As part of an effort to improve the quality of precollegiate textbooks, the National Association of State Boards of Education has published a guide to textbook selection for state education policymakers.
The 5o-page guide is the first comprehensive publication of its kind, according to its author, Caroline B. Cody, assistant dean of the college of education at the University of Maryland and a former NASBE staff I member.
It deals with both “macro” topics, such as how books are chosen, and “micro” topics, such as books’ readability, content, and “alignment” with school curricula. she said.
Policymaker” use of the guide “will make a difference, not only in the books selected, but in the books published,” she predicted.
Textbook publishers participated in the development of the guide, and they are hopeful that it will help improve communication between them and education officials, an industry spokesman said.
“It will lead to a greater awareness on the part of all parties that these are complex issues,” aid Donald A. Eklund, vice president of school publishing for the Association of American Publishers.
