This paper analyses the process of production and regulation of school textbooks in Poland under communist rule. The stages of textbook approval were as follows: selection of authors; editorial work at the publishing house; discussions in the commissions of the Ministry of Education; decisions of the censorship office. It is argued that the Polish…

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)

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…

In the fall of 1984, the Education Commission of the States (ECS) was awarded a grant from the U.S. Secretary of Education's Discretionary Fund to identify alternative state roles for improving instructional materials in mathematics. To help state leaders define an appropriate and effective role in upgrading these materials, ECS proposed first to…

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)

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)

Presents information on textbook design and marketing practices, and their consequences for textbook content; recommends that selection committees firmly define the role of the textbook in curriculum, and adapt published materials to their school system's unique requirements. (MCG)

Describes the process of textbook development and production. Notes that textbook production has become a multinational business, and that textbooks used in developing nations are frequently produced elsewhere and may reflect foreign values. Emphasizes that major academic systems located in industrialized nations dominate research on education and…

This booklet addresses the question of what is wrong with textbooks and then shows how textbooks can be improved through the selection process. A conceptual scheme is proposed as the basis of the selection process. Specific attributes and features to look for when selecting textbooks, based on this conceptual scheme, are discussed. Five categories…

Reports on a study trip by 13 U.S. social studies educators and publishers to Japan. Compares development, marketing, and selection of textbooks in the United States and Japan. Concludes that both nations should improve textbooks and textbook selection processes. (CFR)

Presents a fictionalized account illustrating the process by which willful states, misguided experts, cunning marketeers, and overworked teachers and administrators produce textbooks that are ill-written, confusing, misleading, and boring. (BJV)

This report, submitted to the 71st Texas Legislature in fulfillment of the mandates contained in House Concurrent Resolution 84, summarizes a study of the feasibility of an 8-year cycle for the adoption of certain textbooks and considers the feasibility of contracting with textbook publishers on a freight prepaid basis. First, 6-year versus 8-year…

Publishers are compelled by public policies and practices to produce textbooks that confuse students with non sequiturs, mislead them with misinformation, and bore them with pointlessly arid writing. Recommendations for textbook policy are proposed. (BJV)

Learner Verification and Revision (LVR) has been part of Florida's instructional materials adoption process since 1974, when state statutes required textbook publishers to provide written proof that their materials were revised based on student feedback before publication. Publishers were also required to collect student data and make revisions…