State Textbook Adoption Practices

In 1988, the California State Department of Education, without any testing, mandated adopting a reading program and placed texts that supported the reading program on the approved textbook list. By placing the texts on the approved list without testing them, the state intentionally violated 1976 legislation that required the department to test materials prior to approval. The action drew a lawsuit which the state lost at trial, on appeal and at a subsequent a State Supreme Court hearing. Instead of bowing to the court and law, the department found a senator who carried Senate Bill 1859 in May, 1992. The bill repealed the 1976 requirement to test materials.

Ever since 1988, California children have been used as guinea pigs to test unverified educational methods. It's not unlike prescribing untested medicine.

For further reading on this issue, you might want to read Lack of Professional Support and Control Undermines Education: A Contrasting Perspective from Health and Engineering in the Winter, 1995 issue of Effective School Practices. The journal is available at