Access and Equity: An Analysis of Textbook Adoption in California

• In Event: Roundtable Session 41
  In Roundtable Session: Using Mixed Methods Research to Examine Educational Reform and Practices

Abstract

We know very little about widespread trends in textbook adoption, or their relationship with school demographics and student outcomes. We use publicly available information to construct a database of all California textbooks, which we link to district socioeconomic information and student performance. We supplement this data with structured interviews with a sample of district officials to gain a qualitative understanding of textbook adoption decisions. We use the data to identify patterns in textbooks used across different types of districts; the key features of the adoption process and how they are affected by the availability of standards-aligned texts; and the extent to which textbook access is equitable across districts in California.

Authors

• Shauna Campbell, University of Southern California

• Hovanes Gasparian, University of Southern California