Outlines the usefulness of a book club for elementary school teachers and reading supervisors on the topic of the teaching of reading. Discusses choosing topics for discussion, organizing the club, and forming a community of learners. Stresses the importance of reading across the curriculum. Argues that such a reading club can also assist teachers…

A series of nine booklets was developed to help members of textbook adoption committees, teacher educators, inservice leaders, and policymakers gather information, develop evaluation guidelines, and organize their findings as they select new reading programs and evaluate existing ones. Each booklet focuses on a specific aspect of instruction.…

Methodological problems have plagued evaluation researchers in their attempt to provide data for making decisions about selection of curricula and instructional materials. This report describes how two methodological problems were handled to assist a city school district derive meaningful data and apply findings to the selection of a basal reading…

Finds that state-level textbook adoption committee members reported four major unresolved reading issues: (1) assessment of students' reading progress; (2) whole language versus basal approaches; (3) ability grouping; and (4) use of tradebooks in place of basals. Suggests that the members may lack sufficient specific knowledge of the issues to…

The process of evaluating and selecting basal readers has long been a primary concern for educators. Educators directly involved with textbook adoptions have expressed several concerns, including: time pressures on evaluators; lack of training for evaluators; concerns related to publishers; and correlations with state or district curriculum.…

Designed to alert adult basic education teachers to the factors of readability and to suggest ways that some readability problems can be alleviated, this resource unit discusses the problems posed by readability formulas and suggests that teachers must both press for more readable adult texts and question intelligently the products of publishers…

Shows that a wide variety of textbook characteristics play a role in influencing teachers' selection process, and that some of these interact with teacher characteristics. (FL)

When elementary school teachers serve on a committee to select a new basal reader program, they must represent their school's unique needs. To develop their awareness, the selection committee should address such questions as: What kind of program improvements are teachers hoping to get? What kind of articulation will be needed between this program…

Intended for use by Title I teachers, this handbook is designed to aid in the selection and use of commercially prepared reading games and game-like teaching materials that teach or reinforce (1) basic sight vocabulary, (2) spelling, (3) word meaning, (4) comprehension, (5) reading readiness, (6) perception, (7) study, (8) listening, (9) fluency,…

Two readability formulas were applied to two math and two reading series textbooks at the fourth, fifth, and sixth grade levels to see whether the publishers' suggested reading levels were accurate. Five samples were taken from each text and compared to the publishers' suggested usage according to grade level. Results showed that although formulas…

A guide for teachers selecting reading textbooks, this report brings together information about basal programs on the market and clarification of important issues in reading instruction. A general analysis of 20 basal programs includes a prose explication and a table comparing contents (skills), reading selections, methodology, assessment tests,…

Efforts of a junior-college staff to provide materials which students in college transfer, terminal, or noncredit programs can read are described. Since the community college has an open enrollment plan, the needs in this regard are widely varied. In order to meet those needs, a study was made of the 358 students in the college's initial…

The results of an APEID (Asia and the Pacific Programme of Educational Innovation for Development) workshop on producing textbooks and other teaching and learning materials, especially in reading, for the first level of education are provided in this book. An initial overview presents the objectives and the organization of the workshop. The second…

Intended for use by Title I reading teachers, this handbook is designed to aid in answering questions about the selection and use of instructional materials. The handbook lists materials according to the following skill areas: (1) auditory discrimination, (2) comprehension, (3) critical thinking, (4) dictionary skills; (5) fine motor skills, (6)…