Philanthropy magazine has a primer for philanthropists and others on efforts to break the textbook monopoly and inject high-quality, content-rich books into the market. The piece mentions Fordham's report on high school history textbooks (click here for the report) and also such worthy undertakings as the Bible Literacy Project and the environmental sciences efforts of the Property and Environment Research Center (PERC). But as always, the challenge is dissemination - actually getting textbooks in the hands of teachers, which means bypassing the adoption process that presently reigns in 26 states. Fordham will have more to say on textbook adoption later this summer; in the meantime, read up on what funders are up to in this critical area.
"Glitzy texts, dull students," by Adam Schaeffer, Philanthropy, May/June 2004, http://www.philanthropyroundtable.org/magazines/2004/mayjune/textbooks.htm