This document offers the proceedings of a seminar in which participants from Fiji, Kiribati, New Zealand, Western Samoa, Tonga, Tuvalu, Australia, and the University of South Pactific met to discuss current and better practices for the production and distribution of textbooks and other teaching/learning materials. This seminar proceedings is…

This booklet addresses the question of what is wrong with textbooks and then shows how textbooks can be improved through the selection process. A conceptual scheme is proposed as the basis of the selection process. Specific attributes and features to look for when selecting textbooks, based on this conceptual scheme, are discussed. Five categories…

A major purpose of this study was to determine whether a selected number of current, commercially prepared spelling series used high frequency words for their word lists. A second purpose was to determine whether students misspelled high frequency words in their writing. Eleven commercially prepared spelling series were selected according to the…

Writing, editing, and printing texts for schools has been the accepted role of publishers, while text researchers have concentrated on typography, content, and readability. The hundreds of readability formulas now available make readability the most sophisticated of these three areas. Research in reading comprehension suggests that publishers…

Describes the kinds of English-as-a-second-language materials development that are being undertaken in Canada and some of the circumstances that influence such work, including the relationship between Canadian and foreign publishing, the rewards and drawbacks of developing materials for commercial publishers or on government contracts, and…

Based on the response of the Textbook Task Force, Mexican American Education Commission, (Los Angeles, California) to the submission of social science texts by publishers for adoption by the California state Curriculum Commission. The author is chairwoman of the Commission which rejected all the social science texts submitted for examination. (DM)

Implications of the National Science Foundation Report on the status of science, mathematics, and social studies education. (Author)

Contends that, because of rising textbook costs and related factors, many college psychology teachers are interested in paperback textbooks. Reports on a review of 11 psychology textbooks. Includes 4 tables of comparison data and a list of the 11 texts used in the study. (CFR)

Reports on a study trip by 13 U.S. social studies educators and publishers to Japan. Compares development, marketing, and selection of textbooks in the United States and Japan. Concludes that both nations should improve textbooks and textbook selection processes. (CFR)

This report describes activities and recommendations of the Texas Commission on Braille Textbook Production, which monitors the acquisition Commission on Braille Textbook Production. The primary purpose of the commission is to monitor the expeditious acquisition of publisher computerized files in the form of textbook diskettes which are needed for…

The diversity of textbook and scholarly book reviewers makes it difficult for an author to deal with reviews in any systematic or preplanned manner. There are, however, several helpful working assumptions: (1) the reviewer is always right, (2) the author is always right in principle but frequently wrong in practice, (3) the publisher wants what…

This study examines a sample of reports submitted by publishers to the Florida Department of Education for school textbook revisions to be adopted during 1985-86. The study determines (1) state Learner Verification and Revision (LVR) procedures used by publishers, (2) problems reflected in the reports, and (3) recommendations on the conduct and…

Noting that the process of writing textbooks has seldom been studied, this paper offers a process-product model that relies on a systems analysis of the textbook universe (or megasystem) to provide insight into the textbook writing process. The model presented discloses the interaction of a number of boundaried but interdependent "peer systems,"…

Presented are concerns from teacher education via university courses to the role of publishers in education. Publishers can aid curriculum reform by producing good quality books, collaborating with large curriculum development projects, and encouraging changes in attitudes of teachers via the mutual dissemination of argument and ideas. (PEB)

This study answered four research questions: (1) Can textbook content for freshman English be determined from statements of leaders in two-year college English curriculum? (2) Do current textbooks reflect the content suggested by these leaders? (3) Are textbooks specifically designed for two-year college students? (4) How can publishers and…