Market Focus: 'The Dog Ate My Homework' Just Doesn’t Fly Anymore
Basal textbooks dominate the U.S. instructional market for K-12, with a 40-percent share, says Kathy Mickey, managing editor/senior analyst in the education group at Stamford, Conn.-based research firm Simba Information.
But, as educational publishers know all too well, basal textbooks can’t be all things to all students. In fact, some basal funds have been rerouted to supplemental products during recent years, says Greg Worrell, president of the Scholastic Classroom and Library Group. He adds that paperbacks aimed at improving reading skills for K-5 students are selling well for the New York-based children’s book publisher, and there’s a trend among schools to focus on providing “highly motivational content” for boys, who are often hard-to-reach readers.