District staff recommend new physics texts for academic and honors courses

Unionville‑Chadds Ford School District staff on May 12 recommended two new physics textbooks for high‑school courses and said the materials will be available for community review before a June board vote.

For the academic physics course, staff recommended National Geographic Physics with 120 physical and digital licenses; presenters said the text’s emphasis on real‑world phenomena and lab connections fit classroom practice and teacher expectations. For honors physics, staff recommended a College Physics (Cengage) AP edition — which presenters noted is algebra‑based and therefore a better fit for honors than for the district’s calculus‑based AP physics course — and recommended purchasing 50 physical and digital copies for honors use.

District staff said the National Geographic package (120 copies/licenses) would cost $24,393 and the Cengage College Physics titles would cost $15,372.50, figures the presenters said were budgeted in the curriculum cycle. Staff said the materials will be circulated for one month of community review and then brought to the June board meeting as voting items.

Teachers leading the review said textbooks are a resource to support instruction, not the entire course; curriculum and pacing will be adjusted by teachers when the books are adopted. Presenters also noted that not all chapters may be used for the honors course and that teachers will tailor the texts to course standards.

No formal vote was taken at the CIT meeting; presenters flagged June as the scheduled board approval session.