Purchasing Authority: A Companion to Teacher Buyer Behavior, 2008-2009 Shows Teacher Preferences for Buying Teacher Supplies, Supplemental Materials and Professional Development

Denver, CO (March 11, 2008) — Teachers are the primary decision makers for purchasing supplemental materials, classroom supplies, and professional development resources in American schools, reports a new study from Quality Education Data, Inc. (QED), a leading education market research and database firm, and a wholly owned subsidiary of Scholastic. QED researches teacher purchasing trends each year to collect the most current data on teacher spending in American schools.

Purchasing Authority: A Companion to Teacher Buyer Behavior, 2008-2009, asked educators about their research and purchasing activities when buying materials for their classrooms. The study also asked teachers to report their use of retail stores, teacher stores, print catalogs and online stores for purchase of classroom supplies and materials.

Key findings include: