Selection of instructional materials for business and distributive education programs is increasingly difficult because there are more materials, new courses, and programs, matching instruction to the student, and some teacher options. The writer presents steps for use by school personnel in evaluation and adoption of text materials. (MF)

As a result of a joint concern over the issues of book selection and censorhip, the National Council of Teachers of English and the American Association of School Librarians distributed a questionnaire in the spring of 1964 to 1,600 secondary schools, half going to chairpersons of English departments and half to school librarians. Approximately…

To help defuse censorship efforts, this booklet identifies issues and strategies for handling censorship efforts and provides the instructional materials selection policies of two Montana school districts. The booklet also includes sample forms for a citizen requesting reconsideration of materials and for a school media committee's reconsideration…

Cloze tests assess the readability of a book for students in a far more personal way than formulas or standardized tests of reading comprehension. The cloze procedure reflects the total language abilities in the following ways: familiarity with sentence structure, context clues, and vocabulary, and the ability to draw inferences from written…

Designed to alert adult basic education teachers to the factors of readability and to suggest ways that some readability problems can be alleviated, this resource unit discusses the problems posed by readability formulas and suggests that teachers must both press for more readable adult texts and question intelligently the products of publishers…

This paper is intended to be a guide for constructive and helpful participation by parents and citizens in inquiry about and involvement in the selection of educational materials. The paper argues for a systematic, step-by-step selection process, sensitive to local needs and concerned with high quality materials that should be divided into (1)…

Shows that a wide variety of textbook characteristics play a role in influencing teachers' selection process, and that some of these interact with teacher characteristics. (FL)

The article gives a step-by-step procedure for vocational teachers to follow in determining the appropriateness of the reading level of specific instructional materials to their students' reading skills. An example is given of the procedure applied to "The Stockman's Handbook." (AJ)

Some communities have been successful in removing textbooks containing sexist and racist stereotypes.

This booklet shows teachers and administrators how their school districts can use the Reading Authority List of the Reading Information System I (I-RIS), an analytic process for making decisions about language arts curriculum materials. Following an outline of I-RIS, pages of the Reading Authority List are accompanied by guidelines for using the…

Provides various definitions of censorship; describes a case of censorship in New Brunswick, Canada; explains what happens to materials that have been challenged; and provides a challenged materials policy and a list of books that have been challenged in Canada. (SRT)

This case study of three content area teachers in one middle school and two high schools examined their use of multiple texts in the classroom. The teachers represented three content areas: physics, history, and English. Data were collected via surveys, e-mail exchanges, participant observations, field notes, and semistructured interviews. Data…

To determine what procedures and criteria are being used in states with state-wide textbook adoption and to determine what similarities and differences might exist from state to state, state textbook administrators in such states were asked to respond to a 39-item questionnaire and to supply materials that explained their states' procedures and…

Designed to simplify the task of selecting the right reading materials for students, this guide provides a method for structuring the work of textbook selection committees. It guides committees through a six-step process involving answering the following increasingly specific questions: what is the socioeconomic background of the students? What do…

This guide contains information and suggestions to help teachers review and evaluate textbooks and other materials for stereotypes, inaccuracies, omissions, and bias about American Indians and other Native Americans. Guidelines are presented to raise the awareness of educators and publishers about Native heritage, culture, and contemporary issues.…