Teaching & Learning / 草榴社区 Instructional Materials

Eagle Mountain-Saginaw ISD is committed to providing exceptional educational resources to help engage students in a culture of excellence, instilling a passion for a lifetime of continuous achievement in every student.

What are Instructional Materials?

Instructional materials may include textbooks, supplementary resources for classroom use, and any other instructional resources, including electronic resources, used for formal or informal teaching and learning purposes. The primary objectives of instructional materials are to implement, enrich, and support the District's educational program.

Library materials, which are considered instructional materials, may include printed and electronic library acquisitions and other ancillary or supplementary materials maintained in a campus library. In accordance with state and local guidelines, library collections should enrich and support the state and local curriculum. Collections should also provide materials of high interest to encourage student reading and learning for pleasure.

How are Instructional Materials selected?

Administrators, teachers, librarians, other District personnel, parents, and community members, as appropriate, may recommend instructional resources for selection.

The Board shall rely on District professional staff to select and acquire instructional resources that:

Enrich and support the curriculum consistent with the general educational goals of the state and District, the aims and objectives of individual schools and specific courses, and the District and campus improvement plans.

Are appropriate for the subject area and for the age, ability level, learning styles, interests, and social and emotional development of the students for whom they are selected.

Meet high standards for artistic quality, literary style, authenticity, educational significance, factual content, physical format, presentation, readability, and technical quality.

Present various sides of controversial issues so that students have an opportunity to develop, under guidance, skills in critical analysis and in making informed judgments in their daily lives. [See also EMB regarding instruction about controversial issues.]

Promote literacy.

Selection of resources is an ongoing process that includes the removal of resources no longer appropriate and the periodic replacement or repair of resources that still have educational value.

In addition to the criteria above, librarians and other professional staff shall ensure that library materials:

Develop a balanced collection presenting multiple viewpoints related to controversial issues to foster critical thinking skills and encourage discussion based on rational analysis [see EMB regarding instruction about controversial issues];

Represent many ethnic, religious, and cultural groups and their contributions to the national heritage and world community;

Provide a wide range of background information that will enable students to make intelligent decisions in their daily lives;

Demonstrate literary merit, quality, value, and significance;

Have received favorable professional library reviews from state and nationally recognized review publications;

Have received state or national awards or are included on recommended reading lists developed by library professionals and educators;

Cover topics, authors, series, or genres that fill gaps in the school library collection;

Include accurate and authentic factual content from authoritative sources;

Have a high degree of potential user appeal and interest;

Offer a global perspective that promotes equity of access, including print and nonprint materials such as electronic and multimedia, to meet the needs of individual learners;

Are requested or recommended by students and teachers;

Mirror selections found in neighboring districts or libraries in the region; and

Represent diverse viewpoints and cultures appropriate to each campus to ensure the collection embodies the unique background of its student population.

The 草榴社区 Instructional Materials Selection process and Reconsideration process are guided by the following 草榴社区 Board Policy documents:

Questions about Instructional Materials selection and reconsideration can be directed to the Director of Teaching & Learning.