Since most textbooks and instructional materials are designed to appeal to the majority market, they often are written from an ethnocentric viewpoint. American Indian viewpoints are either stereotyped, distorted, or omitted. To assist educators and publishers in developing awareness of American Indian heritage and culture and contemporary issues facing American Indians, general guidelines and a rating scale have been compiled by the Ethnic Heritage Project Advisory Council, to be used when evaluating textbooks and instructional materials. The guidelines may be applied at all grade levels and concentrate on content, language, and illustrations. Content considerations include awareness of American Indians' perspective; contemporary as well as historical activities, contributions, and concerns; and avoidance of inferences that American Indians are "all the same" or that different lifestyles or customs are undesirable. Textbook language must: explain that the term "Indian" is a misnomer; not use derogatory terms; avoid generalizations; be consistent when comparing activities of American Indians with other groups; reflect contemporary roles and life situations. Illustrations should avoid negative stereotypes and caricatures, be historically and culturally accurate, and depict American Indians in the same range of modern socioeconomic settings and occupational roles as other groups of Americans. (NEC)