BY LETICIA ALEJANDREZ
Director of Communications
California Emerging Technology Fund

(October 3, 2023) – In January of this year, students and teachers at the small, rural Planada Elementary School District (PESD), still reeling from the effects of the pandemic, faced another crisis:  massive rainstorms and flooding had eroded the district’s access to basic technology needed for teaching, learning and connecting with families.  Superintendent José González said, “The Digital Divide has always been a challenge for our families, and this disadvantage has grown since the January flooding.  So many student and family learning activities were disrupted.”  That’s when the California Emerging Technology Fund (CETF) stepped in to help.

Together with Comcast, CETF provided a $15,000 grant for the PESD to replace 3 laptop carts and purchase 40 Chromebooks for their students.   “Comcast is pleased to work with CETF to provide the tools and resources needed for students to succeed in the Central Valley,” said Walter Hughes, Vice President of Government Affairs for Comcast California. “This donation along with Comcast’s recent announcement of investing $4.5 million to bring our smart, fast, reliable high-speed broadband network—the Xfinity 10G Network—to Planada later this year is an important part of our overall efforts to increase digital equity and close the digital divide across the state.”

Sunne Wright McPeak, CETF President and CEO, who grew up in the Merced County in the rural community of Livingston, the hometown of Superintendent González, added, “It is a privilege to assist Planada by joining with others who grew up in the San Joaquin Valley to invest in the current generation of future leaders.”

“This is a wonderful example of a public-private partnership in service of rural schools, students, and families,” said Abel Guillén, Deputy Superintendent of Public Instruction at the California Department of Education (CDE).

Soon, CETF will assist the district in successfully driving awareness and checking the eligibility of PESD families to apply for the federal Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP), which provides a monthly $30 subsidy towards Internet service.

In addition to these activities, PESD will receive support from School2Home, an education program sponsored and managed by CETF.  School2Home will provide guidance, tools, and training to help the district rebuild its technology program, equip teachers with critical professional development, and build family confidence with technology through digital literacy, digital safety, and home-school communications workshops.  “We look forward to helping PESD teachers and staff optimize their use of technology to accelerate learning and engage families. Devices and connectivity are essential but educators need guidance on effectively using these tools to maximize the impact on student outcomes,” said Agustin Urgiles, Executive Manager, School2Home.

Dr. Ben Duran, CEO of the Central Valley Higher Education Consortium and President Emeritus of Merced College, and a native of Planada who grew up in Merced County at the same time as McPeak also observed, “This collaboration among CDE, CETF, and Comcast to ensure Planada students have technology and their parents benefit from School2Home is a prime example of how investing in education makes a difference because it was made possible by ‘Valley Kids’ getting a good education and being able to give back to their home community.”

See CETF press release.

About California Emerging Technology Fund

CETF is a statewide non-profit foundation with a mission to close the Digital Divide in California.  CETF provides grants to non-profit community-based organizations (CBOs) to assist low-income households in adopting broadband and becoming digitally proficient.  School2Home www.School2Home.org is the signature education initiative of CETF that helps Title I schools integrate technology into teaching, learning, and parent engagement to close the Achievement Gap.  For more information, please visit www.cetfund.org.  For ACP information, please visit www.InternetForAllNow. 

Panel discusses how to reduce the dizzying cost of textbooks for California college students

BY EMMA GALLEGOS
EdSource Education Reporter

California’s public institutions of higher education have launched efforts — some more extensive than others — to dramatically reduce or eliminate the cost of course materials, which can sometimes rival the price of tuition.

Textbook costs affect academic success

Higher education leaders and advocates, including leaders from California Community Colleges and the California State University system, discussed the biggest successes and hurdles for California colleges during a Thursday panel “Free college textbooks: Dream or reality?” hosted by EdSource.

Cailyn Nagle, open educational resource program manager for Michelson 20MM Foundation, said that 65% of students who responded to a national survey by the Public Interest Research Group skipped out on buying textbooks or course materials because they were too expensive. That figure was 82% for students who had also skipped a meal; many students also declined to buy access codes that courses may require for quizzes or assignments.

“This means students are being priced out of participating in classes that they’ve already paid tuition for,” Nagle said.

According to the California Student Aid Commission, the average student spent $630 on books during the 2022-23 academic year. That doesn’t take into account other course materials, such as clickers, that are increasingly used for attendance and to answer questions in class, Nagle said. With the cost of supplies, the total rises to $1,152 per student annually.

Aya Mikbel, a Sacramento State student, found through interviewing other students in California the various ways they have softened the high cost of textbooks, including buying used copies, shopping for cheaper copies online or renting textbooks. They also borrow textbooks from classmates or forgo textbooks altogether.

These alternatives can affect students’ academic performance. One student told Mikbel that borrowing a textbook often meant it was difficult to check on answers to problem sets or to review previous lessons.

“Students should never feel like they’re focusing more on the price tag of the course rather than the content itself,” Mikbel said.

How California institutions are reducing textbook costs

The California Community College system has received systemwide funding from the state to create zero-textbook-cost pathways. This includes a $5 million pilot program in 2016 and an additional $115 million in 2021 to expand that effort.

The 2016 pilot demonstrated that textbook costs affect academic performance. According to the Community College Consortium for Open Educational Rresources, grades for students in zero-textbook-cost classes were 3% higher than in the same classes taught with traditional class materials, and grades were 7.6% higher for Pell Grant recipients, who can use their grants on textbooks but may opt to use them on other college expenses.

State funding has been key for creating zero-cost pathways at community colleges, but they may not be able to continue doing this work when the funding runs out, said Rebecca Ruan-O’Shaughnessy, vice chancellor of educational services and support at the California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office.

“The money is not enough; we need sustainable funding,” said Ruan-O’Shaughnessy.

The CSU and UC systems have not yet received the same kind of statewide funding as community colleges. But there are other efforts within the systems and at individual universities to address the costs of textbooks and create four-year degree zero-cost pathways.

Leslie Kennedy, assistant vice chancellor of academic technology services in academic and student affairs at CSU’s Office of the Chancellor, called the lack of funding “challenging.” But she noted that the system provides internal funding to the individual campuses ranging from $15,000 to $20,000 each year and is also hiring coordinators for affordable learning solutions.

Libraries play a key role in reducing course costs for students. The CSU system has negotiated with publishers to purchase electronic textbooks that can be offered to students for free. CSU is also ensuring that faculty puts a direct link to these resources on their syllabi.

Carole Goldsmith, chancellor of the State Center Community College District, added that publishers and bookstores have employed strategies to reduce costs, such as renting out copies of books or offering lower-cost digital copies.

But Nagle is skeptical of the three big publishers, saying they still have a monopoly on most publishing and are responsible for the steep rise in textbook costs. Publishers could hike rates later, leading to the “Amazonification” of course materials, Nagle added.

“If someone came into my home, lit my curtains on fire and then turned around and put a fire cap on and said, ‘Don’t worry, I can fix this,’ I would not trust them to save my home,” Nagle said.

Nagle said she is particularly worried about automatic billing, the practice of automatically charging students for textbooks and access codes on their tuition bill, typically with discounted bulk rates.

“I know people don’t always agree with me on this,” Nagle said, “and they see this as a great way to leverage bulk purchasing to get students a great deal.”

Open resources hold promise

Open educational resources are a particularly powerful and increasingly popular tool to reduce or eliminate the costs associated with courses. Opern educational resources include freely accessible textbooks, lecture notes, quizzes and other assets released under an open license and can be adapted, modified or reused as students or faculty see fit.

There are many benefits besides being free, easily accessible resources. It’s much easier to update or correct a mistake in an open resource than it is to do in a copyrighted text by a publisher, said Ruan-O’Shaughnessy. The open nature of the resources also allows faculty to customize course materials.

Drop rates and retention rates have improved in pilot courses that relied on open educational resources at State Center Community College, Goldsmith said.

What was really exciting about these courses, she said, was the increased engagement among faculty and students alike. Because they have reliable source texts, they no longer have to rely so heavily on lecture notes, and it’s easier for students to participate in class. Faculty at community colleges also are working to ensure that open-source texts better reflect student diversity. It’s been a win for everyone, she said.

“Faculty were able to curate the coursework, so they felt more engaged,” Goldsmith said. “Students saw more reflective stories of themselves and their culture in the work that they were reading about.”

 

Reprinted from EdSource (Oct. 27, 2o23)

Emma Gallegos covers equity issues in education for EdSource and is based in California’s Central Valley.