Two states, Florida and Virginia, were early adopters of the statewide textbook survey approach to learn more about and understand student attitudes related with and behaviors for acquiring their course materials. In 2023, leveraging the Florida and Virginia survey experience, Pennsylvania’s statewide textbook affordability group, Affordable Learning PA (ALPA), conducted its own survey in collaboration with Bay View Analytics.
In this presentation, panelists from ALPA, PALCI, FLVC, and Bay View will compare and contrast their state structures, survey instruments, institutional participation, reporting, and impact. The panel’s focus is on lessons learned, what worked well and what could work better, what’s on our wish list for future research, and in what ways these statewide efforts could help policy makers develop nationwide student course materials research to better inform future policy on course material affordability.
