<p>Say we choose a subject…geometry.</p>
<p>1)Would you say that 2 or 3 geometry textbooks serve 90%+ of public schools?</p>
<p>2)Or, is it more like 10-20 geometry textbooks each with a 5-15% market share?</p>
<p>No they do not.</p>
<p>Nope, it depends upon what each county decides to use. We live near 6 different school system and they all use different textbooks.</p>
<p>Long ago I was involved in a committee to purchase textbooks for our public school district. We had presentations from different publishers and I learned that Texas and California are the largest purchasers of textbooks and heavily influence the content. We were looking at social studies textbooks for K-6. Our state requires specific content relating to our state (not TX or CA) and the way the textbook publishers met that requirement was to include a supplement - basically a state specific paperback with a chapter or two.</p>
<p>I imagine things have standardized with NCLB and common core and it seems it would be possible to pick and choose content that could then be pulled together in one volume. The again, is anyone using textbooks anymore?</p>
<p>The answer to the OP is no, but the numbers of textbook publishers has dwindled over the last 30 years. There aren’t a lot to choose from, frankly.</p>
<p>To answer lefthandofdog, yes, we are still using them, but the movement is toward e-books. Right now the situation is sorting itself out regarding length of subscription, cost, method of delivery to students, etc.</p>
<p>When selling e-books to college kids, it’s a 1 year subscription. But in high schools, the goal is to use a book for several years–little more complicated.</p>
<p>I had high school teachers who teach geometry at the same school and use different textbooks!</p>