Can We Measure which Textbooks Work Best in K-12 Education?
Numbers Institute
Data from 2001-2003 in West Virginia
Compare 59 Math textbooks
Compare 40 Social Studies textbooks
Quick summary below
Some textbooks, particularly in Math, show significantly better student results than others. No one publisher is consistently better. At different grades the best book may be from Glencoe, Harcourt, Prentice Hall, Saxon, Scientific American, Scott Foresman, or Silver Burdett.
Quick Summary of Selected Grades:
Highest and lowest scoring books, with difference in score on Stanford Achievement TestMath, Grade 5
Harcourt Math Advantage 6 points better than McGraw Hill Math and My WorldMath, Grade 7
Saxon Math 87 5 points better than McDougal Passport to Mathematics, Prentice Hall Tools for SuccessSocial Studies, Grade 6
Prentice Hall World Explorer Series 4 points better than Harcourt Our World's StorySocial Studies, Grade 9
Prentice Hall American Nation 5 points better than Glencoe American Journey