Describes the development of a virtual library of education resources for preservice teachers at a tribal college, the Northwest Indian College, to help increase the number of Native American teachers. Discusses content, including links and pathfinders; graphics and design that are culturally sensitive and appropriate; and communication and…

Analyzes all U. S. sociology departments listed in the American Sociological Association Guide to Graduate Departments of Sociology from 1969 to 1985 with respect to the backgrounds of chairs as well as selected structural characteristics of their departments. Finds that chairs who are male and who hold the rank of full professor continue to be…

Teachers' styles of textbook use were identified, and the overlap between content taught and textbook content in elementary school mathematics was studied for four teachers in four Michigan fourth grades. In each classroom there were important differences between text content and teacher's topic selection, content emphasis, and sequence of…

Using content analysis, presents a study of 14 U.S. history textbooks. Analyzes textbook treatment of the Declaration of Independence, the atomic bomb, and the Holocaust. Examines nontextual materials. Finds errors of omission, boring writing styles, and a basic similarity between the textbooks. (RW)

Provides step-by-step procedures for developing an index which uses the Gunning Fog technique to evaluate the level of reading difficulty of textbooks. Cites examples, illustrations, and several warnings in the discussion. (RT)

An exploratory analysis comparing two test batteries for English-as-a-Foreign-Language reading comprehension used a single framework of communicative language ability and test method facets to investigate construct validity. The framework's use in the content analysis of communicative language tests, and for the comparison of content across tests,…

Reports on a study of picture books by and about Asian Americans that identified Asian groups in the literature; determined the literature's authenticity; determined literary and visual quality; and identified ethnicity of authors and illustrators and whether ethnicity affected authenticity or quality. A list of the books sampled is appended. (28…

Identified the nature of information on early learning and education communicated by three popular Australian women's magazines, and examines the extent to which this information reflected contemporary educational and developmental issues. Found that articles had a sound basis in contemporary theory and research, but were strongly tempered by…

Extends exploration of ideologies of crime in the news by examining reports about the causes of crime and commands of what to do about crime in "Time" magazine. Argues that criminal justice policy and ideology have played an important role in developments within the postwar political economy in the United States. (LKS)

A "Signability Index" is presented for sign language interpretation of children's books. The index is based on such variables as reading rate, sentence length, quantity of text used to express thoughts, word imagery, and complexity and concreteness of passages. Suggested books for classroom reading are listed, categorized by six levels of…

Discusses a study of the content of elementary social studies textbooks. Reports that geographic and economic concepts predominated in textbooks written for first through fourth graders although publishers differed over which concepts were most important. Concludes that the books offer little opportunity to review and expand upon concepts over…

Linguistic content analysis, method of encoding textual data by categorizing key words and identifying relationships, was developed to assess degree to which science was portrayed as process of inquiry within high school biology textbook series. The frequency of science as a process of inquiry increased from 1956 to 1965, then showed a pattern of…

Reviews of Compton's Multimedia Encyclopedia, New Grolier's Electronic Encyclopedia, and World Book's Information Finder are based on the 1990 editions. It is noted that all three publishers have announced plans to release annual revisions to their discs. The description of each of the products includes critiques of the search program, the…

Analysis of educational psychology textbooks identified textbook authors' guidelines for teachers to follow when writing multiple-choice test items. Selected guidelines were used to evaluate multiple-choice items (N=1,080) from 18 college instructor guides to educational psychology texts. Results indicated that approximately 60 percent of the…

Three standardized measures of child and adolescent behavior for ages 12-18 are studied: (1) Achenbach Child Behavior Checklist and Teacher Report Form; (2) Behavior Assessment System for Children; (3) Social Skills Rating System. Challenges to psychologists to include the experiences of girls in the knowledge-base grounding their practice and…