WESTOVER — The Somerset County Board of Education during its regular June meeting approved the purchase of new high school textbooks for American Government and U.S. History II classes.

The ones they will replace date to 2007 and 2012, respectively.

United States Government and U.S. History are both published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (HMH) which was the recommended vendor. The board voted 3-0-1 to proceed with the purchase before the end of this fiscal year with board member Bill McInturff abstaining and Vice Chair Penny Nicholson absent.

Jill Holland, supervisor of Social Studies & Media in making the recommendation said teachers were provided sample materials with the top choices tested on students for additional feedback for such things as readability and ease of use. The vendors also made presentations, with online features considered in addition to the visual appeal of the textbooks and whether the content and format makes sense.

There was a session for the public to review the materials with books by McGraw Hill the second choice. Books from two other publishers, TCI (Teachers’ Curriculum Institute) and Savvas, distributor of Magruder’s American Government were also considered.

Currently textbooks by HMH are used in high school world history, and Ms. Holland said TCI provides the books for middle school grades.

Books are not the sole resource used in the classroom, Ms. Holland said, as primary sources such as acts of Congress and Supreme Court decisions are also incorporated into lesson plans as well as relevant multi-media materials. The goal is to replace textbooks every 10 years.

Next up for parent and community consideration is the selection of elementary school reading curriculum. An interest for that will be held meeting 6 p.m. Monday, July 11 at the board office.

Information regarding the selection process and recommendations will be presented.

Four reading programs have been reviewed by 30 teachers in four elementary schools with CKLA Amplify their top-ranked curriculum. The others are “Into Reading” by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, “Wonders 2023” by McGraw Hill, and “My View” by Savvas Learning Company.

Those who plan to attend are asked to RSVP online at https://tinyurl.com/283azy2c or contact Lilly Welch, supervisor of Reading/ELA at lwelch@somerset.k12.md.us.