Middle Grades Mathematics Textbooks: A Benchmarks-Based Evaluation
Applying the Results
The information presented in Middle Grades Mathematics Textbooks: A Benchmarks-Based
Evaluation is intended to assist teachers, adoption committees, and others
in making initial decisions about textbooks and narrowing the field to a more
manageable number of candidates for closer review. For those already using
one of the textbook series, the summary reports in Part 2 can also help point
to overall strengths or weaknesses that might have implications for supplementing
the material for some or all students, or for staff development needed to
help teachers use the textbooks effectively.
In addition to the information in the printed report, eight data sets are provided
on CD-ROM for each of the 13 textbook series: (1) Background Information,
(2) Content Analysis, (3) Instructional Analysis, (4) Instructional Ratings,
(5) Graphs, (6) Rater Consistency, (7) Typical Sightings, and (8) Sightings
by Benchmark. Once educators have narrowed their choices to three or four
textbook series, the data sets on the CD-ROM can provide valuable information
that will help narrow the field even more.
Using the CD-ROM Data Sets
Example Scenarios for Applying the Results