2005 8th grade Health textbook ratings
Texas has approved three major publishers' 8th grade Health books for 2005 local adoption. They rank as follows:

SUPERIOR OVERALL

Health & Wellness   • Macmillan ©2006
  • 67 passages advocate sexual abstinence
  • 63 passages emphasize parental values in teen decision making
  • Presents "global warming" theories without noting possible scientific weaknesses
  • No mention of competitiveness as an element of high self-esteem
  • Heterosexual definition of family but same-sex friendly definition of marriage
  • Usually humanizes preborn babies
  • 4 invasive student exercises

POOR

Teen Health, Course 3   • Glencoe ©2005
  • 25 passages stress sexual abstinence
  • 9 passages treat parents as primary guides in adolescent decision making
  • Nothing on role of free-market prices in resource conservation
  • Briefly includes competitiveness as a component of high self-esteem
  • Heterosexual definition of family, pro-homosexual definition of marriage
  • Usually dehumanizes preborn babies
  • 14 invasive student exercises
  • Anti-2nd Amendment, pro-gun control editorial slant

WORST

Decisions for Health, Level Blue   • Holt ©2005
  • 11 passages support sexual abstinence
  • 43 passages prioritize parental values in student decision making
  • Tells problems but not benefits of human population growth
  • Self-esteem concept omits competitiveness, maximizing potential, self-criticism
  • Definitions of family and marriage often accommodate sodomite couplings
  • Usually dehumanizes preborn babies
  • 12 invasive student exercises

This evaluation covers student texts and Teacher's Editions only. It does not assess their ancillaries, which were not part of the official submissions and which Texas never approved. Local school districts and individual teachers will have to monitor the ancillaries for age-inappropriate material and lapses in editorial judgment.

We can e-mail or snail mail full documentation for this ranking. Our eight one-page, side-by-side compari­son charts briefly contrast these books' treatment of the above eight topics. You may request those charts here. Publishers tout their texts' teaching aids. We stress their subject matter content. Publishers tell you their strengths. We include their weaknesses.

No publisher funded these reviews. We have no financial stake in any textbook company. Unlike publisher sales reps, we have no monetary interest in textbook adoption decisions. Our support comes from concerned individuals and a few small foundations, which to our knowledge have no ties to the textbook industry.