Publicity Misstep Costs Pearson Chance For L.A. Textbook Bid

Education Week: Publicity Misstep Costs Pearson Chance For L.A. Textbook Bid

An overly optimistic press release knocked publishing giant Pearson Education out of the running for a K-5 reading textbook adoption competition in Los Angeles.

Los Angeles is considering its first new textbook adoption since 2000, when the 678,000-student district selected Open Court Reading, published by SRA/McGraw-Hill. The contract is expected to be worth about $15 million a year for its first two years, the current cost for Open Court workbooks, making the new materials cost neutral in the short term.

On March 3, a public relations firm distributed a press release stating that Los Angeles classrooms "will get a massive infusion of technology as school district leaders work to prepare the Facebook generation of students for college and careers, under a proposal being reviewed this week by district leaders."

The release goes on to state some of the services Pearson "will" provide the district, such as online reading materials, speech-recognition software to help students practice their language skills, and instant reports to teachers on student progress.

The only problem: According to district officials, the press release came out a day before Pearson and two other publishers were to make presentations to the district's textbook review committee.

In a statement, Los Angeles officials said they dropped Pearson because the process cannot go forward with the appearance that one bidder is favored...