How Textbooks Are Chosen--and Who Makes the Decisions

Textbooks are influential in helping to determine what many teachers teach and, in turn, what your children learn. Some courses are practically planned around the contents of their textbooks.

Because textbooks play such a big part in your child’s education, you should know how and why certain titles are chosen and others are discarded, and who makes these decisions.

For grades one through eight, most of the selection occurs at the state level by the State Board of Education, assisted by committees of volunteers who specialize in each discipline. Frequently, the board will select several texts for the same subject and grade level, and individual school districts choose from this list.

The state board’s selection process can take as long as a year. First, the board adopts a framework for each discipline, which states the goals, minimum standards and content that must be covered in each course.

Then a committee of volunteers is appointed to review and select the textbooks.

The size of the committees varies, but at least 55% of the members must be classroom teachers. The others usually have professional backgrounds related to the subject area.

The book selection process covers only one subject area each year. Last year, it was history and social sciences. This year it is foreign language texts. Next year, new science books will be found.

The lists of eligible books are good for eight years. This sometimes creates problems because some disciplines--the sciences, for example--can experience a lot of change in eight years, and a seven-year-old textbook can be out-of-date.

State officials have realized this. Beginning in 1993, the lists of eligible textbooks will be open for changes every two years.

Local schools can petition for permission to use textbooks that do not appear on the official lists.

Bearing in mind the budget constraints faced by the state and school districts, it is no surprise that cost is a major criterion used by the selection committees.

There are other factors, though. Most important is a textbook’s coverage of material. The book is read and discussed thoroughly to ensure that it is accurate, up-to-date, comprehensive and unbiased.

Format is also important because an appealing format can substantially affect students’ willingness to read a textbook.

Preferred textbooks usually have wide margins, large type size, frequent color illustrations or photographs, and charts, examples and anecdotal information set off in boxes.

The committees also look for age-appropriate vocabulary and writing that is interesting enough to keep the students reading.

Once a list of suitable textbooks is compiled, the books are made available at 30 sites around the state so teachers and staff can examine them and choose those that are best for their classrooms.

In choosing textbooks for grades nine through 12, school districts have much more autonomy. Each district can set its own procedure for doing so, as long as the books selected are in accordance with the state’s subject-area frameworks.

In general, though, high school book committees use similar criteria. Cost is a higher priority for some districts than for others, but accuracy, objectivity and up-to-date information are important to all.

Because multicultural issues are a big concern, books that include information about other cultures or sections written by members of other cultures have become especially desirable.

For example, pretty much taboo are literature books that contain only works by the traditional “dead white men” and U.S. history books that mention African-Americans only as slaves.

Appeal to a variety of ability levels is also important because all students--from honors to special education--must cover the state-mandated material and often use the same books.

High school teachers are also interested in the ancillary materials--we call them “goody boxes”--that accompany most textbooks.

These packages contain such things as teachers’ manuals, discussion or writing guides, ready-to-use assignments and exams, wall charts or posters, projector transparencies, cassette tapes, and even computer software. For some teachers, the goody box can make or break the textbook. Others hardly use them at all.

Finally, size and weight are also considered. After all, it does no good to issue mammoth textbooks that students won’t carry.