Constitution Society 
7793 Burnet Rd #37 
Austin, TX 78757 
512/374‑9585
http://www.constitution.org 
textbook@constitution.org
Testimony 
of 
Jon Roland 
President of the Constitution Society 
before the 
Texas State Board of Education 
on textbook evaluation 
September 11, 2002
Introduction
In my previous testimony on August 23, 2002, I suggested that someone should put all these textbook reviews and publisher responses online, so that anyone involved in textbook development and selection, especially local boards of education and teachers, could conveniently explore the issues that have been raised. In the spirit of not asking others to do what I am unwilling to do myself, I have put online the material I have received so far, at http://www.constitution.org/reform/us/tx/textbook/textbook.htm, except the Texas Public Policy Foundation reports which are on their site at http://www.tppf.org. I will put up further materials as I receive them.
In my written testimony today I have focused on identifying errors overlooked by others, and on making critical comments about some of the reviewer criticisms and publisher responses that miss the mark or introduce new errors. I have separated them into two documents, one a response to the August 6, 2002, response of Prentice‑Hall on Magruder's American Government at http://www.constitution.org/reform/us/tx/textbook/02829_jr2ph.htm, and the other, responses to various criticisms and responses on various textbooks from the other publishers at http://www.constitution.org/reform/us/tx/textbook/02911_jr_respon.htm.
In the course of comparing proposed textbooks to the TEKS standards, I have also begun to develop suggestions for amendments or additions to those standards that I ask the State Board of Education to consider adopting. This is a work in progress, and is subject to revision, but the current state of my proposals is at http://www.constitution.org/reform/us/tx/textbook/teks_amend.htm. I have also begun developing a supplemental list of learning objectives for American government at http://www.constitution.org/reform/us/tx/textbook/amgov_obj.htm intended to expand education into neglected areas of this subject. I urge the Board and the publishers to incorporate these suggestions into further textbook development.
This report, with supporting documentation, is available online on our site at http://www.constitution.org/reform/us/tx/textbook/02911_sboe.htm