State to Hold Textbook Firms to New Standards

The California Board of Education on Thursday approved math and reading textbooks for students in kindergarten through eighth grade, paving the way for school districts to begin spending $1 billion on materials aligned with rigorous new standards.

However, a state Department of Education official cautioned publishers that the approvals carried a condition: Textbooks and other materials must not contain ethnic and other stereotypes, or brand names that smack of advertising.

The latter part of that requirement could put many publishers in a bind, forcing them to make costly editing changes or miss out on the chance to sell their wares.

The demand continues a years-long campaign to purge brand-name references from instructional materials. Publishers say references to products such as Nike athletic shoes, Skittles candies and Taco Bell fast-food outlets make math and other subjects more interesting to children.

But Catherine Barkett, who oversees curriculum for the Department of Education, said the state is “erring on the side of citing everything that is a commercial enterprise that could be trying to sell to kids.” As a result, publishers are being ordered to remove references to specific baseball teams and even magazine titles.

In one of the approved math books, “Mathematics: Applications and Connections,” a widely used volume published by McGraw-Hill Inc., reviewers for the state cited dozens of references to fast-food outlets, theme parks, auto companies, candies and soft drinks.

Publishers may appeal the citations, but to prevail they must demonstrate “an educational purpose” for such references. State education officials plan to meet with publishers Wednesday to discuss the matter.

Of 87 entries in the math category, 23 were approved and 61 were rejected, including five submissions targeting remedial learners. Action on three other offerings was postponed until July. Of those approved, 17 will require changes to correct errors or clarify language.

In language arts, 138 items were rejected and 73 were approved, many on the condition that changes be made.

Board member Janet Nicholas was sharply critical of most entries in mathematics, especially the algebra texts, and said she recommended them only reluctantly. She exhorted publishers to do better.

“I’m begging all the publishers in the audience to go back to their headquarters and say, ‘We need to get serious about the children in this country,’ ” she said. “There is no reason our publishers can’t offer our children materials of quality like those offered the children of Singapore . . . Japan . . . and some European countries.”

The board’s vote came a day after a public hearing featuring nearly 70 speakers and lasting almost three hours. Comments from those testifying at the standing-room-only hearing ran the gamut from polite pleas for an endorsement of a given set of books to condemnations of a review process some said was hasty and flawed.

The selection process involved a stringent review of content to ensure that materials would dovetail with the state’s new standards. In a rush to have teachers begin usinging the standards, the state accelerated the selection process, allowing publishers for the first time in decades to submit partial programs that addressed narrow needs--for a single grade, for example, or an area such as phonics or spelling.

Many publishers complained that they did not have enough time to scrutinize the standards and revise materials to match them.

Most of those testifying Wednesday represented publishers. But teachers, school administrators and a few parents spoke as well, usually to buttress the arguments of a publisher or, in a few cases, attack a series of books that had been recommended for approval.

John Kramar, superintendent of the Hacienda La Puente Unified School District in Industry, testified in support of Everyday Mathematics, a set of books for grades kindergarten through sixth.

The books had been rejected by an initial panel and given no recommendation by a second content review panel. A third group of reviewers, the state Curriculum Commission, endorsed the books. (The board voted to postpone action on the program, which is used in more than a dozen California districts, until July.)

With few exceptions, the board followed the Curriculum Commission’s recommendations. Some mathematicians on the content review panel had expected the board to reject a few entries that had failed to win their approval but were nonetheless endorsed by the commission.

Kramar said the math materials had made a huge difference in his district, which serves 22,000 students, 68% of them Latino and many from low-income families.

“When I go into classrooms, I see kids who are excited about math and I find teachers who are enthusiastic about teaching math,” Kramar said.

Warren reported from Sacramento and Groves from Los Angeles.