Textbooks are a multimillion dollar publishing business in the United States. Even as 21st-century classrooms become more multimodal, digital and hardcopy textbooks remain a key feature of American education. Consequently, classroom textbooks have been shown to control knowledge dissemination across the content areas. In particular, health texts…

Comments on the Macmillan Publishing Company's guidelines for avoiding sex and racial stereotyping in educational materials. (IRT)

This kit for sex/race/career analysis provides educators and parents with an appropriate tool for objectively documenting the existence or absence of sex, race, or career bias in reading, literature, and social science curriculum. These procedures may also be used to document the portrayal of other characters, such as the aged, single parent…

This bibliography provides references to works that analyze children's books and school texts in terms of their racist and sexist content. One hundred eighty books, journal articles, and doctoral dissertations, examining works for children from preschool through adolescent years, are cited. (MK)

Teachers need to be aware of the stereotypes that their textbooks promote. An informal survey of the illustrations in a sampling of third grade textbooks revealed numerous examples of ethnic and sexist stereotypes. A knowledge of children's learning patterns can help teachers lead their students away from stereotypes by introducing them to…

Between 1972 and 1975, textbook publishers have issued position papers and guidelines for authors which both identify the areas of bias (sex, race, and career) hidden in public school textbooks and suggest alternative measures for authors and editors to consider in order to avoid these biases. This study was begun in 1972 to determine whether…

Outlined in this paper are a number of sample lesson plans designed to deal with discriminatory textbooks and curriculum materials. The format of the lesson plans presented is based on the use of negative examples in a textbook or a film as a starting point for a lesson to counter some of the stereotyping that occurs in American education.…

The most recent evidence available indicates that prejudice against minorities and women is still widespread in America. Schools have not only failed to combat these prejudices, but they have often served to actively promote them. Textbooks generally ignore the position of minority Americans in contemporary life and often discuss minority history…

This is a digest of articles which originally appeared in the bulletin, "Interracial Books for Children." Its purpose is to evaluate trade and textbooks with special concern for racist and sexist content and to suggest alternative materials for home and classroom. Included are the following articles: Doctor Dolittle--The Great White Father,…

Teachers and administrators should be able to distinguish between adequate and inadequate treatment of different ethnic groups when selecting culture-fair materials for the classroom. When selecting such materials, they should consider the following criteria: (1) validity of information (accuracy, perpetuation of stereotypes); (2) balance…

This handbook is designed to be of assistance in the selection of literature, trade books, and instructional materials to meet the scholastic needs of all children, including minority children. Contents include a description of a staff development session designed to assist teachers in preparing for multicultural instructional activities and…

Studies on the portrayal of minorities, older persons, and females in elementary and secondary school textbooks used in the 1970s are reviewed in this publication. The studies are divided into the following categories: American Indians, blacks, Hispanics, Asian and Pacific Island Americans, religious groups, older persons, and females. In the…

In order to improve the treatment of minorities in United States history textbooks, the National Education Association has developed guidelines for evaluating multiethnic materials. According to the guidelines, textbooks should portray cultural pluralism as a value to respect; present sexual, racial, religious, and ethnic groups in such a way as…

Reviews research about racial, ethnic, and sexual stereotypes in elementary science textbooks. Describes the demographics of the United States population as of 1980. Compares these demographics to representations in textbooks. Recommends three corrections that need to be made if schools are to attend to the social message in curricular materials.…

A group of six feminists undertook this study because they felt it important that people learn about racial and sexual discrimination in textbooks used in Baltimore City and other U.S. schools. The task force chose five series of basal readers widely used in Baltimore. These series are used in most, if not all, Elementary Secondary Education Act…