Should the Book Board publish an Academic Journal on Basic Education Textbooks Executive Summary The on-line publication

of an academic journal on basic education textbooks is within NBDB mandate and complements other textbook development strategies viz. Quality Seal Awards, Textbook Review Service and the Cancellation proceedings. This quarterly journal is a non-regulatory but procedural approach on the issue of erroneous textbooks. Contents of the first issue will contain a set of reviews on any of the eleven (11) textbooks that passed the Textbook Review Service, short profiles about the publishers and authors. It will also publish a ranking of winning textbooks submitted for the 2007 Quality Seal Awards for Mathematics based on content and physical design. It will have an editorial team per issue which is composed of 3 subject experts that are connected with a Center of Excellence and assisted by a representative from the Accreditation and Incentives Division. The journal can be posted in a very conspicuous section of the NBDB website to generate immediate impact and reach a critical mass of readers/users nationwide at short notice. This can be mirrored or linked in the websites of the publisher, author, Centers of Excellence, Manila Archdiocesan and Parochial School Association (MAPSA), Catholic Educational Association of the Philippines (CEAP) and even with DepED. All issues can be read by private schools anytime they start deciding which books to purchase. This innovative service will promote the best textbooks, publishers and authors from the Philippines. An academic journal on textbooks is not being offered by any book development organization in the US (Center of the Book), UK (Book Trust), India (Book Trust), and even by National Book Development Council of Singapore. An amount of Php 50,000 can already be allotted this May 2009 to start the project. Option One is recommended to pilot test this project and shall be scaled up to include DepEd Textbooks after positive assessment results on the first four issues. I Rationale: Last year, the NBDB Chairman proposed to DepEd Secretary Lapus the publication of an Online Textbook Journal1 to help resolve controversies related to erroneous textbooks. The Academic Journal on Basic Education Textbooks is not a professional or trade journal but a peer-reviewed or refereed online journal containing reviews of basic education textbooks by experts based in universities that are classified as Centers of Excellence by the Commission of Higher Education. This is a positive tactic to help educators come up with informed decisions on the best textbooks to purchase for their students and at the same time put an end to the issue of erroneous textbooks. It is believed that 80-90% of book industry revenues come from textbooks.

Scholarly Journals: Report the results of an experiment or investigation. These articles are very technical, and are written by and for researchers in the field viz American Mineralogist, Journal of Geophysical Research. Substantial Journals attempt to get across complex ideas in a simple way but dont include very many details, or cite many sources viz Scientific American, Psychology Today, Time, Newsweek. Popular Journals are basically there for entertainment purposes. They should not be used for scientific reports. Viz. Sports Illustrated, People. http://www.lib.purdue.edu/eas/inst/eas243/journals.html

This journal will be one of the market-driven policy options available to help upgrade textbook quality, promote quality textbook publishers and authors as well as educate institutional users on the best textbooks available locally. This non-regulatory, but procedural approach, will complement the other three (3) mechanisms pioneered by the NBDB to continuously improve the quality of Philippine textbooks viz. the Quality Seal Awards, and the Textbook Review Service and the Cancellation proceedings of erroneous publishers registration with the NBDB. Direct policy outcomes are: First, reviews will be disseminated widely and quickly through the internet, thereby help the private education market to select and purchase only quality textbooks for their students. Through this medium, the selection of textbooks will be more rational, transparent and efficient; Second, this will challenge textbook publishers to produce works that are at par with international standards and responsive to needs of local (and foreign) markets; Third, this distinct book development intervention will create a more even or level playing field where all local textbook publishers compete based on the quality of their instructional materials, among other factors such as price or a combination of other factors; Fourth, authors will be prevented from publishing multiple editions i.e. the same content but published or printed with different titles or with different publishers; Fifth, authors and publishers will be encouraged to give a premium not only to quality content but also to book design, paper quality, number of colors used, among other factors. Positive externalities are: First, only those publishers of textbooks reviewed by experts will be promoted and patronized by the private school market and/or be considered by the Department of Education; Second, owners of educational institutions, parents, teachers, students will be exposed only to the best textbooks that passed the TRS; Third, fly-by-night or cut-and paste textbook publishers will be exposed. Unscrupulous booksellers and publishers will think twice before resorting to the practice of offering monetary or non-monetary considerations or bribe for the school administrators to purchase their products. This may eventually force textbook sellers/distributors to professionalize their ranks and abandon unethical practices and ploys viz. offering loans, vehicles and even school buildings in exchange for three to five year contracts of supplying poor quality textbooks. This may eventually drive local publishers to improve textbook quality for the local or even global markets. Lastly, this may encourage local publishers to patronize the NBDB Textbook Review Service, being the source of all positive reviews for the Academic Journal. This will also encourage the NBDB to promote the TRS to the textbook industry players. II Relevant Policies: The policy issue on whether the NBDB should publish an Academic Journal on Philippine Textbooks can be based on Executive Order No. 119 on the Adoption of the National Book Policy which provides for Access to Information/data given to the NBDB for the establishment and maintenance of Industry Databank. The NBDB shall be given access to information as in the conduct of researches and to solicit necessary data from the private and public sectors pertaining to the book industry. It further adds

that the NBDB shall maintain and update the book industry databank which will make data accessible to the industry and to the public.2 Another basis can be found in letter d of Section 8 of R.A. 8047 which provides that the Governing Board shall conduct or contract research on the book publishing industry, including monitoring, compiling, and providing data and information on book production.3 A more general and non-specific provision can be found in letter b.; section 8 of R.A. 8047, which provides that the governing board shall formulate plans and programs as well as operational policies, purposes and guidelines for undertaking activities relative to promoting book development, production and distribution as well as incentive scheme for individual authors and writers. III Academic Journal Concept 1. Title: Academic Journal on Philippine Textbooks 2. Publisher: NBDB 3. Description of the Publication: One, this is an internet-based, peer reviewed journal (by university-based evaluators) containing reviews or ranking of textbooks and teachers manuals for private elementary and secondary schools that passed the Textbook Review Service and the Quality Seal Awards. It also contains profiles of the publishers and the authors. It will publish all the actual textbook or teachers manual reviews made on textbooks that passed the standards set by a Center of Excellence commissioned for NBDBs Textbook Review Service (TRS). This will be done after prior permission from the publisher and authors, evaluators from the center of excellence, have been granted. It will cover all textbooks used in major subject areas and educational levels in the basic education curriculum that passed the Textbook Review Service. There are currently 11 textbooks that passed the TRS standards. This journal will aspire to be the authority on the best textbooks for basic education institutions, the best textbook publishers and the best textbook authors. The journal which come slightly close to this concept were: a review published by UNESCO and the Philippine Social Science Council on social science textbooks or the Philippine Journal on Development which published a review of high school economics textbooks from 1902-2005. 4. Target Audiences: Decision makers in basic education institutions viz. subject coordinators, subject specialists, subject teachers, owners, principals, members of the Manila Archdiocesan and Parochial Schools Association (MAPSA) and the Catholic Educational Association of the Philippines (CEAP), are the primary target audience. Students and professionals (on English, Math, Science other subjects) are secondary target audience. 5. Purpose of the Publication: An information guide to help basic education institutions in determining the best textbooks to purchase for their students as well as promote the best textbooks by local publishers and local authors. The journal's future end
2

National Book Policy. Executive Order No. 119. Book Publishing Industry Development Act (R.A. 8047) & Rules and Regulations. P. 6

goal is to develop a strong databank of well organized, effectively navigable content on the best textbooks, publishers and authors covering all major curriculum subjects and educational levels which should be accessible only on the internet. 6. Electronic Design and Philosophy: Considering that textbooks can be changed every year due to errors or recommended improvements per edition or corrected version or even the non-input of the suggested corrections, the contents or textbooks reviewed will be real time assessments or living reviews of textbook editions currently being sold for the private school market. Subject specialists/experts commissioned by the NBDB can always update their online evaluations pending the revisions actually made by the publishers on the textbook/s in question. Being interactive, the readers can also make comments on the evaluations/reviews made by the commissioned experts to help make good textbooks better and of good quality if approved for posting by the journals online administrator. 7. Basic Sections: The Online Journal will contain the following sections: a. Textbook Reviews for one major subject viz. English or Science, especially those that passed the Textbook Review Service; b. Letter to the Editor (optional) c. Forum - feedback from teachers or students); d. Editorial e. Standards such as content guide, editorial box, ISSN, and pagination; f. Archives. 8. First Issue Content. The first issue can contain all or just a select few of reviews that passed the TRS. According to the 2004-September 2008 TRS Report, there are 11 textbooks that passed the TRS standards or those that are considered as generally good, very good quality with minor improvements or needs minor improvements.4 These can be published in the journal with focus on the reviews that passed the TRS, the publishers and even the authors. Seven (7) textbooks were published by Phoenix Publishing House, four (4) textbooks by Vibal Publishing House, and One (1) by MSA. As a special feature, it can rank all the Math textbooks as reviewed by the judges for content and physical design submitted for the 2007 NBDB Quality Seal Awards. It can also provide short info on the other three (3) NBDB programs and services to improve local textbooks, publishers, and authors. 8. Source of funding / Sustainability Issue: This will be pilot-tested and financed through the 2009 NBDB allotments which earmarked Php 50,000 for May-June 2009 in case the project will be approved for implementation.5 This project can be submitted for grant applications in relevant institutions. It may generate revenues
4

These are Exploring Life through Literature; Harnessing English Today (Grade 5), Harnessing English Arts Today (Grade 3), Simply Science in the Next Century Grades 1,2,4,5,6 by Phoenix Publishing House. There are other textbooks from other publishing houses that passed the TRS standards viz. Canao: Yaman ng Diwa 1, Economics Basic Principles, Applications and Issues; Philippine Civilization:History and Government by Vibal Publishing House; and MSA Geometry of MSA which is recommended as textbook with major revisions 5 Ms. Flor Abiad, OIC of AID, confirmed on 14 April 2009 to this writer that Php 50,000 can be allotted to the project on the second quarter of 2009 only, specifically on May and June.

through on-line advertisements or project partners Book Development Association of the Philippines or Philippine Educational Publishers Association. IV Online Publication Guidelines: 1. Publication and Subscription. It will be published quarterly, four times a year but dependent on the availability of TRS reviews for publication. The journal carries no page charges for authors considering that the authors are commissioned by NBDB for the TRS. There will be no subscription fees for users. It will remain a freely available publication throughout its existence and supported initially by NBDB funding and possibly sustained later on by grants and advertisement revenues. 2. Only Available Online. The journal will not be distributed on paper in the traditional way but will only be made available online. Users can access and read content on NBDB website or on mirror sites of strategic partners. Individual articles can be downloaded in a format suitable for printing or in a self-contained set of HTML pages for off-line reading. As a free service, it shall maintain a subscription list. This list shall be used to notify journal users when a new article has been published. In addition, information about general changes and other matters pertaining to the journal is emailed to subscribers. However, users will need to subscribe for inclusion in the mailing list in order to view all the articles published. One joins the list by filling up the online registration form. 3. ISSN Requirements. The project team together with the editorial team will register with the National library to get an ISSN. The webmaster or web developer is responsible for HTML code in the submitted documents from the authors. 4. Moderated feedback. Comments are moderated, and will not appear until the author or moderator has approved them. This website shall only allow comments from registered users which is similar feature in www.philstar.com. 5. Copyright. A registered user may download, copy and reproduce articles from the Journal in electronic and print form for private, educational or personal scientific purposes only. 6. Subscription: It will be an open access journal, and thus free of charge. An emailnotification list, to which users can subscribe, will announce the appearance of new articles. V Implementation Plan The following steps shall be accomplished for the first issue of the Journal. 1. Submission and boards approval of E-journal on Basic Education Textbooks Project 2. Endorsement and Selection of Project Team Members, four (4) Editorial Team, Webmaster, 3. Issue Planning seek permission from publishers and authors for publication of the reviews. 4. Submission to webmaster 5. Submission of draft digital copy 6. Approval for posting

VI Management and Organization. The project team will be reporting directly to the NBDB Executive Director. It will be a temporary organizational structure that will operate for one year, monitored, evaluated before it can be recommended to be institutionalized as an NBDB Secretariats regular programs and service year in and year out. Pre-screened Editorial Team. The composition of the Editorial team per issue shall be approved by the NBDB Governing Board. For the first issue, the editorial team would be composed of three experts for one particular subject e.g. English or Science. Ideally, the four editorial teams can simultaneously work on their respective assigned issues. But there will be on Editor-in-chief for all issues.
Chairman Governing Board
OTC Staff

Executive Officer

OED Staff

Deputy Executive Officer

Director I
(Operations)

Director I
(Support to Operations)

MIS RPPD

Accreditation & Incentives

Projects Division

Admin and Finance

E-Journal Project

Figure 1. NBDBs Project Matrix Organization VII Policy Options to consider In the implementation stage, the NBDB Online Textbook Journal and Databank project will consider the following principles: a. efficiency - it can easily be published at short notice even with an interim editorial team and limited or no budget at all; b. effectiveness websites impact in terms of creating a critical mass of readers or

stakeholders or users awareness at short notice; and c. economy with limited or without new funds, the project can still be implemented within one month and still meet the project objectives. Option One. Publication of actual raw reviews of textbooks that passed the textbook review service and rankings of textbooks submitted to the Quality Seal Awards only. (This is the most effective, economical, and efficient if actual reviews will be published.) Option Two. Create new reviews of textbooks that passed the textbook review service and of textbooks submitted to the Quality Seal Awards. (Not economical, effective nor efficient). Option Three. Create new reviews of textbooks that passed the TRS and Quality Seal Awards and DepEDs Textbook Project. (This is the most effective option available, but will take long to implement). VIII References Academic Journals. www.academicjournals.org All About Articles. http://www.lib.purdue.edu/eas/inst/eas243/journals.html Booktrust UK. http://www.booktrust.org.uk/Resources-for-schools Center of the Book-US http://www.loc.gov/loc/cfbook/one-book.html Living Reviews in Relativity http://relativity.livingreviews.org/About/concept.html National Book Development Council of Singapore. http://www.bookcouncil.sg/ National Book Policy (Philippines) National Book Trust India http://www.nbtindia.org.in/ Republic Act 8047