K-12 Course Material Sales Drop by $182M YTD

Sales of course materials for K-12 plummeted by $182 million between June 2019 and July 2020. That's a 25 percent drop, according to the Association of American Publishers. Sales for July 2020 in that segment totaled $549.3 million.

Total sales in the K-12 category of publishing totaled $1.458 billion for the seven-month period of January 2020 through July 2020, down from $2.035 billion over the same period last year, a decline of 28 percent.

Overall education revenues for K-12, higher ed, professional books and universities presses were down 18.7 percent year-to-date, totaling $2.84 billion.

The APP generated the statistics from publisher net revenue, including sales to bookstores, wholesalers, direct to consumer, online retailers, etc. The data covered revenue information from 1,360 publishers.

About the Author

Dian Schaffhauser is a former senior contributing editor for 1105 Media's education publications THE Journal, Campus Technology and Spaces4Learning.

Featured

  • circuit patterns

    Anthropic Intros Lower-Cost Claude Sonnet 5

    Anthropic has launched Claude Sonnet 5, positioning the model as its most autonomous mid-tier offering to date and a lower-cost alternative to its flagship Opus 4.8 system. The company said the model can plan multi-step tasks, operate tools such as browsers and terminals, and complete agentic work at a level that previously required larger and more expensive models.

  • elementary schoolchildren using digital tablet in classroom

    CoSN: 3 Principles that Should Guide Screen Time Policies in Schools

    CoSN, the professional association for K-12 education technology leaders, has released new guidance to help schools navigate the screen time debate and develop technology policies that protect students while supporting learning.

  • abstract glowing cube outlines

    Microsoft Positions Windows as a Platform for AI Agents

    The recent Microsoft Build 2026 developer conference highlighted a significant shift in the company's Windows strategy. Rather than presenting artificial intelligence as a collection of standalone features, Microsoft is increasingly positioning Windows as an operating environment for AI agents.

  • business woman and stress with burnout, busy and multitasking

    K–12 Technology Leaders Are Doing Too Much: 3 Ways to Reclaim Strategic Focus

    Technology directors touch nearly everything that happens in a school system. Here are three strategies these IT leaders can use to navigate their many duties without losing strategic focus, influence, or sustainability.