Intended for educational practitioners interested in basic skills instruction, the papers in the first section of this volume detail the progress that has been made in classroom research during the past decade and discusses three characteristics of effective teaching--teacher expectations, active teaching, and classroom management. The second…

The recommendations in this document resulted from discussions by the Georgia Right to Read Advisory Council and outline the need for an effective, diagnostic-prescriptive teaching program in Georgia schools. Separate recommendations are made for each of the following areas: management design--initial steps that must be taken, in order to overcome…

Presents several ways--gathered from a variety of sources--to help prevent differences of opinion about textbooks from becoming full-blown controversies. (Author)

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…

A study involving students in two English classes and two algebra classes at the College of Alameda was conducted to assess the correlation between a student's grade achievement and his/her ability to read at the level at which the course text was written. The Fry Readability Scale was used to determine the reading level of the course texts and…

This paper gives a brief history of the Reverend Jerry Falwell's Moral Majority campaign against humanism in public school education. The document describes the successful textbook evaluation strategies of Mel and Norma Gabler of Texas, on which Dr. Falwell relies heavily, and lists 20 organizations protesting textbooks, library books, and…

The political implications of decisions on curriculum content are discussed. A review of the literature on school policies is analyzed with particular consideration of who determines what will be studied in the classroom and what bias may be reflected in textbook selection. It is argued that while it is generally assumed that boards of education…

In response to a need voiced by a number of English teachers for new materials that discuss the censorship problems of the 1970s, this book presents articles that analyze the current climate regarding censorship, define the issues and pressures that surround the subject, and suggest ways to handle censorship when the problem arises within the…

A description and the rationale for selection of new instructional materials adopted by the California State Department of Education are provided in this curriculum publication. Intended for use in grades 1-8 for a four-year period beginning with the 1968-69 school year, these materials include dictionaries, basic language textbooks, supplementary…

This publication comprises a collection of papers dealing with the teaching of English as a subject and as a medium of instruction in the elementary grades in Nigeria. Titles and authors are--(1) "The Background to English in the Primary School" by B.W. Tiffen; (2) "The Six Year Primary Course" by S. Gwarzo; (3)…

The "Garcia-Armstrong Matrix System" provides specific instructions for evaluating the way textbooks depict ethnic/minority groups. The matrix is formed by evaluating individual sentences for their references to the activity or passivity of the target group and to the status of the target group in relation to other groups named in the same…

The purpose of this study was to compare characteristics desired by college English teachers in a composition handbook with the characteristics actually found in those recently published in order to help teachers in the selection of this resource. Data were collected through a questionnaire sent to 200 members (170 responded) of the Conference on…

This publication, produced quarterly, is intended to focus on subjects of interest to public school science teachers. In this issue, contributed articles deal with textbook adoption practices, the declining interest in science fairs, and accountability in biology education. In addition, science activities for elementary through high school use are…

The purpose of this unit of work is to provide the teacher participant with some useful guidelines for evaluating and adapting written materials for specific English as a second language (ESL) classes. There is pre- and post-assessment of specific learning tasks relevant to evaluating and adapting materials as well as learning activities, which…

The purpose of this book is to chart procedures for the selection and purchase of instructional materials and related services for the public schools. Recent developments cited as having a significant bearing on the selection process are (1) the struggle of minority groups toward new status; (2) the increased political power of parents, students,…