Can We Measure which Textbooks Work Best in K-12 Education?
Numbers Institute
Data from 2001-2003 in West Virginia
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 Test
Math, Grade 5
Harcourt Math Advantage
6 points better than
McGraw Hill Math and My World
Math, Grade 7
Saxon Math 87
5 points better than
McDougal Passport to Mathematics,
Prentice Hall Tools for Success
Social Studies, Grade 6
Prentice Hall World Explorer Series
4 points better than
Harcourt Our World's Story
Social Studies, Grade 9
Prentice Hall American Nation
5 points better than
Glencoe American Journey