition

With Studies Weeklys struggles to take over the public school system, competitors must be winning the trade battle, provoking a deeper look into said competitors. The two main sources of competition against Studies Weekly and its products are textbooks with the tradition they carry and tablet use within schools. Products and companies exist which address early education in a similar way as Studies Weekly, but their competition with Studies Weeklys products is minimal and virtually irrelevant according to the owner.

Textbooks: Textbooks and their $10 Billion industry have monopolized the school system of the United States. (Apple, 2012) Strengths behind the use of textbooks have kept the learning method as the prime medium for learning in schools despite a number of issues facing the industry such as cost, outdated information/curriculum, and common wear and tear. Strengths of textbooks include the comfort of consumers, the tradition of textbooks in schools and finally their large numbers in schools today. People commonly fear what they dont understand and inversely are comfortable with what they do. Textbooks have been used in schools for decades and are commonly accepted as a source for learning between students and their parents. Parents have grown up using textbooks. Between reading assignments from them, answering questions at the end of chapters and hauling them around in their backpacks, this is what parents used to learn and gain an education. This obtained education lead to success in society and means to acquire a job and provide for a family. Changing what parents, through personal experience, know to be effective is difficult because no
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parent wants their children to be a guinea pig or test rat when it comes to something as foundational and life-changing as education. The old saying if it isnt broke then dont fix it also comes to mind. Trying to replace something that people feel comfortable is therefore very difficult. For teachers trying to educate Americas youth, while dealing with low wages and increasing class sizes, changing the source of curriculum is one more thing making their jobs difficult. They have taught from textbooks all of their careers and fear trying to learn some new system or curriculum for conveying their lessons. In many cases, the same textbooks have been used in classes for so long that teachers have gotten used to teaching their lessons with little work required to create new lesson plans. The tradition created through the consistent use of textbooks in schools is one that if broken, will cause discomfort and therefore close-mindedness among educators. Since becoming the primary source for learning in schools, textbooks have been bought in large numbers to educate students. With each child needing a textbook, and schools becoming more and more overpopulated, the collection of textbooks is ever-growing. To change this method of learning and adopt a new format, completely disconnected from textbooks, would deem the books useless and a waste of taxpayers dollars. School superintendents and other leadership who hope to remain in office, are going to be more focused on keeping costs down and voters happy than adopting new sources of curriculum. According to a study done in California, 92 percent of nearly 1,100 randomly selected California public school teachers reported that they use textbooks as part of their instruction. (Oakes, 2001) Therefore the great numbers of textbooks in schools make it a difficult proposition to replace them, when lots of money was spent to get them.

Tablets: The other major competitor of Studies Weekly is an up and coming technology which differs greatly from the traditional textbook learning method. This market is growing greatly with reports that 27 percent of middle school and 35 percent of high school students using digital textbooks. Apple specifically is trying to get in on the momentum that the tablet industry has in schools with reports that more than 600 districts have launched one-on-one programs in which at least one classroom of students is getting iPads for each student to use throughout the day. (AP, 2011) Tablets and more specifically iPads in schools are becoming more and more popular, with statistics and evidence to prove their effectiveness. One of the biggest strengths of the recent tablet push in schools is the technology factor and what that does to the minds of parents. When a child is using the latest technology to learn, using interactive programs to be taught on their personal tablet, parents feel that the school system is evolving and improving. This is an example of when parents approve of their children
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being the guinea pig because the change is commonly accepted as state of the art and with the times, offering the same material as textbooks, only digitally. Superintendents and other officials appear to parents/voters to be improving the school system and personalizing the learning experience while saving money. Another strength of tablets is that they are cheaper than textbooks and other learning materials. Textbooks get old and worn out easily, and the curriculum becomes outdated in a matter of years, whereas tablets can be updated with downloads or software installation, helping them evolve with the times and save school districts money. Despite budget cuts, school officials are spending more money every year on IT, paying $19.7 billion during the 2010-2011 school year. (Kaufman, 2012) The other main strength of tablets in schools is the effect they are having on learning. A study using tablets was recently conducted in Doukas School in Athens, Greece. Each student was given a tablet and the effects were studied. The experiment increased student participation in the classroom by 50 percent and boosted the percentage of parents who communicate with the school from 10 to more than 70 percent. Tablets in students hands allows teachers to send specific students exercises to help them individually, allows students to anonymously participate in questions by offering answers and learning from their mistakes, makes teacher feedback more accessible and immediate, all while encouraging parents to take an active role in their childrens education. (Microsoft Education, 2011)

Other Competitors: Though these companies products do not directly compare with those of Studies Weekly, the top competitors include Scholastic and Pearson. Scholastic is the worlds largest publisher and distributor of childrens books making approximately $2 billion in annual revenues for a company which employs some 9,500 people. Their products serve customers in 45 different languages and 150 countries around the world. Their focus is books and educational magazines for children, employing the mascot Clifford the Big Red Dog. (Scholastic, 2013) Pearson has sales of $2.6 billion in 2011 while making a profit of $493 million. They have recently tried to keep up with newer learning technologies including programs which include digital textbooks with appropriate learning materials, English language learning and other interactive training programs consistent with the times. Roughly 60% of their sales come in North America, though they operate in over 70 countries around the world. (Pearson, 2013)

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The above table depicts what teachers think their students are most likely to use.

Studies Weekly Past Promotions and PR

Studies Weekly has incorporated a wide variety of promotional marketing during recent years. This marketing has mostly targeted those who are already familiar with the product and are looking for a more in-depth look at what is offered. Below are some of the marketing attempts Studies Weekly has undergone. Due to confidentiality, Studies Weekly was not able to offer information regarding how each marketing effort affected the company.

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Free Samples: Anyone can request a free sample of the product from Studies Weekly simply by visiting studiesweekly.com or contacting them via email or by phone. When requested, Studies Weekly will send a physical sample of their product along with a catalog describing all other products that are for sale by the company. Included with this sample is a return addressed envelope for easy mail ordering. Studies Weekly also offers a free Box Sample exclusively to school administrators. This sample is sent in a highly decorative package and includes more information about the product. On the online order form of the free sample, Studies Weekly encourages those requesting a free sample to share with their colleagues in order to spread the company name by word of mouth.

Money Back Guarantee: Studies Weekly attempts to remove all purchase risks by offering a money back guarantee to anyone who purchases their product. Purchasers are encouraged to test their product for an entire school year and if they are not satisfied, a full 100 percent refund will be given no questions asked. This guarantee puts customers at ease and often will help those who arent quite sure if they are interested take the final steps towards becoming a customer.

Special Offers: On the outside of every envelope that Studies Weekly sends, there are special offers that are easily viewable. These offers are free gifts that are selected based on how many periodicals are ordered per classroom. By ordering a higher number of periodicals, the purchaser is given a higher quality gift. These gifts are usually classroom oriented and include calendar sticker books, personal coffee makers, lunch bags, scissors sets, and clock radios (gifts can be substituted with similar items). These special offers can also be found at studiesweekly.com. These special offers encourage customers to purchase more publications.

Studies Weekly Webinar: Personal webinars are offered by Studies Weekly as often as they are requested. These webinars allow customers to speak with Judy Reimer, a teacher who has used Studies Weekly in her classroom for four years, regarding the benefits that classroom use of the product offers. These webinars are scheduled during mutually convenient times between the customer and Judy. All that is needed to set up the webinar is to send Judy an email at judy@studiesweekly.com. This webinar enables customers and potential customers to talk face to face with a Studies Weekly representative regardless of where they are located.
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Social Media: Studies Weekly has created a YouTube channel, Facebook page, Twitter account, and an independent blog which allows them to spread information about the company around the internet. The YouTube channel is especially active and allows customers to view and embed company-created videos. These videos are very informative and include product overviews, interviews with parents of children who use Studies Weekly, interviews with children who use studies weekly, and teacher/administrator reactions to using studies weekly. Each video is about five minutes long. The account was created in July of 2009. YouTube videos allow customers to spread information on the Internet by sharing and embedding videos on social media and other websites.

Spring Newsletter: Each spring a letter is sent to each Studies Weekly customer, thanking them for using Studies Weekly and making it easy for the customers to renew their subscription for the following year. These letters outline how much the customer will be charged if they subscribe, and offer discounts which are exclusive to continuing subscriptions. Each letter is sent by mail in a handwritten addressed envelope and includes a flyer which goes over the benefits Studies Weekly offers. This gives customers a feeling of appreciation and reminds them of exactly why they chose Studies Weekly in the first place.

Richard Dreyfuss: Academy Award winning actor Richard Dreyfuss (pictured in the top left corner of the spring flyer) has become an unpaid contributing scholar for Studies Weekly and submits a regular column titled American Civics. Richard is well known around the country and gives Studies Weekly a celebrity endorsement. The fact that he is unpaid is made clear and also helps show their validity as a truly beneficial publication.

Every Kid Votes: Every four years, Studies Weekly helps children understand the presidential election be creating a way for them to vote. In 2012, more than 1.19 million elementary school kids cast their vote on studiesweekly.com. Because voting for the president isnt something children are allowed to do, they look for ways to be involved in the election. By creating a platform for children to place a mock vote, they drive parents and teachers of children to their site.

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Competitor Promotions and PR

Studies Weekly CEO Ed Rickers believes that textbook publishers are the main competitors to Studies Weekly. The main goal of the company is to replace textbooks entirely in elementary schools. This would allow children to have less expensive materials which are updated each year to show the most correct information needed to teach state standardized curriculum. While textbook publishers are definitely a competitor of Studies Weekly, supplemental education providers also compete with the company. Supplemental education products are products that add to state curriculum, providing different way of teaching and making topics easier to understand for children. Most people, when hearing Studies Weekly is in a newspaper format, immediately believe it supplements textbooks in classrooms instead of replacing them.

The marketing efforts of Studies Weekly line up with their competitors for the most part. There are a few efforts that textbook publishers and supplemental education material providers have been implementing that Studies Weekly has not. Below are some examples of how Studies Weekly and their competitors differ.

Textbook Publishers While there are many companies who publish textbooks, I will use Macmillan/McGraw-Hill as an example.

Online Materials: One of the main differences between Studies Weekly and Macmillan/McGraw-Hill is website quality and information. Studies Weekly provides online materials such as videos and a childrens program including a cartoon rat named Revere, but these materials are significantly smaller than Macmillan/McGraw-Hill. On their website alone, Macmillan/McGraw-Hill provide eSamples of textbooks and free mobile and tablet apps that portray company learning materials. They also created a Digital Learning Day on February 6th which encourages kids to learn online. Studies Weekly does not have mobile/tablet apps and chooses to send physical samples of their product instead of having it readily available online.

Partnerships: Macmillan/McGraw-Hill is able to market an exclusive partnership with Align, Assess, Achieve, LLC which is a third-party company that helps educators create lesson plans that accomplish state standardized curriculums. When customers see that independent companies have created partnerships with and trusted the publisher, they are more likely to
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affiliate themselves with that publisher. Most of Studies Weeklys lesson plans are created by the company themselves.

Custom Publishing: When a school wants to purchase textbooks, but they dont want all of the information that the textbook has, Macmillan/McGraw-Hill offers custom publishing. This allows customers to get exactly what they want in their textbook and nothing else. Studies Weekly has different editions of their publication for different states, but it is not clear whether they offer custom publishing. Gifts: While Studies Weekly provides gifts, they are only for those who actually purchase their product. Macmillan/McGraw-Hill offers gifts to those who simply submit inspiring stories about good teachers they have had in their lives. They also offer free DVD players to those who purchase certain products.

Bilingual Editions of Books: The number of children who speak English as a second language is rising with every school year. Textbooks are being printed in many different languages so that children and parents who might still have a hard time with English can understand what is being taught. It is not clear if Studies Weekly offers their publications in different languages.

Green Rankings: Textbook publishers are required to use a substantial amount of nonenvironmental friendly products when publishing their books. There has been an increased effort to reduce those products to try and help the environment. Macmillan/McGraw-Hill has been the top of their industry when it comes to environmental friendliness and have been named top of their industry in this category by Newsweek. This shows a willingness to help the environment and appeals to environmentally conservative customers.

Supplemental Education Providers of supplemental education include, but are not limited to, Houghton-Mifflin Education Place, Celebration Press, and Scholastic Reader. Many of the promotions are similar to those listed above for Studies Weekly and Macmillan/McGraw-Hill. Below are some of the different promotions used by these supplemental education providers.

Online Parent Guides: One of the first things youll see on supplemental education websites are the amount of links to parental guides on how to help their children with reading. Often times parental involvement in elementary education is overlooked even though it is one of the most important factors in a childs development. These guides make parents more likely to subscribe
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independently from their childrens schools. This could help Studies Weekly target parents as well as educators.

Exclusive Offers for Teachers: Many supplemental education providers promote the special offers they have for teachers. These include free class materials, special offers, and giveaways. These offers are independent from purchasing, and often only require registration for the offer itself with no strings attached. This takes potential customers minds away from the business side of the company, and increases positive outlooks on the company.

Invite an Author: A step by step guide on how to request school visits from popular authors is offered by many supplemental education providers. They also provide lists of authors who are affiliated with them and willing to make trips to schools and make presentations for the students. Author visits are very popular and an effective way to encourage children to read. Popular authors will bring extra attention to the product they are affiliated with.

Budgeting Ideas: Teachers all over the country have to work with a budget that is less than ideal. Guides on how to effectively teach on a low budget are available for subscribers. This shows that the company cares for teachers and is willing to help them with ideas on how to be better educators.

Homeschool Links: The amount of kids that are being homeschooled is growing and parents who teach their children at home are constantly looking for new ways to teach. Supplemental education providers often will have links on their site that are specifically for homeschoolers. This helps a company target home educators instead of out of home schools.

Resources for Studies Weekly

Employees of Studies Weekly:

Users of Studies Weekly have a positive relationship with the employees. They could be well used in ensuring the satisfaction of customers.
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Testimonial of employee help, and of the product: Thanks so much for your rapid response and assistance. I am thrilled to have found your website for the publications. My grandchildren use them in their classes and I am excited to have them at the middle school level for my students. Thanks again. Sara Williams Employees will be vital in moving the children to like the products. Keeping an updated website with updated material will help in user retention.

Social Media - Facebook and Twitter Studies weekly has an online social media presence with 964 likes on Facebook and 237 followers on Twitter. These resources are completely free to maintain. Some aspects of the Facebook page still say under construction which can be a deterrent for new followers to pursue the website. The main way that social media can help your business is that it gives you a way to reach your customers. These days most people go online for the purpose of using social media so if you want to reach them you are going to have to be there as well. The good news is that social media can be a very cost effective way to promote your company; it does not cost a lot to use it. Social media is also ideal for smaller companies since they are able to compete on a more or less level playing field with the large corporations. - GNC Tech SEO The emergence of Internet-based social media has made it possible for one person to communicate with hundreds or even thousands of other people about products and the companies that provide them. Thus, the impact of consumer-to consumer communications has been greatly magnied in the marketplace. - Mangold and Faulds Studies Weekly is based out of Utah. All 50 states use Studies weekly, and the best way to keep them using the product is with a major online presence.

Children using Studies Weekly Testimonials Hi! I really like your weekly and it is very useful for studying. I also like the fact that you write everything in the format as if it were recent, like when you said "New York Goes to War!" I also like that some things are recent, like reenacting historical events so people can learn about them.
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In my class at school we use your weeklies for morning work. Bye! P.S. I also like the jokes in the back. They are very funny! :) Danni B. Fourth Grade Student New Rochelle, NY My fourth grade science teacher just started handing out your Science Studies Weekly paper. We have a homework assignment in it tonight (do the crossword). I just wanted to tell you that I think your newspaper is the greatest I have ever read! It informs you on anything you would like to know about that particular subject. This is a great way to teach students, or anyone who really wants to know about science. Thanks for publishing it. Melissa (Student) Florida.

Opinion Leaders: The people who influence educators include other teachers, faculties, and popular TV personalities. To decide who the opinion leaders are for the educators in certain areas, primary research needs to be done by simply asking them. The following are five proven ways to identify the opinion leaders in any group: 1. Bring together a small group of people who know the target audience, whether that target audience is the state legislature, your community, or parents in your school. 2. Have those individuals brainstorm, by name, people who are respected and who communicate with that audience. Keep in mind that opinion leaders are selected by people power-the number of individuals they influence-not position power. In some communities, the barber is a more powerful opinion leader than the president of the Chamber of Commerce. 3. Prioritize the names into a workable list. The more important ones you may want to contact personally, either by phone or in person. Talk about the major issues facing middle level education and what's happening in your school. The more people on your list, the better. However, it's better to deal effectively with a smaller group than ineffectively with a larger group you can always expand your list. 4. Determine ways to keep these key people informed about your school and educational issues. Let them know the URL of your Web site, put them on the mailing list for publications, send them a schedule of activities at your school, invite them to be part of a school group, or develop a short newsletter just for opinion leaders. 5. As your relationship with these leaders develops, ask them to alert you to any rumors or misinformation they hear among their peers. You will then be able to communicate the accurate information through your normal channels and head off rumors before they become major problems. - Association for Middle Level Education

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Facilities: An effective way to get Studies Weekly in the classroom is to get teachers to adopt and accept the publication. An effective way to do this is to go to teachers and the college programs they are just graduating from. Physical presence in the classroom can cause children to want to use the material, but this will only remain popular if the online presence is strong enough. Attitudes/Opinions: Teachers and parents are not convinced on what they perceive to be supplemental material for the classroom. The publication needs to have more credibility and a more accurate perception of what the publication is - a constantly updated textbook.

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Qualitative Analysis
Qualitative Methodology
As a group, each member of the PR research and Measurement class called individuals from a number of lists containing Administrative members from a number of Utah Elementary schools. Those who participated were those that were able and willing to offer their opinions. No interviews were conducted. The focus group was conducted on the Studies Weekly grounds at 1922 W 200 N in Lindon, Utah. Inside the companys warehouse also exists a number of office areas surrounding some couches where the actual questions and answers took place. We had three focus group leaders who asked the questions and directed the discussion. Issues and questions for the focus group were discussed and decided upon prior to the focus group date by the entire class during class hours. One other member of the class was present to man the camera and audio was recorded on a phone which was the means by which the rest of the class heard and analyzed the yielded content. The focus of the focus group was two-fold; first, to understand what could be done by Studies Weekly to better appeal to schools in the country in terms of overall effectiveness, second to find out why some administrators or teachers would be opposed to the use of Studies Weekly and its materials. Many of the participants were taken on a tour of the facilities and they all received a brief lecture on Studies Weekly and its resources from the owner Ed Rickers prior to the focus group. Despite this tampering and possible induced bias, it is believed that the participating members were still able to give fairly un-biased responses. The focus group lasted approximately 77 minutes and was held on February 22, 2013 at 5:00 p.m. The incentive provided by Studies Weekly was a $200 gift card to each participant. Following the conclusion of the focus group, the audio file containing a recording of the information was divided between three different groups and further divided into 3.5 minute increments between group members for transcription. Once transcription of the entire focus group was complete, the script was divided between the six members of our group and coded in order to find recurring themes and patterns. The results of these individual codings is the following analysis.

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Analysis of Qualitative Data

The focus group provided the opportunity for a variety of opinions and perspectives of feedback for Studies Weekly and its products. Conducting the focus group allowed for education professionals to share their expert opinions on education and the key for Studies Weeklys increased successes. For the purpose of allowing our participants to stay anonymous, they will be numbered 1-5.

General Positives:
A) The Materials are Very Flexible
#3: You know, as I was watching that (the presentation beforehand) 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 a sudden, they can delve into the e-program that we saw, I all of a 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. Feedback from the group of the general product of Studies Weekly was very positive. Many of the members spoke highly of the materials and resources at ones disposal who uses Studies Weekly. The variety that the program offers as well as the flexibility that it has from one student to another was a big hit. It was agreed that with class sizes so high and inexperienced teachers in every school, having a program that can adjust to and challenge each child according to their level is most beneficial.

#1: Over a 100 different languages spoken, over 37 percent are limited English proficient. This idea only enhances what was just mentioned with the power of the flexibility that Studies Weeklys materials employ. Teachers are looking for ways to connect with all of their students and having a program that is translated into multiple languages can be very beneficial, especially for a teacher who knows only English.

General Suggestions:

A) Make Online Accessible Materials a Focal Point

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# 2: Letting the teachers know about the test options and the reports that you can run from those, thats very valuable information. #5: I like that. I think thats a great proponent. Thats a big selling factor nowadays with e-studies weeklys email to parent capabilities.

The general consensus regarding the tools on the online version was very positive. The whole group was very impressed that the stats for class tests could be analyzed through the program to reveal weak and strong points and emails could easily be sent to parents to inform of school performance. Teachers want things that make their jobs easier and this aspect definitely does that.

B) Personalize the Product

#3: If you could customize it with the school name on it, then a subscription is viewed a whole different way. This wasnt mentioned a lot, but it seemed like something the focus group really thought was a good idea. They really thought that the ability to customize their orders would really help Studies Weekly be more successful. Obviously Studies Weekly already customizes their products for each different state, but the group believed that the ability to customize it as specifically as possible would really help the marketing efforts. This could be done when ordering the product online with a place to fill in information, or something simple like that.

C) Expose Teachers and Administrators to the Teachers Edition to assure of

consistency
#3: I saw the teachers edition, I went wow 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 assignment, 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. #4: Teachers are gonna want to see not just the magazine, they want to see this is the teacher part of it, I dont know maybe they just need to concretely see this is what 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.

#4: I want my curriculum to have a little bit of consistency so I can develop some other things. So if I feel like the curriculum is going to change next year when that weekly reader comes back Im going to be disinclined to want it.
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It seems clear that teachers would want to have the entire finished product from the beginning. Efforts to appeal to teachers, working solely off of the magazines, gives them the worry that every year their lessons will change and that they will need to learn a new system. Seeing the teachers edition and the similarity it has to what they are already doing could eliminate the fear that the Studies Weekly materials are inconsistent with what they are using and what they are used to. Teachers dont want to learn new systems or programs and could potentially be scared off from the idea of change. Apparently using more of a workbook system that has assignments in the teachers addition that can be torn and copied would be beneficial to keeping the teachers comfortable.

D) Pilot Programs are Key

#5: 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. Once teachers pilot a certain program they usually like it, and they dont want to switch back. So administrators work carefully with a committee to pick effective and cost-effective plans to test.

Apparently, before a committee decides on implementing a new source of curriculum they pilot the program and typically the programs are well liked after a pilot period. It should therefore be a supreme focus of Studies Weekly to gain the exposure and publicity that it would need in order to be chosen by committees for piloting. It seemed that most districts hold open meetings for venders to bring, show, and explain their materials. Studies Weekly must learn of when these take place and be present. Theres also the idea of taking a pilot program to the districts as a special offer. Studies Weekly already offers free samples and other options for teachers to get a good look at what is being offered, but a pilot program would really help the teachers see what its actually like to use the product in their classrooms. A pilot program could be the same for every district, or could be something that was tailored to each specific districts needs.

E) Money is still an issue

#5: 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 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. #1: Then in Utah you have the economic dilemma where 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?
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Well that works in science but not so much in social studies because much of the content is more constant. Being affordable is still an issue. When there is no money, it doesnt matter how old a textbook is, no new material will be purchased. Studies weekly must show that it is cheaper. The idea of staying current isnt always valuable because social studies does not change and from year to year most other things dont either. Also, Studies Weekly must focus its efforts on language arts, science, and math because, at least in Utah, those subjects are the ones tested. For a teacher trying to keep their job, finding effective teaching methods on testable subjects is a priority. The online version and tools are not mentioned in this discussion, hinting that they need more exposure and emphasis.

F) Consider Changing the Name From Studies Weekly

#4: The name doesnt look like a textbook to me. The name says that its sort of an ancillary that I may get. Weeklyjust seems very old fashioned. #1: Daily studies sounds better than weekly studies if youre trying to have people feel that its relevant and current and needed. Our participants were not particularly fond of the name and thought it was more appropriate for a supplemental material. There were not a lot of alternatives shared but the consensus hinted at an overhaul because if people get the wrong idea immediately from the name, the company could lose a client before it has the opportunity to be educated of the primary nature of the product.

G) The product seems more like supplementary material

#3: Its got supplemental written all over it.

#2: There are tight budgets, and justifying costs of supplemental materials is hard.
Between the cover, the disposable nature of the magazines, the name, and the reputation of the company, one of the biggest trials that Studies Weekly needs to overcome is the idea that it is supplementary. With budget cuts and strict spending across the country, district administration wont give supplemental materials the time of day. Because Studies Weekly cant sit down one on one with every administrator and explain the nature of its product, a change in the product and marketing plan would increase the companys opportunities.

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Thematic Analysis A) Schools are moving towards newer technology instead of text books
As technology is evolving and advancing, textbooks and hard copy primary materials are becoming outdated, not necessarily because of effectiveness, but cost. Studies Weekly has a great opportunity to evolve with technology and the educational trend. #1: As he was giving the two of us a tour downstairs, I remember seeing the Studies Weekly material two or three times through my career and the quality of the materials is great. 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 And so you could potentially 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 then you get both what the teacher delivered in what maybe is your native language. With the online version that each of our participants loved so much, Studies Weekly is in perfect position to add more focus to the online version that is beneficial for language barriers and individual learning, while being supplemented by the magazines which are to help children read and learn in other ways. Funding is also moving towards digital technology. #5: 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 for several years #1: 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 there is a big push and need economically to have text available electronically. #3: All my sixth grade kids have a lap top. And so with the government supporting such a technological move (in Utah anyway) Studies Weekly should start to adjust to a format that not only works with personal computers, but takes advantage of them. There simply isnt enough funding for schools to accommodate companies that are trying to sell or market a predominantly print-based product in schools where each child uses a computer. And why try and replace textbook sales when they are so cost prohibitive that electronic formats are already deemed the most affordable. Being so flexible and using both print and digital materials, Studies Weekly has the opportunity to adjust and take advantage of the technological shift.

B) Committees Make Curriculum Decisions

A lot of the discussion went over exactly how certain learning materials become the standard way for teachers to teach curriculum. The districts represented by those in this focus group went through committees comprised of teachers from the schools within their districts. These teachers would research certain educational materials, bring them to the committees, and discuss the ways in which they could benefit the teachers within the district.
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#5: 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. #4 brought up a good point when he talked about the Council of Social Studies and how they put on a free convention where vendors can come and put their products on display. Teachers can then see the materials and take them back to their committees for review. It would be good for Studies Weekly to find out about these conventions and try and set up some sort of display there. It would also be good to contact the districts to see about maybe giving a presentation to the committees who make the decisions regarding the standard materials used. Finally it would be beneficial for studies weekly to get a good reputation among the teachers as a primary material vendor, as members of the committees tend to be teachers and other administrative members value teachers opinions.

C) Awareness and Exposure Must be a Focus

The fact that people arent aware that Studies Weekly can be used as a textbook seems like a very big stumbling block in the way of company growth. Even before the focus group took place, the main issue a lot of people saw in Studies Weekly was that nobody knew exactly what it was. A lot of people thought it was simply supplemental education that could go along with what teachers were already teaching. They had no idea that it was actually a substitute for textbooks entirely. This is something that came across right at the end of the focus group when #4: 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. This just goes to show that Studies Weekly might not be marketing their product correctly. Districts are looking for any way to save money on educational materials and would be more than willing to give Studies Weekly a shot especially if it markets the idea of flexible learning through either electronic or printed resources. The problem is that if they dont know about Studies Weekly at all, or only know it for its magazines, they think its similar to Scholastic Reader, just a supplemental magazine that will help students learn what is already being taught. Studies Weekly needs to find a way to market their product as a replacement for the current textbook system which works great with computers. The change may require an adjustment to their products or a shift in emphasis, but according to our participants, an alteration may be very beneficial.

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Quantitative Analysis
Survey Design and Construction
The survey questions were originally designed by Studies Weekly. 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 was 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 limit the total number of questions down to 30 or so. 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 but 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 fixed including some loaded questions, some biased ones 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 initial 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 a dozen or so 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 such as 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 a respondent 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.
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Because Studies Weekly subscribers are scattered throughout the whole United States, the most effective and efficient way to distribute this survey was via the internet. Quantitative methodology Sample Size Again, this survey was a convenience survey, given to virtually all of Studies Weeklys subscribers with 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 each recipient 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 an unthought-of topic 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 at 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. 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.

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Survey Results & Analysis

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

# 1 2 3 Answer This is my first year 2-5 years 6+ years Total Response 462 363 101 926 % 50% 39% 11% 100%

Forty-five percent of respondents teach 4th grade, 30 percent 5th grade and 22 percent 3rd grade. The state with the highest number of respondents was Florida (17 percent) followed by Texas with 10 percent. The most common age range of respondents was between 41 and 50 (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.

Which grade(s) do you teach? Check all that apply.

# 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Answer Kindergarten Grade 1 Grade 2 Grade 3 Grade 4 Grade 5 Grade 6 Response 62 85 126 206 419 279 96 % 7% 9% 14% 22% 45% 30% 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).

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# 1 2

Answer Studies Weekly print publication only Mostly Studies Weekly print, partially eStudies Weekly online Studies Weekly print and eStudies Weekly online equally Mostly eStudies Weekly online, partially Studies Weekly print eStudies Weekly online publication only Total

Response 524 214

% 57% 23%

148

16%

4 5

13 27 926

1% 3% 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 4th and/or 5th grade, and have been teaching for an average of 14 years (29 percent for 21+ years though). See the following two charts.

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

# Answer Studies Weekly print publication only Mostly Studies Weekly print, partially eStudies Weekly online 112 74 28 214 Studies Weekly print and eStudies Weekly online equally 77 56 16 149 Mostly eStudies Weekly online, partially Studies Weekly print eStudies Weekly online publication only

1 2 3

This is my first year 2-5 years 6+ years Total

241 231 55 527

8 3 2 13

25 2 0 27

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Which grade(s) do you teach? Check all that apply.

# Answer Studies Weekly print publication only Mostly Studies Weekly print, partially eStudies Weekly online 12 21 25 58 89 69 22 296 Studies Weekly print and eStudies Weekly online equally 6 9 13 35 69 45 12 189 Mostly eStudies Weekly online, partially Studies Weekly print 1 1 0 1 6 6 1 16 eStudies Weekly online publication only

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Kindergarten Grade 1 Grade 2 Grade 3 Grade 4 Grade 5 Grade 6 Total

34 43 76 101 245 143 51 693

9 11 12 11 12 17 10 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 money winner 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 2nd and 4th grade teachers and the smallest users are 6th grade teachers. Math is used mostly by kindergarten teachers (15 percent) and least by 4th graders (.2 percent). Science is used mostly by kindergarteners as well (43 percent) and least by 4th 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 quality 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 text book for. Further research is needed for these conclusions.

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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 Studies Weekly act as your classroom textbook or supplemental material?

# 1 2 Answer Acting Textbook Supplemental Material Total Response 456 443 899 % 51% 49% 100%

Though 51 percent of print users say Studies Weekly is their acting textbook, this gives interesting findings 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, 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?

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Consider the material your curriculum requires you to teach. Approximately how much of that material does Studies Weekly help you teach? (0 to 100 %)
# 1 2 3 Answer Math Social Studies Science Min Value 0.00 0.00 0.00 Max Value 100.00 100.00 100.00 Average Value 1.84 66.33 20.30 Standard Deviation 10.28 35.69 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.

How do you use Studies Weekly in relation to other teaching materials?

# 1 2 3 4 Answer Studies Weekly is my only/primary text material Studies Weekly is supplemental to other text material Studies Weekly is used alongside other text materials equally Other [Please explain] Total Response 340 324 171 64 899 % 38% 36% 19% 7% 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.

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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-three times per week.

How often do you use Studies Weekly in your classroom?

# 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Answer Never Less than Once a Month Once a Month 2-3 Times a Month Once a Week 2-3 Times a Week Daily Total Response 5 25 38 187 221 269 154 899 % 1% 3% 4% 21% 25% 30% 17% 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?

How often do you ask your students to take their Studies Weekly materials home?
# 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Answer Never Less than Once a Month Once a Month 2-3 Times a Month Once a Week 2-3 Times a Week Daily Total Response 180 65 61 131 267 109 86 899 % 20% 7% 7% 15% 30% 12% 10% 100%

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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? Two problems were discovered with this question. First, 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.

Please indicate the reasons you do not use the eStudiesWeekly website.
# 1 2 3 4 Answer I prefer printed material to online material I lack the proper technology to effectively use online material with my class The website was too difficult to use [Please explain] Other [Please explain] Total Response 86 43 19 81 229 % 38% 19% 8% 35% 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.
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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.). The second problem is that 54 percent of respondents are not aware of the content available to them online. As the background research indicates, the textbook industry is slowly shifting more towards e-book type material. Studies Weekly has an early foot in the door in this area, but clearly, awareness of the electronic features is low. After fixing the technical issues, market the online materials more to raise awareness. 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.

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 2 3 4 Question Illustrations Activities Content Convenience 1 8 44 20 24 2 30 62 26 20 3 110 207 85 74 4 381 369 312 257 5 370 217 456 524 Total Responses 899 899 899 899 Mean 4.20 3.73 4.29 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.

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

# 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Answer Very Unlikely Unlikely Somewhat Unlikely Undecided Somewhat Likely Likely Very Likely Total Response 68 15 23 39 85 252 417 899 % 8% 2% 3% 4% 9% 28% 46% 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. Studies Weekly is an excellent tool for all schooling types, even 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.

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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 since it is 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.

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Please select your age.

# Answer Studies Weekly print publication only 42 120 181 141 41 525 Mostly Studies Weekly print, partially eStudies Weekly online 28 57 62 58 9 214 Studies Weekly print and eStudies Weekly online equally 20 44 42 38 5 149 Mostly eStudies Weekly online, partially Studies Weekly print 0 6 4 2 1 13 eStudies Weekly online publication only

1 2 3 4 5

30 or younger 31-40 41-50 51-60 61+ Total

5 5 9 7 1 27

How many years have you been teaching?

# Answer Studies Weekly print publication only 77 91 106 99 152 525 Mostly Studies Weekly print, partially eStudies Weekly online 33 50 52 28 51 214 Studies Weekly print and eStudies Weekly online equally 28 37 24 22 38 149 Mostly eStudies Weekly online, partially Studies Weekly print 3 2 3 3 2 13 eStudies Weekly online publication only 7 1 4 5 10 27

1 2 3 4 5

0-5 6-10 11-15 16-20 21+ Total

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. This question again shows the strength of the online publication, as 65 percent of subscribers use the website in their teaching at least once a week. This matches the shifting trends of the industry.

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How often do you use eStudies Weekly in your classroom?

# 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Answer Never Less than Once a Month Once a Month 2-3 Times a Month Once a Week 2-3 Times a Week Daily Total Response 17 35 25 62 65 133 66 403 % 4% 9% 6% 15% 16% 33% 16% 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.

How often do you visit the eStudies Weekly website?

# 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Answer Never Less than Once a Month Once a Month 2-3 Times a Month Once a Week 2-3 Times a Week Daily Total Response 4 73 45 79 86 96 20 403 % 1% 18% 11% 20% 21% 24% 5% 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 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.
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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 are 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.

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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.

Did using eStudiesWeekly help you with the following situations? Check all that apply:
# 1 2 3 4 5 6 Answer To fit science or social studies into the literacy block To "catch up" students who have missed class time To differentiate instruction To accommodate ESE, ELL, 504 Plan, Gifted/Talented identified students To multi-task during your instructional day To assist you in saving your voice (sore throat or illness) Response 267 128 251 170 208 134 % 66% 32% 62% 42% 52% 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.

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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.
# 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Question Audio reader Highlighted text Email Tests Document based questions Media button content Revere the Rat Other features Don't Use 116 122 315 120 118 187 205 200 1 8 20 25 17 11 25 26 25 2 16 18 23 21 26 27 28 25 3 36 60 23 54 66 63 49 72 4 63 76 6 62 84 49 43 37 5 163 106 10 128 97 51 51 43 Total Responses 402 402 402 402 402 402 402 402 Mean 4.02 3.66 1.53 3.76 3.69 2.79 2.63 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 percentage 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.

How likely are you to recommend eStudies Weekly to other teachers?

# 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Answer Very Unlikely Unlikely Somewhat Unlikely Undecided Somewhat Likely Likely Very Likely Total Response 45 11 11 29 37 94 175 402 % 11% 3% 3% 7% 9% 23% 44% 100%

Nonetheless, 67 percent of online users are at least likely to recommend eStudies Weekly. As the industry shifts more towards online textbooks and material, Studies Weekly should take hold of this strength and run with it. If the industry continues to favor e-books as predicted, more teachers will eventually want to know which e-book publication is the best. Recommendations from 67 percent of eStudies Weekly users could result in 269 more customers using the online format. As with print, online users were asked to give additional comments about eStudies Weekly and there were both positive and negative themes. The positive:
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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 negtives: 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 Social studies is the money maker for both the print and online publications. Math is virtually unused. The love group has shown that convenient quality is the true value that customers get from using Studies Weekly products. With its audio and testing features, the website is solid gold for the trends of the industry. The website needs its technical issues cleaned up and made more user friendly.

1. 2. 3. 4.

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Studies Weekly Social Media Analysis

As technology progresses, an organizations social media presence is becoming more and more essential. The internet provides almost unlimited information for everyone who it comes in contact with, which in turn is transforming the way individuals are getting their information. Traditional communication is becoming scarcer by the moment as the online conversation grows exponentially each day. Any successful modern day organization is using social media outlets to find opportunities in which they can grow and become more successful. Each day 172 million people visit Facebook and 40 million visits Twitter. Each of these people are obtaining information from social media that is directly influencing what they buy, where they go, what they eat, and their overall lifestyle. Each individual who visits these and other sites are potential clients. They are actively seeking out new ideas and products. Getting a brand name into social media outlets and online conversation is essential in the modern world. Studies Weekly has been tracked by the Nuvi Social Analytics software to see how many mentions have been made regarding their product and brand. Nuvi scans the internet for mentions of certain brands presents them in a way that anyone, including non-analytical thinkers, can understand. The following report comes from information found by Nuvi and analyzes 16 social mentions including the keywords studies weekly, studies weekly textbook, and studies weekly curriculum. This report is for two week period of time between March 20, 2013 to April 3, 2013.

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Influencers
The top online influencers for Studies Weekly was a woman named Laura Seay (Twitter: @texasinafrica) who has 11,885 followers on Twitter. She mentioned the words Studies Weekly once during this time period. A woman named Michelle Smith (Twitter: @msmit h833), who has 159 followers on Twitter, mentioned the words Studies Weekly twice during this same time period. Unfortunately, both Laura Seay and Michelle Smith were not referring to the Studies Weekly found in Utah. Laura was talking about the Yale African Studies weekly brown bag lunch, and Michelle was talking about an apparent periodical entitled Jaguar Social Studies Weekly.

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The biggest issue I am seeing, especially on Twitter, is the fact that not even Studies Weekly is mentioning its own name enough. Found on the next page is the most recent tweets found on the Studies Weekly corporate Twitter account. Studies Weekly did not have a very active Twitter presence up until recently. Starting around January 2013 their Twitter account began to see a significant increase in activity. This is a really great first step. The only problems are that the brand itself isnt being mentioned in any of the tweets, and no conversations are being started. Studies Weekly has been keeping it very simple, which is not always a bad thing, but doesnt lead to a growth in online presence. Other ways to increase online presence is to tweet at other people, or just in general, using questions and asking for ideas or constructive criticism. This not only gets the brand name mentioned by multiple accounts, but also shows customers and potential clients that you value their input and have a strong desire to better serve their needs. Hashtags will also help get the Studies Weekly brand into the online conversation. A hashtag is a word or a phrase prefixed with the symbol #. Short messages on social networking services such as Twitter, Tumblr, Instagram, etc may be tagged by including one or more with multiple words concatenated. Hashtags provide a means of grouping such messages since one can search for the hashtag and get the set of messages that contain it. Example: In the Tweet below, @eddie included the hastag #FF. Users created this as a shorthand for Follow Friday, a weekly tradition where users recommend people that others should follow on Twitter. Youll see this on Fridays.

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If you tweet with a hashtag on a public account, anyone who does a search for that hashtag may find your tweet. Make sure to not over-tag a single tweet by using no more than two hashtags per tweet. Only use hashtags on tweets relevant to the topic you are tweeting about. By using hashtags using key words such as #textbook or #socialstudies, others who are tweeting about or interested in those topics can view your tweet, join the conversation, and be exposed to your brand. Once they have been exposed, they can expose others which will eventually increase your online presence significantly.

Location
The Nuvi technology analyzed seven mentions of the term Studies Weekly between March 20, 2013 and April 3, 2013 which were either geo-tagged at a specific location or were associated with a particular location based on the persons bio and information. 57 percent of the conversations involving the term Studies Weekly happened in Texas.

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Again, this comes back to the online conversation taking place regarding Studies Weekly. The mentions in Texas were not regarding Studies Weekly, but were other tweets involving the words studies and weekly. In order to get the conversation to spread out more, following the advice in the Influencers section above should significantly help. Make sure to ask questions and for feedback to a more spread out audience. This will help the geographic spread of those talking about Studies Weekly. Involve customers who are outside of Texas trying to get responses and mentions from other areas.

Sentiment
Of the 16 mentions analyzed between March 20, 2013 and April 3, 2013, approximately 11 mentions (69 percent) were positive. There were zero mentions that were negative, and five mentions (31 percent) which were classified as neutral. These neutral comments were not very emotional in either direction.

The biggest sentiment gap occurred on March 27, 2013 at 7:00 AM when the positive sentiment reached 100 percent (two mentions) and the negative was at zero percent (zero mentions). That Wednesday at 8:00 AM, there was a spike of two positive mentions. The lists to the right show the people who are using positive keywords and negative keywords in posts about your brand, along with the number of people that follow them, and the
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number of mentions they shared between March 20, 2013 and April 3, 2013. On one hand we are able to see the lack of conversation involving Studies Weekly in social media. There are very few mentions, and of those that exist, none are about the brand Studies Weekly. On the other hand, we are able to take a positive out of this in that there are no negative comments about Studies Weekly or even involving the phrase. Once the online conversation involving Studies Weekly increases, there is bound to be more negative sentiment, but that is not always a bad thing. As long as the sentiment gap is large, that means the positive mentions are far outweighing the negative.

Conversations
From the 16 total mentions about your brand between March 20, 2013 and April 3, 2013 there were 42 major categories of conversation, with weekly occupying 57.14 percent, or eight mentions.

The term weekly is driving the most conversations online. This is because most of the mentions involving the words studies and weekly come from certain online periodicals such as Jaguar Social Studies Weekly and Museum Studies Weekly. The links that are found on the

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word burst above contain a large amount of links that lead directly to these online periodicals. None of the words on the word burst above are actually regarding the brand Studies Weekly. The tables on the right show the trending keywords and URLs that come up in the online conversation concerning the term studies weekly. Most of the keywords are just single words themselves, or regarding these other online periodicals mentioned above. The URLs are also links that will lead the viewers to the specific issue of those online periodicals mentioned in the conversations.

Volume
Between March 20, 2013 and April 3, 2013 there were 16 mentions of the term studies weekly, reaching a potential audience of 3,921. Of these 16, six percent were retweeted by nine unique profiles, spreading the mentions to an additional 11, 885 people. As the information below shows, 93.75 percent (15 mentions) of the mentions were via Twitter. This shows that the words involving your brand name are being distributed mostly through that channel. Unfortunately, out of these 16 mentions, zero were for the actual brand Studies Weekly, and again, were just tweets using the words studies and weekly in their body.

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While this information shows that Twitter has the most mentions of Studies Weekly, it is still being underutilized as a way to get the brand into the online conversation. Again, by creating conversation with others within the education field regarding (and mentioning) Studies Weekly, the brand has the potential to explode online. Textbooks have been a matter of discussion among educators for years now, and any new idea could transcend that conversation and end up right at the front. With more questions, meaningful follows, and mentions within tweets, Studies Weekly has the ability to step right into the mainframe of educational textbooks.

Conclusion
Based on the analysis of the online discussion, any outlet Studies Weekly chooses to become more engaged in will greatly benefit their presence and brand recognition. All throughout the report we saw that while the words studies and weekly were being used, none of them were referring to the client at hand. With social media becoming such a useful tool in spreading brand awareness, Studies Weekly would benefit significantly from becoming more online savvy. While Studies Weeklys online presence isnt quite what it needs to be in order to reach its full potential, there are a lot of very positive things that we can take from this report. When searching for Studies Weekly in Google, the following appears:

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The first five websites that appear on the first page of Google are all linked directly to StudiesWeekly.com. This can be a very good thing. Some organizations will get a bad review or some other form of bad press and that will be amongst the first links that show up in a Google search. That can be very bad for business. It would be very beneficial to get some social media outlets, such as the companys Facebook or Twitter, into the top five. This would show that the company has a strong online presence and in being talked about in other places than just their own website.

The two main social media outlets that can be improved for Studies Weekly are Facebook and Twitter. Below is a chart showing the impact that is happening to Studies Weekly because of their Facebook account.

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These statistics show that while Studies Weekly has a good number of likes for an educational business, the people talking about the brand has significantly decreased over the month. The main goal is to try and keep the current numbers of people talking about the brand on Facebook either increasing or, at the very least, not decreasing. With 251 followers, Studies Weekly has a fairly strong following on Twitter as well. Learning more about Twitter and understanding how it can help an organization is something that could really help Studies Weekly grow as a company. Tweeting was something that Studies Weekly was struggling with until recently when they began to Tweet more often. There are a lot of positive things to take away from Studies Weeklys social media presence, but there is so much potential in becoming part of the online conversation that it cant be ignored. As was stated in the body of the report, a good way to increase online presence for a brand or an organization is for the brand or organization to ask for feedback from its followers. Asking specific, open ended questions that create room for good feedback really gets the conversation moving. Also, by doing your best to address followers concerns that come through social media,
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an organization shows that it cares about customer service and wants whats best for those using their product. Another way to increase online brand recognition is by mentioning the brand name itself within the body of the text is a great way to attract more attention online. For example, instead of tweeting something like We hope everyone is having a good day, try tweeting Studies Weekly hopes everyone is having a good day! This will get the brand name out into the organizations tweets, as well as into the tweets of everyone who replies to a tweet, or retweets the original. In review: 1- Update social networking accounts regularly with posts and updates. 2- Include the company name within those updates. 3- Ask specific, open-ended questions within those updates and follow up with replies. 4- Follow others within similar fields and offer commentary on their updates. 5- Use hashtags and other links that will bring others to your posts/updates. These are very basic steps when it comes to social media, but they can be very effective. With the right amount of attention, social media outlets can help an organization reach its potential and grow in ways it couldnt before. Giving these social media outlets more priority by those already within the company, or even by a new hire or intern, will greatly increase success and growth. By following the steps outlined in this report, Studies Weekly has the ability to not only increase its presence in online conversation, but also to gain general population awareness and a larger clientele.

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User Group Goal/Objective: To increase awareness of Studies Weekly among the education industry for K-6 graders as a core material that meets state standardizations. Agenda: 1 Welcoming statements 2 Introduction of Studies Weekly as the sponsor of the event and do a quick 10 minute presentation/ demonstration of Studies Weekly 3 Keynote speaker- 30 minutes 4 Break- 15 minutes 5 Keynote speaker- continues 30 more minutes 6 Closing remarks and time for networking 7 Serve Hors d'oeuvres during networking 8 Close with entertainment and dinner Suggested Cities: Memphis, Tennessee Dallas, Texas Miami, Florida Suggested Speakers: Tennesee: Kevin Huffman, Commissioner, http://www.tn.gov/education/AboutCommissioner.shtml Texas: Kelly Callaway, Director of K-12 Foundation Education, Florida: Teresa Sweet, Florida Department of Education Bureau Chief Other speakers that could be flown in: Sylvia Lyles Director of Academic Improvement and Teacher Quality Programs, United States Office of Elementary and Secondary Education http://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/oese/aitq/lyles.html Geoffrey Canada American social activist and educator, CEO of Harlem Childrens Sone, member of the Board of Directors of the Te After-School Corporation, Chairman of Childrens Defense Funds Board of Directors, involved in the documentary Waiting For Superman which analyzes the failures of the American public education system. For further suggestions, visit http://www.eetcconference.org/keynote-speakers/ *$1000 should be allotted for the speakers room and board.

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Time of execution: Choose and invite keynote speaker 4 months before event Book flight and hotel reservations for keynote speaker 4 months in advance Book venue 3 months in advance Send out mail invites 2 months before event Send out RSVP reminder invites 1 month before event Send out email reminder of event invites 1 week before event Call Venue two weeks before event to make sure it is still available Fly keynote speaker in one day in before the event Present keynote speaker with Thank you gift at the end of event and send out thank you note within one week after event 10 Send out thank you emails to guests 1 week after event with additional information about Studies Weekly
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

Venue Options: Tennesee: The Peabody Memphis Fogelman Executive Conference Center and Hotel Texas: Dallas Conference Center Hotel Zaza Florida: Miami Beach Convention Center Miami Conference Center Menu: Hors d'oeuvres: should be served before the meeting begins including easy to eat food items like mini quiche, shrimp, and skewers. Drinks: should be served before the meeting and refreshed while the meal is happening. Be sure to include alcohol appropriate for the climate of the event, and non-alcoholic beverages that will be just as appealing. First course: soups and salads are appropriate for the first course Examples: House Garden Salad Strawberry Spinach Salad Caesar Salad Minestrone soup Creamed Cauliflower soup Main Course: Ideally, have chicken, beef and vegetarian options. If not, then chicken and vegetarian. If not, then just a chicken dish.
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Examples: Roasted Garlic Chicken Spice Rubbed Sirloin Steak Balsamic Grilled Seasonal Vegetables w/ spaghetti Dessert: An assortment of desserts should be provided as options to guests. Examples: Cheesecakes Sorbets and Ice cream Creme brule Pre-post event meetings and planning: Pre User Group Meeting agendaSolidify date and goals Solidify guest list Timeline of invitation give aways Figure out menu Get speaker with details Activities at event Set Budget Post User Group Meeting agendaDiscuss attendees (number, titles) Assess budget boundries Discuss new subscribers Compare cost of event with new income Decide when next user group will be Giveaways: Free one year subscription to Studies Weekly One year worth of classroom materials from Teacher Storehouse Cruise options *The ideal would be to get these items donated to reduce cost of the event. Speaker Thank you gifts: 1. $35 Starbucks gift card 2. Solar ReStore Cell phone/Apple products/Tablet Battery Charger w/ Universal USB Charging Port ($33) 3. $35 Amazon.com gift card 4. Wireless Luggage Finder ($24.95) Invite templates see following pages:
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Invite 1: $628.90 (Matte Paper: $.09/sheet, 250 sheets= $22.50) and (Color Printing: $.25/sheet, 250 sheets= $62.50) and (4.25x5.5 Envelopes: $8.39/100, 1,000 envelopes= $83.90) and (Postage: $.46/letter, 1,000 letters= $460.00) Invite 2: $615.58 (Glossy Cardstock: $.06/sheet, 500 sheets= $30.58) and (Color Printing: $.25/sheet, 500 sheets= $125.00) and (Postage: $.46/letter, 1,000 letters= $460.00) Invite 3: Free

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Strategic Recommendations

SWOT Analysis
Studies Weekly has many benefits and strengths that competitors dont have such as being cheaper method of educational dissemination of curriculum through newspapers. The curriculum can also change according to needs of the students and current events. The online version is also very helpful with QR codes in magazines that provide an easily accessible information base. The fact that the staff that creates the newspapers are very educated and experienced educators is important for potential and current customers to know. The wear and tear of the physical copies also allows for the repurchase of Weekly Studies materials annually. Weaknesses and points of improvement of the product include the product line exclusivity, meaning there are few product options. The website is also confusing to navigate and understand-where if website usability is improved, the success of consumption of this product is likely. This view on curriculum materials is new and innovative, making a wide variety of opportunities available to Studies Weekly. The children in grade school now are growing up with technology all around them. They are used to learning from and playing on electronic devices. They enjoy it, and they learn how to use the technology easily. Studies Weekly can take advantage of this permanent trend by focusing on the online versions of their product. Children and teachers will respond well to this modern method, and it will be cheaper to produce than paper product. Also online, Studies Weekly can keep their customers updated and interested by keeping their social media active and up to date. Threats to Studies Weekly success is the competitive nature of the textbook industry. The format appears to look like a newspaper, and it is automatically thought of as un-credible because it does not have the authority that a regular form hardbound textbook has come to be known for. The online elementary curriculum sources are beating out these paper sources because they are more popular, and cheaper to produce.

Situation Analysis Schools are not adopting Studies Weekly as a core education material due to several reasons. Many school want their children to pass state standardized tests and Studies Weekly materials meet all state standards, but schools are comfortable using familiar textbook providers. Studies Weekly has provided teachers with an engaging way to teach students K-6. It offers a newspaper-style materials instead of a typical textbook to teach elementary school students. This type of education provides a hands-on experience for students giving them a more dimensional way of learning.

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Some difficulties that need to be overcome are the way schools oppose the idea of adopting a magazine as a core material. Schools prefer to use familiar textbooks as core material for teaching students but there is an opportunity to create awareness and increase Studies Weekly use with some slight improvements to the online version of Studies Weekly that can help schools see it as a viable curriculum material.

Core Problem Because schools are not understanding how the Studies Weekly materials are benefiting its student and are aligned to state standards, there is not a desire for them to adopt Studies Weeklys materials.

Recommendations The self-interests of school administrators are providing students with the most up-to-date knowledge, saving money on teaching materials and assisting students in passing state standardized tests. The information in Studies Weekly magazines being aligned with state standards was important to our participants. Some suggestions brought up by our participants included: (these will be the results from focus group, social media analysis and survey results) for ex: focus group said to focus on the online Studies Weekly format and offer it by itself without having to subscribe to the magazines. Revamp social media by promoting number of likes on Facebook.

Send an email to teachers and school administrators about the services of Studies Weekly.
Redesign website to make more user-friendly. Conduct radio interviews to discuss the benefits of Studies Weekly (during teacher drive time) Pitch TV interviews with Studies Weekly representatives about the product Facebook updates and posts Twitter updates Invite users to tweet questions and concerns Send a press release to school districts about the purpose of Studies Weekly Special visits to certain school districts introducing Studies Weekly Send thank you letters for those who re-sign up for Studies Weekly

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Conclusions and Recommendations

The primary research we conducted through a focus group, social media and survey yielded some very interesting information. Due to the expert and professional nature of those who contributed to our findings, we feel that the following council is both credible and valuable for Studies Weekly. A common positive theme of note is the overall quality of the product and its potential. Positive reactions were fairly consistent in terms of the products appeal with regard to effectiveness. The up-to-date material and interactive theme behind the materials were key. Teachers and administrators also loved the online aspect of the product that offers so many opportunities which align with the technological changes that are taking place in the nations educational system. The ability for the product to be personalized for foreign language students as well as its capability to be tailored to challenge the more gifted students, and at the same time slow down for those who are struggling was widely praised. Similarly, the online versions option of emailing parents and gathering statistical data such as test successes and struggles seemed most valuable. There were a number of widely accepted points for improvement on the products, as discovered through our primary research. Beginning with a weakness inside one of the overall strengths, the online version was sometimes difficult for users to navigate. Some users found the digital version unclear and frustrating, somewhat detracting from its useful nature. One of the key issues discovered was the lack of publicity and knowledge of the product among prospective clients. Unfamiliarity among those who decide on school districts curriculum means studies weekly is missing out on a number of possible markets. This issue can be addressed through better use of social media in staying updated on social media sites. Regardless of generally positive reactions to the product, it seems as though better publicity would really open doors for the company. Another issue is the disposable, magazine feel of the product. This issue leads many to believe the product is a supplementary learning material for which modern school budgets dont allow. It also makes people think the materials are cheap and therefore less credible. This false perception of the product is eliminating Studies Weekly from consideration before it is understood. Strengths of the research and its methods include the in-depth nature of the findings and the candid opinions that were discovered by both familiar users and unfamiliar non-users. Response rate for the survey was also very positive. Limitations of the research and its methods are highlighted by the lack of numbers of those who were involved in the focus group. Similarly there were a few concerns with the location that the focus group took place.
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Appendices Appendix A: Focus Group Transcripts Appendix B: Qualtrics Survey

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Appendix A: Focus Group Transcripts

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Focus Group Transcription

Key Makell- Person #1 Cammi- Person #2 Jim- Person #3 Chris- Person #4 Nedra- Person #5

Starts at 13 minutes. Ends at 1 hour 17 minutes 1 hour 4 minutes total of time (64 minutes) Ryan- We would like to hear what your impression is about Studies Weekly and about their competition with textbooks. Person # 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. Person #2- Thats what I was thinking Person #5- Thats exactly it. Person #3- First thing I thought Person #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. Ryan: And you speak 50 of the 100 right? Person #1- Yeah, I wish. (Laughter) Person #1- 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
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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. Ryan: Cammi? Person # 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.

Ryan: Perfect, thank you Cammi, Jim? Person # 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
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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.
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. Person #4 go ahead.

Person #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 Im 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.

Ryan: So youre looking for that consistency?

Person #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. Chris: The name doesnt look like a textbook to me. The name says that its sort of an ancillary that I may get.
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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) Chris: 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.. Ryan: Okay Chris: I dont know. Ryan: Yeah, yeah... Chris: 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) Ryan: It wasnt online (small chuckles) Chris: 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.... Ryan: Something about holding a newspaper, right. Nedra: 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 .. Mackell: Well we have one school that is doing it... Nedra: 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... Ryan: (Interjects) Real quick. Is there anybody that is using it now in the districts that you know of? (Noise, everyone talking) Jim: All my sixth grader kids have a lap top. Ryan: And is it all a tablet of some sort? Or is it just a lap top? Mackell: Its a lap top. (Noise, everyone talking) Jim: And were moving, were moving to iPads, because I can buy three iPads at the cost of one laptop. Nedra: And weve been looking at Chrome books. 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) Jim: We wouldnt even care about the printed copy
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Nedra: Were moving, were moving away from this. This looks great and all, for m y 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. Ryan: So what do you think of the email thing that we just showed? Nedra: 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 Woman (not sure which one): 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 super-intendants 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 Makell 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 LA 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 Social studies person in the room, Id like to point out that she said that wrong. We should be teaching LA through SS not teaching SS through LA. Woman, but thats happening. Social studies person, EXACTLY backwards So that LA wags this huge tail. We can teach science in elementary school and language arts but really were teaching it during reading time. Woman, these are the skills that are being taught, these are the social studies that are impacting language arts, Social studies guy, 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. Woman, yeah social studies would rule, ss but what it impacts are the skills, what theyre learning in LA.
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Man (Person 1?), we keep compartmentalizing these different things, science has its time, ss 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 SS 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. Person #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.

Person #5: Especially in Elementary School

Person #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 SS throughout the year, they do this and make the shift. Why dont they teach SS and science throughout the year? Its because they dont have time to do it all.

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

Person #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.

Person #5: But if youre taking your SS and youre showing where the standards are met in the Language arts and in the science, but its your SS 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?

Person #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
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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.

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

Person #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. #1 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. #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 text book for every student, that we have for ten years. So in ten years, well be forced to do something. (Ryan: so its a licensing you bought?) 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. (Ryan: so what if your students change?) 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, and we would never do that again. if we were doing it again we would say, all will adopt
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from one publisher, I dont care which one it is, you can choose but youre all adopting from one publisher, were not gonna 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-lacarte) 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. (Kristin: the school doesnt order the same material for every teacher?) Right the teacher would order it. (Ryan: is that the same for every district?) No, nobody does that, that would be lucky, we would love that. Teachers would love that. #1: The ability to select on their own #2: like they do now with the regular textbook, they can say read this section, skip this section. Ordering process ordering issues #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, and 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 #WOMAN - 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. #man most districts will centralize English arts and math. The expectation based around new statewide assessments will potentially have far more commonality with interim assessments. #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 circuricular mapping and timelines will be far more universal across the state.. #5...and that seems to be where theyre headed, the state #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...
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Ryan: When you say high-stakes, what do you mean by high stakes? #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... #3- But were moving a lot more to non-fiction type texts and so thats where that social studies #5- Thats because in the common core, thats where that.. #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 #4- Ya 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, ya 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. Ryan: So kind of combining the two is what you mean to make them #4- Well, I am just kind of thinking outside the box... Ryan: Yeah, yeah, yeah #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 curriculum you go get in that reading period. Ryan: Yeah, learn how to read and write through social studies. Interesting. #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**(spelling?) leveling libraries, I mean, theres a lot of different, um, level libraries, but this is leveled even. #4- But the people with money are not the social studies people. The people with money are language arts and math... Ryan: Because of the testing, right? #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.... #2 - 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. #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. #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
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the scores for the school. And part of my understanding of studies weekly, is it is K-8 materials, is that accurate? Ryan: Correct. #1 - OK. Because I dont think Ive seen anything beyond k-8. Ryan: No, it doesnt go through High School. #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. Ryan: Can you expound on that? Civics? #1 - and maybe its more regional than it is national, but there is an interest in civics or citizenship education related to democracy Ryan: Like government classes in high school? #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. 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? #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. 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? #3: Social Studies, its interesting that I bought a social studies book for my school 10 years ago, I will not replace that. #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. 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. #2: Depends on the teacher. #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 Mackell, I mean I think theres a place for those, but they are the supplemental to the technology and whats coming, what were looking at.

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#1: The push to electronic textbooks, from my view, is not driven by quality or research-based decision making. #5: Its coming so fast. Its economic. #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. #5: Theyre such different levels. Ryan: Is that pretty common that youre using that in your schools? Ive heard of those digital boards like you talked about. #1: It depends on the teacher, it depends on the school. Ryan: Is it a demographic difference? An age difference? #5: Ours is from a somewhat age difference. #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. #1: No, but hey project it on the whiteboard for the class. #3: Yes, they do. #4: But its interesting because its even changing, you know--the interactive whiteboards-things like that. I have teachers now who can take an iPad and do the exact same thing with an iPad and not spend the $1500-$2000 on the interactive whiteboard because they can do the same thing with the iPad.

#1: But they project it on a whiteboard in front of 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.

#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.

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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?

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

#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.

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

(Laughs) But you understand what Im saying...

Ryan: Yeah, of course, of course.

#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....
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Group 3 (Marcus Ellison, Jin Bateman, etc...)56:00-End (77.3) Jin- 56-59.5: #4- 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 b/c not that 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.. #5 isnt it like a concept behind the flipped classroom? I mean the students choose all these things to learn before #4 Yeah, but Ive got to say I am the worlds biggest critic or skeptic I guess of the flipped classroom.. #5 I have not tried, Im just wondering. #4 it sounds so good, but heres the thing. Kids dont do their HW. #1 yeah, haha #4 so what makes us think they are going to watch their teacher give a lecture? #5 Well. Im wondering, I still #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. #5 Or could they choose those articles, Im just wondering if #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 hw at home, thats what I think, #5 We havent tried them, I just think #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. #5 Does it have to be a lecture though, I mean does it. Can it be articles they read? #4 Well, they can already do that. The flipped classroom is that they go home and watch the lecture. #5 Okay. #1 theres some evidence on flipped classrooms that its pretty narrow band of math that its effective #4 Because they can watch it over and over and in math #5 Oh yeah, in math #4 and in math its not a lecture its a demonstration. #1 Right

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#4 They need to watch that demonstration, but just cause. I thought this was exciting the other day I was listening to some what 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 kinda 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. Cuz 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 gonna look dated. #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. 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, kinda 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. #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 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. Ryan: Cami #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. Ryan: What was the thing you mentioned, the what, Elmos
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#2: Oh, sorry. Like, document cameras. Ryan: ok. #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, nonfiction texts, and teaching your science and social studies that way. #3 We took a little tour, and the question I asked him down there is, uh, is there any, have you thought of anything else besides the magazine format? And, to me, he pulled out a teachers manual, and it had the cover, uh, it didnt look like a magazine at all, it just had, he opened it up, and there was the lesson plan. #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. #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 (66:30) still like to read my
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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. #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. Mediator 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? #5 Well probably what you need to do is find out the procedure in a lot of the different districts, I mean, (70:19) 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? #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
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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. Marcus: So basically, through the back door, the teachers influence would come in? #5: Yes. #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. #5: This is what, Ive seen this#4: When theres somebody, they go to their (?) or they go to the committees and say hey lets look at this. #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. #5: Whole different way. That would be a great marketing strategy. #4: And thats easy online. #5: And that would be outdone. Its like what they say, people like to hear their own name. You see your school, your state#3: Your district. #5: Your district, yeah. Your superintendent (laughs) no. #3: Thats like the kiss of death. (laughs) #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#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. #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 thatMarcus: And they see the second side. #1: Yes. #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. #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
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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.

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 cuz then we can pass it on to Ed because theyre missing out on some key opportunities.

END

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Appendix B: Qualtrics Survey

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Statistical Breakdown of Key Questions

1. Please indicate to what extent you use Studies Weekly products (eStudies Weekly online publication and Studies Weekly print publication).
# 1 2 3 4 5 Answer Studies Weekly print publication only Mostly Studies Weekly print, partially eStudies Weekly online Studies Weekly print and eStudies Weekly online equally Mostly eStudies Weekly online, partially Studies Weekly print eStudies Weekly online publication only Total Response 524 214 148 13 27 926 % 57% 23% 16% 1% 3% 100%

Statistic Min Value Max Value Mean Variance Standard Deviation Total Responses

Value 1 5 1.71 0.96 0.98 926

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

# 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Answer Never Less than Once a Month Once a Month 2-3 Times a Month Once a Week 2-3 Times a Week Daily Total Response 17 35 25 62 65 133 66 403 % 4% 9% 6% 15% 16% 33% 16% 100%

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Statistic Min Value Max Value Mean Variance Standard Deviation Total Responses

Value 1 7 4.95 2.85 1.69 403

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.
# 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Question Audio reader Highlighted text Email Tests Document based questions Media button content Revere the Rat Other features Don't Use 116 122 315 120 118 187 205 200 1 8 20 25 17 11 25 26 25 2 16 18 23 21 26 27 28 25 3 36 60 23 54 66 63 49 72 4 63 76 6 62 84 49 43 37 5 163 106 10 128 97 51 51 43 Total Responses 402 402 402 402 402 402 402 402 Mean 4.02 3.66 1.53 3.76 3.69 2.79 2.63 2.63

Statistic

Audio reader 1 6 4.02 4.51 2.12 402

Highlighted text 1 6 3.66 4.11 2.03 402

Email

Tests

Document based questions 1 6 3.69 3.90 1.98 402

Media button content 1 6 2.79 3.67 1.92 402

Revere the Rat 1 6 2.63 3.67 1.92 402

Other features 1 6 2.63 3.43 1.85 402

Min Value Max Value Mean Variance Standard Deviation Total Responses

1 6 1.53 1.39 1.18 402

1 6 3.76 4.29 2.07 402

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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.
# 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Question Audio reader Highlighted text Email Tests Document based questions Media button content Revere the Rat Other features Don't Use 114 129 315 116 130 203 209 221 1 9 11 13 22 13 18 18 14 2 15 19 19 23 25 23 21 21 3 51 58 26 59 60 58 53 60 4 77 79 13 93 99 56 47 40 5 136 106 16 89 75 44 54 46 Total Responses 402 402 402 402 402 402 402 402 Mean 3.94 3.66 1.65 3.64 3.52 2.70 2.68 2.56

Statistic

Audio reader 1 6 3.94 4.23 2.06 402

Highlighted text 1 6 3.66 4.19 2.05 402

Email

Tests

Document based questions 1 6 3.52 3.88 1.97 402

Media button content 1 6 2.70 3.67 1.92 402

Revere the Rat 1 6 2.68 3.84 1.96 402

Other features 1 6 2.56 3.62 1.90 402

Min Value Max Value Mean Variance Standard Deviation Total Responses

1 6 1.65 1.90 1.38 402

1 6 3.64 3.87 1.97 402

16. How likely are you to recommend eStudies Weekly to other teachers?
# 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Answer Very Unlikely Unlikely Somewhat Unlikely Undecided Somewhat Likely Likely Very Likely Total Response 45 11 11 29 37 94 175 402 % 11% 3% 3% 7% 9% 23% 44% 100%

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Statistic Min Value Max Value Mean Variance Standard Deviation Total Responses

Value 1 7 5.45 4.00 2.00 402

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

# 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Answer Never Less than Once a Month Once a Month 2-3 Times a Month Once a Week 2-3 Times a Week Daily Total Response 5 25 38 187 221 269 154 899 % 1% 3% 4% 21% 25% 30% 17% 100%

Statistic Min Value Max Value Mean Variance Standard Deviation Total Responses

Value 1 7 5.24 1.64 1.28 899

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22. How often do you ask your students to take their Studies Weekly materials home?
# 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Answer Never Less than Once a Month Once a Month 2-3 Times a Month Once a Week 2-3 Times a Week Daily Total Response 180 65 61 131 267 109 86 899 % 20% 7% 7% 15% 30% 12% 10% 100%

Statistic Min Value Max Value Mean Variance Standard Deviation Total Responses

Value 1 7 4.01 3.81 1.95 899

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 2 3 4 Question Illustrations Activities Content Convenience 1 8 44 20 24 2 30 62 26 20 3 110 207 85 74 4 381 369 312 257 5 370 217 456 524 Total Responses 899 899 899 899 Mean 4.20 3.73 4.29 4.38

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Statistic Min Value Max Value Mean Variance Standard Deviation Total Responses

Illustrations 1 5 4.20 0.71 0.84 899

Activities 1 5 3.73 1.11 1.06 899

Content 1 5 4.29 0.84 0.91 899

Convenience 1 5 4.38 0.85 0.92 899

27. How likely are you to recommend Studies Weekly to other teachers?
# 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Answer Very Unlikely Unlikely Somewhat Unlikely Undecided Somewhat Likely Likely Very Likely Total Response 68 15 23 39 85 252 417 899 % 8% 2% 3% 4% 9% 28% 46% 100%

Statistic Min Value Max Value Mean Variance Standard Deviation Total Responses

Value 1 7 5.76 3.07 1.75 899

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Studies Weekly Survey Questions 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 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) Audio reader (1) Highlighted text (2) Email (3) Tests (4) Document based questions (5) Media button content (6) Revere the Rat (7) 1 (2) 2 (3) 3 (4) 4 (5) 5 (6)

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) Audio reader (1) Highlighted text (2) Email (3) Tests (4) Document based questions (5) Media button content (6) Revere the Rat (7) 1 (2) 2 (3) 3 (4) 4 (5) 5 (6)

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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) 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) 1 (2) 2 (3) 3 (4) 4 (5) 5 (6)

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) 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) 1 (2) 2 (3) 3 (4) 4 (5) 5 (6)

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

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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)

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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, 2satisfactory, 3- average, 4- good, 5- exceptional) on their performance.
1 (1) Illustrations (1) Activities (2) Content (3) Convenience (4) 2 (2) 3 (3) 4 (4) 5 (5)

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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. (0100 %)

______ % (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)

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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

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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) ____________________

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Appendix C: Background Sources

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Background Sources

Apple wants $10 billion textbook industry on iPad. (2012). Retrieved Jan 29, 2013, from http://www.sfgate.com/business/article/Apple-wants-10-billion-textbook-industry-on-iPad2617717.php Associated Press. (2011). Many U.S. schools adding iPads, trimming textbooks. In USA today. Retrieved Jan 29, 2013, from http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/education/story/2011-09-03/Many-US-schools-addingiPads-trimming-textbooks/50251238/1. Association for Middle Level Education (2013). Communicate with opinion leaders. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.amle.org/Advocacy/PublicRelationsResources/CommunicatewithOpinionLeaders/ta bid/620/Default.aspx. [Last Accessed 1 February 2013]. The Association of American Publishers. (2012). Instructional materials adoption. Retrieved from http://publishers.org/schooladoption/ Cauthen, LeiLani. (2012). Education technology market watch. In Education market forecast 2012. Retrieved Jan 29, 2013, from http://media.govtech.net/GOVTECH_WEBSITE/EVENTS/PRESENTATION_DOCS/2012/Education_ Tech_Market_Watch_2012/education_market_forecast.pdf. Gntech (2013). How can social media help your business?. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.gnctech.net/how-can-social-media-help-your-business.php. [Last Accessed 1 February 2013]. Kaufman, M. (2012). iPad invading the classroom. In iPad in schools. Retrieved Jan 29, 2013, from http://www.ipadinschools.com/383/ipad-invading-classroom/. Gntech (2013). How can social media help your business?. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.gnctech.net/how-can-social-media-help-your-business.php. [Last Accessed 1 February 2013]. Microsoft Education. (2011). School Boosts Student Participation by 50 Percent, Increases Parent Engagement by70 Percent with 1:1 Computing. In Microsoft patrners in learning. Retrieved Jan 29, 2013, from http://pilnetwork.blob.core.windows.net/public/CaseStudy_DoukasSchool.pdf.

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Oakes, Jeannie. (2001). undefined. In Access to Textbooks, Instructional Materials, Equipment, and Technology: Inadequacy and Inequality in Californias Public Schools. Retrieved Jan 29, 2013, from http://www.decentschools.org/expert_reports/oakes_report_2.pdf. Pearson. (2013). Education. In About us. Retrieved Jan 29, 2013, from http://www.pearson.com/about-us/education.html. Ruiz, R. (n.d.). University of arizona repository. Retrieved from http://arizona.openrepository.com/arizona/handle/10150/228169 Scholastic. (2013). Welcome from Dick Robinson. In About Scholastic. Retrieved Jan 29, 2013, from http://www.scholastic.com/aboutscholastic/index.htm. Studies Weekly (e.g. 2011). Testimonials. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.studiesweekly.com/testimonials.php. [Last Accessed February 1 2013].

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