Classroom evaluation of textbooks: is it a possible strategy?

Abstract

In this paper the author discusses the in-classroom evaluation process of the textbooks tendered by the Education Ministry during 2010, applied to two sectors of the 3rd and 4th grade classes with the purpose of testing relevant instruments and procedures. The results obtained by two independent evaluation’s centers, in government subsidized schools of the Metropolitan Area, show that the implementation of this evaluation provides quite different information and lower scores than those obtained in the textbooks evaluation process conducted by subject-matter specialists. However, the possibility of using these data for textbook public policies within the decision-making process supposes both a better definition about the kind of textbook the State will provide and a re-setting of the context and purpose of such evaluation.