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Most school districts have the technical infrastructure to support the basic digital textbooks of today. But as far as supporting the kinds of textbooks tech-savvy educators would like to see—multimedia-rich, interactive, Web-based materials—schools have some serious catching up to do in increasing network speed and connectivity, providing professional development for teachers, and persuading lawmakers to revisit state textbook-adoption policies.

If knowledge of subject matter were the most important factor in delivering a quality education, then professors with doctorates and a long list of publications in their field would make ideal candidates for K-12, as I wrote in a letter to the editor published in the Los Angeles Times on Dec. 3 ("You get what you pay for"). After all, they certainly possess expertise in their subject. But what most of them lack is pedagogical competence. That's why they wouldn't last very long in a public school classroom.