Understanding and supporting students' development of graph literacy is important. We studied how aspects of graph literacy might be supported (or hindered) in middle school by analyzing the content in textbooks. Specifically, we conducted a content analysis of tasks involving two-dimensional Cartesian graphs presented in grade 6-8 US textbooks.…

Features of eighth-grade history textbooks were examined through replication of a 20-year-old study that investigated "considerateness" of textbooks. Considerate texts provide clear, coherent information and include features that promote students' comprehension, such as explicit use of organizational structures, a range of question types…

Middle school teachers tend to rely heavily on texts that have become increasing more visual. There is little information available about the graphical demands of general middle grades' science texts. The purpose of this study was to quantify the type and quality of the graphical representations and how they interacted with the textual material in…

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…

Neal Frey reads textbooks for a living, a job he finds singularly fulfilling. For more than two decades, he had labored on behalf of Educational Research Analysts, a conservative Christian textbook-reviewing organization in Longview, Texas, founded by the famously outspoken husband-and-wife team of Mel Gabler and Norma Gabler. Since the early…

In this article, the author talks about Neal Frey, who for more than two decades has labored on behalf of Educational Research Analysts, a conservative Christian textbook-reviewing organization in Longview, Texas that was founded by the famously outspoken husband-and-wife team of Mel and Norma Gabler. When Mr. Gabler died at the age of 89, and…

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)

A study investigated the extent to which positive moral values are included in reading and social studies textbooks. Random samples of social studies textbooks (published by Harcourt Brace, D. C. Heath, Scott Foresman, Silver Burdett and Ginn, and McGraw-Hill) and reading textbooks (published by MacMillan/McGraw-Hill, Harcourt Brace, and Houghton…

Discusses coverage of Mexican history and Mexican Americans in 10 U.S. history textbooks approved for use in Texas. Criticizes the lack of complete information, ethnocentricity, and failure to present the Mexican point of view. Argues that U.S. history courses should cover topics of Mexican history, including Spanish colonialism, the Texas…

Examines the institutional power of Texas's state textbook selection committee. Studies the relationship between selection of educational content and social and professional interests. Finds that centralized adoption provides citizens and interest groups input, but that technical and pragmatic priorities tend to dominate selection decisions. (NL)

Analyzes in two fifth-grade social studies textbooks, the production of three "foundation myths" relating to Chicanos in American history: (1) Texas independence and the Alamo, (2) the Mexican War, and (3) the 20-century struggle for civil rights. How these contribute to cultural degradation is discussed. (SLD)