The powerful influence the state of Texas exerts in textbook adoptions throughout the country is analyzed. In revising a text or writing a new book, it is easier for publishers to omit issues that may be controversial than lose out on an adoption and big money. (RM)

Reports, from personal textbook publishing experience, that composition teachers do not want the results of research in their textbooks; they want what's familiar to them. (JL)

Offers arguments for the use of published textbook material as a basis on which to mold the unpredictable interactions necessary to classroom language learning. Suggests that textbooks are useful for orientation and independent study and describes the gradual process of replacement by which new textbook materials evolve. (Author/MES)

Asserts that the move to create more challenging textbooks abandons the lower-ability students, resulting in high dropout rates. Cautions that all students will not naturally gravitate toward higher academic levels simply because standards and expectations are upgraded. (MM)

How relevant are some textbooks when professors, even in the same department, teach similar courses in different ways? Are there methods by which textbook companies can receive realistic, substantive feedback concerning the quality of communication textbook offerings? This paper details the methods by which its author/educator became a textbook…

The textbooks of a nation are generally a reflection of the values, goals, and essential priorities of that particular society. Therefore, teachers, parents, administrators, school boards, and publishers must ensure that the best thinking of various groups and of textbook critics is incorporated in the development of more effective textbooks.…

Discusses (1) the publishing company practice of altering literary works to conform to the extraliterary beliefs of various groups, (2) the groups prominent in such censorship activities and their actions, (3) the influence of this censorship on literature textbook selection, and (4) some works altered by censorship activities. (EL)

Replicates an earlier study in which students read versions of passages rewritten by composition instructors, text linguists, or Time-Life writers. Finds that the composition instructor's revisions were the most effective. Points out methodological lessons learned. Comments on some conclusions on improving textbook design and the measures used in…

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)

Reports the results of an informal survey of instructors and students of astronomy and authors and editors of astronomy books. Finds that not a single instructor respondent reported being satisfied with the books themselves and not one author or editor reported being satisfied with the market. (DDR)

Discusses roles of scholars, interpreters of scholarship (instructional materials developers), and teachers in bringing appropriate instructional materials to students. The responsibility of textbook publishers to meet teachers' needs for appropriate materials with materials developed by scholars and interpreters is described, and the relationship…

During the late sixties and early seventies a new nontextbook, lab-centered approach was used in science instruction in elementary grades. With the arrival of the eighties, science curriculum has come full circle, and new science textbooks with corresponding curriculum guides are being adopted. (JN)

Reviews the results of a study of the quality of basal reading textbooks and a survey of primary and secondary school teachers' perceptions of their quality. Considers the ways in which the textbook adoption process affects content and urges teachers to become more involved in this process. (DMM)

Many feel that textbooks dominate what students learn. They set the curriculum and often the facts learned in most subjects. For many students, textbooks are their first and sometimes only early exposure to books and to reading. The public regards textbooks as authoritative, accurate and necessary and many teachers rely on them to organize lessons…

Described in these four contributions to a discussion group are options open to publishers and purchasers to improve textbooks and textbook selection. The first contribution (by Robert L. Brunelle) briefly introduces the discussion and stresses the urgency of creating higher standards for textbooks as part of overall educational reforms. The…