Dive Brief:
- Use of printed textbooks in K-12 classrooms declined 9 percentage points and use of digital-only textbooks increased slightly by 2 percentage points last school year compared to the year before, according to teacher survey data released Thursday by Bay View Analytics, a statistical research firm.
- More than three-quarters (77%) of teachers said they create their own classroom materials to supplement or replace a textbook, and 78% said they found supplemental materials online when sourcing non-textbook materials — an indication that teachers are becoming more familiar with open educational resources, according to survey findings.
- The survey results reveal the increasing use of digital and self-created materials by teachers, even as 92% of survey respondents said they were teaching in-person three years after the pandemic forced many schools to switch to remote learning.
Dive Insight:
Julia Seaman, co-author of the report and research director at Bay View Analytics, said this is the firm’s fourth survey on K-12 curricula discovery, selection and adoption. Previous surveys were taken in the 2018-19, 2020-21 and 2021-22 school years.
The 2022-23 survey included responses from 1,205 teachers and 487 administrators in all 50 states and was supported by the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation and the Online Learning Consortium.
Although the firm has survey results showing trends over the years, the data is not easily interpreted due to pandemic-related disruptions to in-person learning, Seaman said.
Still, there are several insights from the information collected, she said, including increased use for digital materials.
"It's interesting that we've seen this almost complete return to the classroom for the last two years, but it has been matched with a sort of retention of some of those digital tools and online interactions that maybe were trialed or rolled out during the pandemic," Seaman said.
The survey found nearly all teachers (96%) said their students use laptops or tablets in the classroom at least once a month.
Of the 72% of teachers who said they offer textbooks in their classrooms, 77% said the textbooks are available in a digital format. Only 23% said they exclusively use printed textbooks in their classrooms.
As for why teachers are turning to digital and self-created materials to supplement their instruction, Seaman said it is likely that teachers are looking for flexibility in using additional classroom materials and for methods to respond to students' understanding of lessons.
Teachers also said of the non-textbook materials they use, 42% use materials created at a teacher’s department, school or district, and 30% use commercial online materials. Only 6% of teachers use commercial materials — either print, online or both — as their sole source of non-textbook materials.
Most K-12 teachers, however, relied on multiple sources for instructional materials, the survey found.
