The committee looked at alignment with standards, progression of concepts, vocabulary, reading and listening components and fully integrated digital resources. Integration of cultural topics, including those from French-speaking regions beyond France, was also assessed.
The committee chose these books because they were the best at combining print resources with digital interactive learning components. Students have access to a large variety of audio, and video resources for individual and group practice. They are well-paced for 9-12 learners and aligned with content standards. It is our professional opinion that D’accord is the better of the two offerings, and a good choice for adoption by CUSD. D’accord was already more current than Bien Dit and will also be issuing a new edition for 2019.
In addition, the committee reviewed 2 open-source French textbooks:
Though highly advantageous in the cost of adoption, both programs have drawbacks. Liberté has no multimedia component, which puts it at the level of texts dating from pre-2000 era. Français Interactif does have a multimedia component. Though the 3rd Edition has some updates to the open-source text chapters, the video content dates from 2004. In addition, its focus on university life encompasses content that some parents may find objectionable.
Next Steps:
We need to review historic averages of the number of students in French Levels 1-3 over the past 5 years. The goal would be to have a class set for each teacher of Levels 1, 2, or 3, along with enough digital licenses to the online component to meet student enrollment in these courses.