1. Outline History of the Textbooks and Basal Readers in the United States:
   • No dates listed – New England Primer was the first widely distributed primer.
   • Prior to 1775 – Primers emphasized religious text.
   • 1778- Noah Webster publishes his American Spelling Book.
   • 1775 to 1825 – Primers emphasized religious text and secular text equally.
   • 1808 to 1810 – Samuel Wood produced first graded readers. Heavily religious and practical.
   • 1825 to 1875 – Primers emphasized moralistic and secular values.
   • 1836 & 1844 – McGuffey Eclectic Readers published. Emphasis on moralistic content and phonetic/alphabetic content. 122 million copies sold 1836 to 1920.
   • 1875 to 1915 – Primers emphasized literary values.
   • 1915 to present – Various emphases including the common “realistic experience.”
   • 1920’s – Start of reading reading readiness and pre-primers.
   • 1920’s – Scientific research “furthers the form of basal readers.”
   • 1920’s – Leveling of texts becomes a concern as more students with less-educated parents attend high schools. 
   • 1921 – Thorndike Teacher’s Word Book provides objective measurement tool for leveling texts.
   • 1939 – William S. Gray and Scott Foresman write the Elson-Gray Readers (Dick and Jane).  200 Million Americans learned to read with these.
   • 1940’s – Schools begin to promote by age rather than achievement, creating a leveling problem for textbook creators.
   • Mid 1960’s – 18 Publishers were producing K-8 Reading basal Readers, which were used by more than 85% of elementary teachers.
   • 1970’s – Calls for accountability resulted in increased emphasis on test preparation in Basel programs.
   • 1970’s and 1980’s – Increased direct instruction
   • 1970’s and 1980’s – Development of programs designed for low income children and for minorities.
   • 1970’s and 1980’s – Textbooks include more stories about minority characters.
   • 1980’s – There were 12 national publishers of basal reading programs.
   • 1980’s – The top five publishers sold 80% of basal reading programs.

2. Characteristics of the Textbook Market in the U.S. (1986 & 1987):
   • 40 Large Textbook Publishers
   • $2 billion in textbook sales (converts to $3.8 billion in 2008 dollars)
   • 11% of all textbooks were purchased in California
   • 7.3% of all textbooks were purchased in Texas
   • Highest per pupil textbook spender was Washington D.C. at $68 (converts to $127 in 2008 dollars) per student.
   • Lowest per pupil textbook spender was the Great State of Utah at $19 (converts to $35 in 2008 dollars) student.
   • 21 states were doing state wide textbook adoptions.
   • $436 million (converts to $820 million in 2008 dollars) spent on reading programs for elementary students.
   • $600 million (converts to $1.2 billion in 2008 dollars) spent on reading programs, spelling programs, and all other programs and textbooks used for literacy instruction.
   • I admit that 1986 and 1987 were a long time ago.  I’d like to see what the current statistics look like today.  I’d like to if spending trends compare with the rate of inflation?

I didn’t find the rest of the article to be very interesting as it cites a lot of very old studies on textbook features and how they related to student comprehension.  I’d rather spend my time reading more current research.

Chall, J.S., & Squire, J.R. (1996). The publishing industry and textbooks. In R.Barr, M. L. Kamil, P. Mosenthan, & P. D. Pearson (Eds.), Handbook of reading research (Vol. 2, pp. 46-67). (Original work published 1991)