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…

The vast majority of U.S. teachers supplement their officially adopted curriculum materials with unofficial materials. Despite this, the body of supplementation-relevant literature tends not to focus on supplementation specifically, so lacks cohesion, and sometimes fails to capture all aspects the phenomenon. I systematically review…

This study employs textbooks and legitimacy theories to examine the complexity of legitimizing China's textbook reform, planned since 2012, for three ideologically-laden subjects (Chinese language, History, and Morality and Law). Specifically, it explores why, to whom, and how China's Ministry of Education legitimized this textbook reform, which…

Adopting systemic functional linguistics (hereafter SFL) as the main theoretical framework, this study as part of a larger research project, aimed to examine how the language of textbooks deployed in teaching English as a foreign language (EFL) in the Vietnamese context shifted across levels in a book series. In order to do this, this research…

In this study, we analyzed and compared reasoning and proving opportunities in geometry lessons from American standard-based textbooks and Korean textbooks to understand how these textbooks provide student opportunities to engage in reasoning and proving activities. Overall, around 40% of exercise problems in Core Plus Mathematics Project (CPMP)…

The enactment of the No Child Left Behind Act (2002) and the subsequent succession of legislative acts have had a profound impact on educational policy. An increased emphasis on teacher accountability and effectiveness led to the use of standardized test results to determine tangible rewards or punishments. In response, a culture of teaching to…

An electronic textbook (e-Textbook) is a digitized (or electronic) form of textbook, which normally needs an endorsement by the national or state government when it is used in the K-12 education system. E-Textbooks have been envisioned to replace existing paper-based textbooks due to its educational advantages. Hence, it is of paramount importance…

In 2006, after nearly two decades of civil conflict and instability, Liberia's physical and governance infrastructure was destroyed and its brutalized population was stricken with high levels of illiteracy and unemployment. The newly formed government of President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf was not able to meet the stringent requirements imposed by the…

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…

Presents a standard textbook adoption process orchestrated by a textbook selection committee. The committee conducts a needs survey, reviews materials, selects three series finalists, arranges for the publishers of the selected materials to make presentations to the faculty, visits schools using the materials, and makes a final choice. (Author/WD)

Provides guidelines for evaluation in textbook selection. (MD)

Using short-term pilot programs to evaluate textbooks can lead to unreliable results and interfere with effective education. Alternative methods for evaluating textbook-based programs include obtaining documented analyses of competitors' products from sales agents, visiting districts using programs being considered, and examining publishers' own…

Describes the work of Mel and Norma Gabler and their campaign against what they have determined are "improper" textbooks. (IRT)

Provides a brief description of the current state of book censorship in Warsaw, Indiana, and of some of the community response to the censorship. (IRT)

The authors present a 20-item inventory for textbook selection designed to supplement the Fry Formula or the Raygor Estimate readability tests. The authors argue that a harmonious relationship should exist between the text, its author, its intended readers, and the instructor. (Author/PGD)