TEXAS BOARD OF EDUCATION CONSIDERS BAN
ON THOUSANDS OF FACTUAL ERRORS
IN TEXTBOOKS IN HANDS OF SCHOOLCHILDREN
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A major breakthrough to provide schoolchildren with factually accurate textbooks will be voted on by the Texas Board of Education at its July 21-23 meeting in Austin. Thousands of factual errors infect textbooks of all subjects across the country, but no mechanism yet exists to correct the books in the hands of schoolchildren. Millions of children are being mis-educated daily. Textbooks are supposed to be 100% authoritative, but textbook publishers do not yet provide a warranty on accuracy. Textbook falsehoods include the “facts” that the Rio Grande is the southern border of California, the Rosetta Stone was discovered in 1899 (actually 1799), and the first species to go extinct in recorded history was the dodo bird. Professor John Hubisz of North Carolina State University led a review of a Prentice Hall 12-book science series. It found maps with the Equator passing through the southern United States and singer Linda Ronstadt labeled as a silicon crystal. His team identified 500 pages of errors. Mr. Olson is proposing a simple and inexpensive system to correct factual errors. Anyone could submit a suspected error. The Board of Education would conduct an investigation, including volunteer public input on its website for transparency. Students, parents, teachers, principals, academic experts, and the general public would be solicited for input. For identified errors, the publisher would be required at its own expense to provide paste-over corrections for insertion in all the affected textbooks in the state. “The ultimate purpose of education is what ends up between the ears of the students,” Olson commented. “By allowing thousands of factual errors in textbooks, the Board is promoting an unsupportable race to the bottom.” Persons interested in submitting comments for the rule-adoption can e-mail them to sboesupport@tea.state.tx.us with a subject line “Textbook Factual Errors”. ___________________________________________________________________________ TEXT OF PETITION FOR RULE MAKING
May 10, 2010
Mr. Robert Scott
Re: Petition for Rule Making Dear Commissioner Scott: This is a petition for a rule making to identify and correct factual errors in adopted textbooks and other instructional materials, and before adoption. Code Sec. 31.151 (a)(4) DUTIES OF PUBLISHERS AND MANUFACTURERS specifies, “A publisher or manufacturer of textbooks: … shall guarantee that each copy of a textbook sold in this state … and is free from factual error (emphasis added). The proposed rule would require the following: 1. The Texas Education Agency shall establish an office to administer this Code section on factual accuracy, i.e. “free from factual error”. 2. For each textbook or instructional material which is acquired for use within the state, a notice shall be included in each copy which (a) states the name, address, phone number, and website address of the office of the Texas Education Agency, and (b) invites the submission of complaints about any content of the textbook instructional material which is suspected of being not accurate. 3. The Texas Education Agency shall include on its website (a) the rules and guidelines for submission and processing of complaints about accuracy, (b) a mechanism to submit a complaint via the website, (c) instructions on submitting a complaint by mail, (d) all complaints submitted, (e) all responses by publishers, (f) all comments made with regard to a particular complaint from anyone, (g) all determinations by the Texas Education Agency that each item in each complaint is “accurate” or “not accurate”, (h) the deadline for implementation of correction by the publisher, and (i) the confirmation of implementation of correction by the publisher. 4. Any person may submit a complaint about any content of any textbook or other instructional material suspected of being not accurate. Contents of the textbooks or other instructional material include, but are not limited to, text, charts, maps, graphics, illustrations, introductory statements, lists of reviewers, tables of contents, captions, indexes, glossaries, and references. 5. The Texas Education Agency shall (a) receive and post on its website all complaints of content suspected of being not accurate, (b) establish a mechanism on its website for any requester to be notified of complaints by e-mail, (c) notify the publisher of the complaint within 5 calendar days after receipt of a complaint, (d) invite the public to comment on the complaint and provide a website and mail method for providing comments, (e) require that the publisher provide a response within 60 days of being noticed about the complaint, (f) consult with any appropriate subject specialist it deems necessary for each complaint, (g) within 5 days following the deadline for the publisher to provide its response, make a determination of “accurate” or “not accurate” for each complaint, (h) notify the affected publisher of each determination of “accurate” or “not accurate” and require that correction be made for “not accurate” determinations, (i) monitor the corrections for each complaint for which a determination of “not accurate” has been made, (j) notify all school districts in the state about all determinations of “not accurate”, and (k) request that each school district report on corrections made by each publisher in the textbooks and other instructional materials owned by each school district. 6. A publisher for which a determination of “not accurate” has been made about any content of any textbook or other instructional material shall, at its own expense, provide for all copies of the textbooks or other instructional materials used in the state’s school districts the appropriate corrections in the form of pasteover sheets, errata sheets, or other methods (such as replacement of the entire textbook or other instructional material) for insertion in the existing textbooks or instructional materials. Such provision of corrections shall be made expeditiously, and no later than within one calendar year following the determination of “not accurate”. A publisher, at its own election, may aggregate for each particular textbook or other instructional material all corrections for which determinations are made by the Texas Education Agency from July 1 of a year through June 30 of the next year such that all corrections can be made at the same time. 7. The Texas Education Agency shall advise all school districts about impending corrections. The school districts shall be responsible for receiving the required corrections and inserting them in the relevant textbooks or other instructional material. 8. A publisher shall be subject to penalties in TAC section 66.10. 9. To expand this policy of textbooks and other instructional materials being “free of factual errors” prior to adoptions , any person may submit a complaint to the Texas Education Agency regarding any content of any textbook or other instructional material which is proposed to be adopted or recommended by the state board which is suspected of being not accurate. Contents of the instructional material include, but are not limited to, text, charts, maps, graphics, illustrations, introductory statements, lists of reviewers, tables of contents, captions, indexes, glossaries, and references. 10. The office of the Texas Education Agency which administers the process of adoption of textbooks and other instructional materials shall (a) receive and post on its website all complaints of content suspected of being not accurate in instructional materials being proposed for adoption or recommendation by the state board, (b) establish a mechanism on its website for any requester to be notified of complaints by e-mail, (c) notify the publisher of the complaint within 5 calendar days after receipt of the complaint, (d) invite the public to comment on the complaint and provide a website and mail method for providing comments, (e) require that the publisher provide a response within 30 days of being noticed about the complaint, (f) consult with any appropriate subject specialist it deems necessary for each complaint, (g) within 5 days following the deadline for the publisher to provide its response, make a determination of “accurate” or “not accurate” for each complaint, (h) notify the affected publisher of each determination of “accurate” or “not accurate”. 11. All complaints, correspondence, notices, reports, determinations, comments, and other documents pursuant to this rule shall be considered public documents. The need for the rule seems obvious. Textbooks and other instructional materials must be 100% authoritative. Otherwise millions of students are being deliberately mis-educated daily by the state. Vast thousands of factual errors currently occur in textbooks and other instructional materials, as can be seen in the enclosures. The publishing industry does not currently warrant its product. Most other industries warrant their products as a matter of law or practice. The tolerance of publishers for numerous inaccuracies indicates an unacceptable attitude and calls into question the academic integrity of the rest of the contents. The proposed system is truly inexpensive and cost effective. The public will be a partner which provides valuable input without cost. It will make a reality the goal of the pursuit of truth in our public schools. See more on website www.textbooktrust.org. Please let me know your next step in consideration of this proposed rule. I would like to participate. I am making this petition as a parent, a concerned member of the public, and a college teacher for over 20 years. Sincerely,
Carl Olson Enclosures: The New York Times “Science Texts Contain Errors, Study Finds”, January 16, 2001 The New York Times “Bowing to Sikhs’ Call, California Wants Textbook Change”, March 10, 2007
Examples of errors in Holt Science & Technology – California Earth Science Gale Lowe, Lawrence Allen, Terri Leo, Barbara Cargill, Ken Mercer, Geraldine Miller, David Bradley, Rick Agosto, Cynthia Noland Dunbar, Rene Nunez, Bob Craig, Mavis Knight, Mary Helen Berlanga, Patricia Hardy, and Don McLeroy
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