On Textbook Selection Procedures

1989 NCTE Annual Business Meeting in Baltimore, Maryland

Background NCTE members who proposed this resolution observed that the textbooks selected for use in the nation's classrooms can exert a powerful influence on curriculum. They stressed that the teachers who use these texts are uniquely qualified to judge their strengths and weaknesses as instructional materials. Be it therefore Resolution Resolved, that the National Council of Teachers of English reaffirm that all book-selection decisions be based upon soundly developed criteria; and           that NCTE urge those persons responsible for book selection to provide ample opportunity for all teachers to examine materials under consideration and give weight to their evaluations in making textbook selections.