So, someone named Courtland spearheaded a study of Indiana's textbook adoption process. Here are the top four factors the study found that textbook selectors used in making their decisions:
1. "Personal teaching style" of the selector
2. District curriculum objectives
3. A "flip test" for "eye appeal"
4. Publishers presentations
(Note that these were found to be nearly identical to the factors identified in the Texas textbook selection process, which is of course significant because of Texas' behemoth status as a textbook purchaser)
Missing from this list? Here's the top five that I can think of:
5. Current research supporting instructional style
4. Readability
3. Engaging to students
2. Emphasis on cultivating critical thinking skills
1. Accuracy of content
There are clearly lots of factors to account for in selecting textbooks, but choosing texts based on what looks pretty or appeals to personal teaching styles should not be among them.
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