Criteria to serve as a basis for intelligent review and selection of books and materials for use in schools include: the nature of the learner; program gestalt; "teachability" of the material; determination of in-school use; content appropriateness; disposition of teacher, student, and parent; availability; physical format; cost; and…

Advice on selecting a reference book for the writing class and particular writing students. A classification of recommended, good, fair, and not recommended handbooks. (RL)

Offers suggestions, in the form of a rating questionnaire, that members of textbook selection committees can use to assure that textbooks are analyzed systematically and compared fairly. (RL)

A team of faculty members and graduate students identified major concepts and developed validated test questions for two widely used textbooks in personal hygiene classes in order to standardize norms for classes and supplement inadequate instructor's manuals. (JMF)

Presents an analysis of a recently published science textbook for grades 1 to 6. An evaluation of the process and content of the student text and teachers guide are given. (SA)

Offers lists of goals and criteria and refers to various approaches to the teaching of area/culture studies. Concludes that such studies have only an ancillary function in FL teaching, where the primary goal is achieving ability to communicate. (Text is in German.) (IFS/WGA)

Native American literature should be taught in high school and college American literature courses. (DD)

This article describes and compares two principal modes of evaluating social studies curricula: the Curriculum Materials Analysis System (CMAS) developed by the Social Science Education Consortium and a system developed by Elizabeth Vallance. (Author/RM)

Discusses whether public college and university faculty have the right to choose the textbooks for their courses or whether the choice can be dictated by administrative decree. Concludes that tenured professors should have an absolute right to choose the texts for their courses, as long as the text assists in fulfilling the stated institutional…

Notes that teachers who teach short fiction must consider several things when choosing which works to teach. Describes criteria the authors use when selecting works for their literature classes (World Literature Survey, American Literature, and Principles of Literary Study). Concludes by affirming the importance of choosing short fiction. (SG)

Charts the battles over public school textbooks and the current targets of textbook protests, particularly secular humanism, new age thinking, and globalism. (SK)

Compares a content analysis of 60 college introductory psychology textbooks published or revised between 1969 and 1975 with another analysis of 52 texts published or revised between 1980 and 1989. Finds recent texts more voluminous and more comprehensive, yet more readable than their predecessors. (CFR)

Parent involvement can have unforeseen consequences. Article recounts complicated process of choosing a high school biology textbook in Colorado Springs district populated mainly by evangelical Christians. Although controversy arose over creationism's treatment in one text, book discussing evolution as unifying concept of biology was eventually…

Summarizes a study involving three high school English teachers' efforts to integrate multicultural literature into the curriculum. The analysis, highlighting teachers' concerns and decisional influences, argues that teachers must not only select multicultural texts, but they must change their notions of what counts as a text and how they…

Proposing that faculty configure service learning as a course text, uses interdisciplinary theory to help faculty formulate detailed responses to: "What type of service text should I assign?" and "How will I meaningfully incorporate the service text with other texts used in the class?" In so doing, it focuses on the "learning" side of the service…