Textbook publishers respond to Texas reviewers
Every year the Texas State Board of Education (SBOE) holds public hearings
on whether to accept or reject for funding approval textbooks submitted to
them for review. Copies are made available for public inspection at the
various regional service centers. Although local school boards make the
final purchasing decisions, they are unlikely to purchase textbooks
rejected by the SBOE. Because Texas is such a large purchaser of
textbooks, and because it is not feasible for publishers to have different
versions of their textbooks for Texas and for other states, the versions
approved by Texas tend to become the versions that will be made available
nationally.
Last year, the subject matter of the textbooks being considered was
natural science. This year is it social science, including history and
government. The hearing dates have been set for July 17, August 23, and
September 11, after which the SBOE will decide which books to approve for
funding, and which to reject.
By state law, the SBOE may consider only factual errors in rejecting a
book, not bias or omission, but in practice, public reviewers have been
treating some bias and omission as error. However, reviewers are asked to
tie their criticisms to errors in specific passages.
After the written and oral testimony, to which I have contributed, is
made, the publishers submit written responses. Because until now these
responses have not been made available online, I have decided to render
them into HTML pages and put them online, so that the process of public
review and comment may be opened to a wider audience. Due to the shortness
of time, there may be some rendering errors in the publisher responses,
for which I apologize in advance.
It is interesting to see how the publishers are responding to the
criticisms, which corrections they are willing to make, and which they are
resisting. This dialog reveals a great deal about the process of public
education in the United States, and what reformers confront.
Suffice it to say, the reviewers are making a difference, and the next
generation of public school students will be better educated as a result.
The main page for Texas Textbook Review is at
http://www.constitution.org/reform/us/tx/textbook/textbook.htm
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Constitution Society, 7793 Burnet Road #37, Austin, TX 78757
512/374-9585 Date: 08/29/02 Time: 13:11:06
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