Improving the Feasibility of Textbook Content Analyses Without Sacrificing Data Quality

• In Event: 52.085 - Poster Session 10
  In Poster Session: 52.085-5 - Division L Section 3 Poster Session

Abstract

As districts and schools move to implement Common Core Standards, there is a great need for evidence on the quality of textbooks. While there are a number of existing textbook analysis techniques and recommended protocols, these generally have no research evidence to support their use. Our study adapts an existing technique, the Surveys of Enacted Curriculum, to the analysis of entire textbooks. The purpose of the study is to investigate the reliability of content analyses and the effects of several approaches to reducing the burden of content analyses on the quality of the results obtained. Our work suggests that analyzing every fifth item results in substantively identical results to analyzing entire books, greatly reducing burden.

Authors

• Morgan S. Polikoff, University of Southern California

• Nan Zhou, University of Southern California

• Shauna Campbell, University of Southern California