High-quality K-12 instructional materials can meaningfully improve teaching practice and student achievement, especially when paired with professional learning support. Yet state policymakers have usually left ultimate authority for textbook selection to school district leaders. Consequently, the quality of materials across U.S. classrooms and…

Research has demonstrated that textbooks exert a considerable influence on students' learning opportunities and that technology has the potential to transform mathematics instruction. This brief report provides a systematic analysis of how technology tasks are integrated into secondary mathematics curricula by analyzing a sample of 20 textbooks.…

Well-informed decisions on curricular materials can be an efficient way to boost student achievement. Prior studies have employed experimental and quasi-experimental designs to investigate the effects of textbooks on mathematics achievement. This is the first study to consider textbook effects in social studies education. Within the context of a…

Research indicates multi-section coordination improves the academic performance of students in STEM education. This paper describes the process of coordination in Precalculus, Calculus 1, and Calculus 2 courses undertaken by a large department that grew from the merger of two institutions through a pilot program and a project grant. Components…

One of the most important objectives of teachers, parents, school administrators, and students is to improve student scores on standardized tests, such as the State of Texas Assessment for Academic Readiness (STAAR) in eighth-grade science. This quasi-experimental study examined the science achievement scores between schools that used different…

In this article, the author relates his experiences preparing Mexican teachers wishing to enter bilingual classrooms in Texas. The author, who was about to teach U.S. history, envisioned to teach his class with Howard Zinn's "A People's History." However, during his briefing, he was instructed by his program director to use a book called…

Textbooks are often a core element of curricula and delivery of classroom instruction and have long been a source of controversy. The textbook adoption process has become less about content and more about political/cultural pressure. Special-interest groups from the right and left exert enormous influence on textbook content through bias and…

Technological innovation is driving fundamental changes in all aspects of our lives. This is especially true of digital content, as our use of e-books, downloadable music, streaming television and movies, and online social networks has exploded. However, the explosive growth in our use of digital content seems so far to have eluded many of the 50…

Although few would question the public school's legitimate role in transmitting societal values, controversy surrounds what those values should be and who should make such decisions. School boards should have policies in place to handle curriculum challenges and to establish review committees with broad representation for the selection of…

Examines Texas adoption process, described by author as having an inordinate impact on textbook market. Creationist opposition to evolution content in biological textbooks is well organized. Author presents 10 arguments made at hearing by creationists that he describes as a monument to scientific illiteracy. Asserts that creationists' confusion of…

This book recounts in narrative form the influence of Mel and Norma Gabler, two Texas parents, on the purchase of textbooks for Texas schools. Concerned over content they found objectionable, for more than ten years the Gablers used direct mail campaigns, radio talk shows, petition drives, and personal appearances, in addition to testifying…

Reviews data collected in a 1982 national survey of state social studies coordinators which shows the patterns of textbook adoptions in the area of high school geography for the 20 states that use statewide adoption. Concludes that throughout the 1970s and early 1980s Texas's impact on other states' geography selections was almost nonexistent.…

The powerful influence the state of Texas exerts in textbook adoptions throughout the country is analyzed. In revising a text or writing a new book, it is easier for publishers to omit issues that may be controversial than lose out on an adoption and big money. (RM)

Because the state of Texas is the largest single market for secondary texts in the nation and because its state adoption process has drawn a small but well-organized group of protestors, the Texas textbook adoption process has begun to shape textbooks in use nationwide. A study was conducted to examine the arguments most recently used by citizens…

Discusses the process of state textbook adoption and how this process influences the subject matter that will prevail throughout the country. Elaborates on the Texas textbook adoption system as an example of a statewide selection procedure. (GEA)