High-quality K-12 instructional materials can meaningfully improve teaching practice and student achievement, especially when paired with professional learning support. Yet state policymakers have usually left ultimate authority for textbook selection to school district leaders. Consequently, the quality of materials across U.S. classrooms and…

Choosing books for the music classroom can seem like a daunting task. Which ones are useful--and not so useful? What works for one teacher or situation may not work for all, but guidelines and recommendations can prove helpful, particularly to the beginning music educator or one undertaking a new subject. This article discusses the views of music…

School librarians are experts at so many things: navigating the seas of digital information to find an elusive article, creating interactive forums in which kids learn to collaborate and create, and, of course, critically selecting materials. Some have been reading and reviewing books for so long they can smell a stinker from a mile away or…

New laws in California have set the state on a course for some potentially significant changes to the curriculum, including a measure that revisits the matter of teaching Algebra 1 in 8th grade and another that revamps the state's textbook-adoption process and hands districts greater leeway in choosing instructional materials. The algebra-related…

In 2008, the Bartholomew Consolidated School Corporation began the social studies textbook adoption process. Concurrently, the Indiana State Board of Education wrote a memo encouraging schools to look at digital resources; BCSC did not hesitate. This article describes why BCSC chose to move to a digital format at the secondary level, the process…

Suzanne M. Kauer believes we must honor all voices in the discussion of what books students should read; she refuses to simplify the issue of censorship by dismissing the multifaceted concerns parents have for saying no to certain books. Kauer advocates doing more listening--asking parents questions to better understand their perspectives--and…

Mathematics curriculum has long been a topic of keen interest in mathematics education and remains a central issue in efforts to improve mathematics learning opportunities for students. This Yearbook continues in a long line of National Council of Teachers of Mathematics Yearbooks that have addressed various facets of the changing mathematics…

Textbook Adoption: The process, in place in twenty-one states, of reviewing textbooks according to state guidelines and then mandating specific books that schools must use, or lists of approved textbooks that schools must choose from. It consistently produces second-rate textbooks that replicate the same flaws and failings over and over again.…

The author combines principles of cooperative learning where older students at risk of dropping out are recruited to teach violence prevention to younger learners. The secondary students learn problem solving and conflict resolution skills while providing a positive model through cross age peer tutoring.

This is Volume 1 of the Report of the Commissioner of Education for the Year 1897-98, containing Part I. The volume begins with the Commissioner's Introduction and Statistics of State Common School Systems. Part I covers the topics: (1) History of the German School System; (2) Summer Schools in England, Scotland, France, and Switzerland; (3)…