A study investigated the readability levels of different editions of six college textbooks published in the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s ("A History of Civilization,""Government by the People,""Economics,""Introduction to Modern Business,""Introduction to Psychology," and "Pscyhology"). The study also compared the number of pages and chapters appearing…

Although the popular press has reported that college textbooks are becoming easier to read in response to the lowered reading skill level of entering freshmen, a recent study found that newer editions of college texts were more difficult to read than earlier editions of the same texts. A study was undertaken to determine which of the two views was…

A study compared the mean reading abilities of one college's entering freshmen students with the readability levels of several freshman-level mathematics and English textbooks assigned to them. The mean student reading ability was ascertained through an analysis of reading test scores, while text readability levels were determined through the use…

A study involved a comparison of the "Miami Linguistic Readers" and the "Holt Basic Reading Series." It was hypothesized that there is no difference between the "Miami Linguistic Readers" and the "Holt Basic Reading Series" in vocabulary load, word recognition, and comprehension requirements. An analysis of…

A study analyzed two basal reading series to determine if they depicted realistically the role of the career woman as she exists in society. A list of female careers in the 1989 editions of Houghton-Mifflin and McGraw Hill reading basals for grades 1 to 6 was compared to the career categories of the "United States Bureau of Census,…

The purpose of this study was to examine problems of evaluating sex bias in textbooks and to analyze the presence of sex bias in high school American history textbooks. Seven editions of "Rise of the American Nation" (Harcourt, Brace & World) were analyzed to determine if the 1982 edition indicated better sex equity than earlier…

This study evaluated Ontario Ministry of Education documents and textbooks for environmental content. The documents evaluated were the "Ontario Schools: Intermediate and Senior Divisions" OSIS science and geography curriculum guidelines from grades 7-12. Corresponding textbooks in science and geography were also evaluated. Also…

This study examines the treatment given to libraries, librarians, and library usage in freshman English textbooks. The study follows criteria established by Virginia Tiefel ("Libraries and Librarians as Depicted in Freshman English Textbooks," College English 44, September 1982) in a study of texts published between 1952 and 1980. Tiefel found…

Three basal reading series, levels kindergarten through grade three, were studied to categorize the types of literature each contained. The following series were analyzed: "The Headway Program" (Open Court Publishing Company), "Series r Macmillan Reading," and "Basics in Reading" (Scott, Foresman and Company). It was…

Testing the assumption that textbooks were getting harder while students' abilities have been declining over the years, a study was conducted to determine the readability levels of six college reading textbooks across three editions to see if they were equal or the same in readability. The study also sought to determine whether these texts were…

A study examined three different basal reading series (MacMillan, Harcourt-Brace, and Scott Foresman) at four different levels for the types of stories found in the readers, as well as for acts of reading portrayed in the stories. Subjects, 12 second grade students at a New Jersey elementary school, completed a teacher-constructed inventory on the…

A study compared the sex roles depicted in the 1963 Scott Foresman basal series with those of the 1978 series to determine if changes had occurred. A total of 172 stories from 16 readers were analyzed using the Checklist for Evaluating Sexism in Reading. Each story was examined for the number of times males and females were portrayed as main…

Contemporary children must deal with many family problems that children 20 years ago never had to face, including divorce, parental separation, death, working mothers, and economic status. To determine how well current basal reading series reflect the changing American family, the stories of four basal reading series for grades four, five, and six…

Three readability formulas were applied to chapters from six textbooks to determine (1) if there was a significant difference in readability of three consecutive textbook editions of a seventh grade and of an eighth grade text over a 12-year period (1968-1980), and (2) whether eighth grade students would perform equally to the same content from a…

A study examined the ways that basal readers portrayed the family. It was expected that the readers would give only token representation of both parents working or of one-parent or mixed marriage families, and that very few portrayals of reading or of reading materials would be found. Eight basal readers from 6 publishing companies for grades 1…