Publishers of textbooks are subject to pressure from public opinion and regional bias as well as criticism from teachers and boards of education. (JD)

Discusses procedures for selecting textbooks. Provided are guidelines for reviewing textbooks, analyzing content, and analyzing strategies. (SL)

Reviews widely-used introductory economics textbooks, examining how issues relating to race and gender are treated. Suggests how stereotypical roles could be avoided in the future. Includes a table summarizing data from 21 textbooks. (Author/DH)

Article relates the findings of a 1971 National Association for the Teaching of English (NATE) study of a series of textbooks, which found the situation unsatisfactory. Author requests that more study be done on the subject. (JB)

Provides five key questions teachers need to answer in order to determine whether a textbook can be used effectively in the classroom. (FL)

Controversy has been generated by a right-wing group over the merit of various high school American history textbooks. The author argues that his textbook fits all ethical categories. (JN)

Examines the reading level and potential comprehension level of 10 fourth-grade science textbooks. Reports that there is a great deal of variability between and within the science texts. (YP)

Describes what publishers can do to improve textbooks and teaching, and what teachers can do with inadequate textbooks to repair the "faulty" state of language education. Lists nine "knowns" about language education and explains how textbooks can exploit that knowledge within existing constraints. (RS)

Mathematics textbook publishers often include recommended tradebooks to be used in mathematics instruction. Teachers, however, remain unaware of the criteria used by the publishers when making their recommendations. Using Schiro's (1997) standards for assessing mathematics in children's literature, this inquiry assessed the quality of 127…

Three main factors in textbook selection for distance education--readability, appropriateness, and availability--are examined in detail, and suggestions for adapting standardized texts to the needs of individual groups are provided. Twelve specific criteria are listed for determining the appropriateness of a text and textual factors influencing…

Criticizes the lack of innovation and solid substance in most composition texts and freshman handbooks for college English. Also criticizes bidialectalism as an elitist concept. (RM)

Changes the state of California wishes incorporated in the materials used by the children of the State become incorporated in the publishers' national editions to ensure their availability whether the textbooks are supplied by the California state printers or the publishers. (RC)

This paper addresses the question of whether introductory students are learning the essential concepts of sociology. A study of 18 introductory sociology textbooks, dated from 1973 through 1977, indicates that these basic concepts are not clearly and intelligibly presented. Although over 1500 concepts were included in 18 glossaries, only one…

The subjects for this study were 81 freshman students who were taking courses in the social sciences at Herbert H. Lehman College in New York. A Nelson Denny Reading Test showed their average reading grade level to be 10.4 Twenty-three books in the social science areas were selected for appraisal, using such procedures as the application of a…