Engines Podcast
Engines of Our Ingenuity 1636: Of Books and Learning
Posted on · Episode: 1636 Of books and learning in nineteenth-century America. Today, thoughts on books and learning.
Tag: textbooks
Engines Podcast
Engines of Our Ingenuity 1623: Joel Dorman and Esther Steele
Posted on · Episode: 1623 The textbooks of J. Dorman and Esther Steele. Today, we meet two very special teachers.
Education News
Bill Could Turn Back Page, Return Power To Texas Board Of Ed
Posted on · The often-combative Texas Board of Education would expand its ability to reject textbooks it doesn't like, rolling back limits that have been in place for more than two decades, under a proposal on the verge of clearing the state Legislature.
Houston Matters
It’s Final: Texas Rejects Mexican-American Studies Textbook
Posted on · On Friday (Nov. 18, 2016), the Texas State Board of Education unanimously rejected a controversial Mexican-American studies textbook that would have been used in public schools. The book, titled Mexican American Heritage, received a lot of criticism from academics and activists who argued the book was rife with many inaccuracies and stereotypes. We learn more about […]
Houston Matters
Educators and Activists Discuss Banned Books Week
Posted on · This week (Sept. 25 — Oct. 1, 2016) is Banned Books Week, celebrating intellectual freedom and the freedom to read in the United States. In her web series Writing the City, Houston Public Media’s Dacia Clay is highlighting the event all this week with interviews with educators and activists. That included a conversation with James […]
Houston Matters
Inside the Controversy Around Texas’ New Mexican-American Studies Textbook
Posted on · Recently Texas made national headlines for the state’s new Mexican-American Heritage textbook. The book was highly anticipated by some after heated discussions in 2014. However, the response to the published book from the Mexican-American community wasn’t exactly what the Texas Education Agency was hoping for. Tony Diaz, writer and activist with El Librotraficante, told the Houston Chronicle: “Instead […]
Full Show
Mexican-American Textbook Controversy and Property Tax Reform: Friday’s Show (June 3, 2016)
Posted on · Recently Texas made national headlines for the states’ new Mexican-American Heritage textbook. The book was much anticipated by some — after heated discussions in 2014. However, the response to the published book from the Mexican-American community wasn’t exactly what the Texas Education Agency was hoping for. Tony Diaz, writer and activist with El Librotraficante, told the Houston Chronicle: “Instead […]
Education News
How Texas Board, Publisher Hope To Prevent Mistakes After Mom Calls Out Reference To Slaves In Textbook
Posted on · "For me, that word workers was an attempt to erase that hard writing that slavery has had on the paper of our society."
Education News
Publisher To Revise Texas Textbook after Pearland Mom Complains Passage Called Slaves ‘Workers’
Posted on · Mega-publisher McGraw-Hill has apologized and said it will revise the book.
Good, Bad and Ugly
Textbooks, Ebola, and Perry in Court: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly of Houston News
Posted on · From the Texas State Board of Education approving new social studies textbooks this week, to a brief Ebola scare at a Houston emergency room, to legal wrangling over a technicality in Governor Perry’s criminal case: we discuss The Good, The Bad and The Ugly of this week’s Houston news. This week’s panel of “non-experts” include: […]
Houston Matters
Content of Proposed New State Textbooks Creates Controversy…Again
Posted on · The Texas Board of Education is considering more than 100 proposed social studies, history, geography and government textbooks that publishers have submitted for approval for use in public schools statewide. New textbooks have not been adopted in Texas since 2002. The board wonât take a final vote until November. However, a public hearing the state board held […]
Full Show
Social Studies Textbooks and the Hispanic Vote: Houston Matters for Tuesday, Sept. 30, 2014
Posted on · For the first time since 2002, the Texas Board of Education is considering more than 100 proposed social studies, history, geography and government textbooks, which publishers have submitted for approval and use in public schools statewide. While the board won’t take a final vote until November, a public hearing the state board held earlier this […]
Houston Matters
Why Were Ethnic Studies Textbooks Delayed a Year?
Posted on · The Texas Board of Education is delaying the order for Ethnic Studies textbooks by one year. The board voted recently to push back the purchase of state-approved African, Asian, Native and Mexican American studies for Texas high schools to 2017. Board member Thomas Ratliff says the delay was a financial decision. But Tony Diaz, an activist with Librotraficante â which last year […]
Full Show
Cultural History and the Bayou City Food and Film Festival: Houston Matters for Friday, May 2, 2014
Posted on · Last month, the Houston school board voted unanimously to support teaching Mexican-American history and culture to more high school students. The resolution means the state’s largest school district wants the Texas Education Agency to include this kind of cultural class in the state’s new graduation plan. HISD Superintendent Terry Grier said in a statement that in […]
Houston Matters
Banned Books Week and Creationism in Texas Schools
Posted on · We have a complex relationship, at times, with what books we use, and how we use them, in public education here in Texas. We have, at times, been at the center of controversy over the language and information presented in Texas classroom textbooks, most notably in the form of occasional challenges to the teaching of […]