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…

The authors investigate whether the choice of college textbook affects students' comprehension of the material. Forty-eight students from educational psychology courses were randomly assigned to one of two conditions: (1) unfamiliar passages drawn from the textbook used in the course, or (2) comparable passages selected from a competitor textbook.…

Due to the central role of textbooks in the teaching and learning of science, it is imperative that textbooks provide correct content and instructional support. We investigated how 16 South African Grade 7 natural science educators selected their textbooks and how they evaluated these textbooks. The results were analysed according to the…

Creating of this article was motivated by the change of the new situation in connection with the Hungarian mathematics textbooks. Nowadays the teachers of Hungary could choose among the textbooks without restriction. The number of the textbooks is growing more and more. But our mathematics teachers have not any didactical support for the choice.…

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)

Textbooks have more influence than teachers in shaping the curriculum. They set objectives, daily lessons and activities, and influence test questions. Since the text is often the determinant of a course of study, the selection of a text can be a critical task. Consequently, an instrument for measuring the strengths and weaknesses of textbooks is…

Provides a guide for selecting/evaluating textbooks for courses on marriage and family topics. Applies these guidelines to 13 introductory level textbooks published between 1984 and 1986. (JDH)

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…

A textbook evaluation worksheet is given. The form rates the following areas: authorship, readability, physical features, graphics, content, book parts, skills and activities, and teacher's manual. (SK)

Gives a list of guidelines for reading specialists to use in evaluating content area textbooks. (MKM)

Reviews undergraduate public finance textbooks for content, difficulty, and ideology. Includes tables summarizing the percentage space devoted to specific topics in 13 popular textbooks. Offers suggestions for supplementary materials. (Author/DH)

In 1986, the California State Board of Education rejected all 14 kindergarten-eighth grade mathematics textbook series submitted for adoption. Implications of this action are discussed. (CB)

A publisher lists guidelines on how to evaluate a textbook for a lab-oriented course. (HD)

As an introduction to subsequent articles about psychology textbooks, som publishing and textbook adoption problems are mentioned. (ND)