What’s Popular? Sneak Peak into Textbooks Schools Choose

Teachers know what works for their classrooms and students, and every summer our Account Managers work with schools and teachers to approve their booklists for the upcoming school year.

Overwhelmed with options for teaching materials, it’s often a great textbook that can provide just the right pacing, activities, and extras to add into a classroom.

We thought we’d take a peek inside textbooks chosen by our schools, for seeing what works and for inspiration.

Private parochial and independent schools often excel at language learning.

• The Bien dit series for French classes from Houghton Mifflin Harcourt is a frequent choice for teachers of French. Espaces from Vista Higher Learning is also used by our schools.
• The Descubre series from Vista Higher Learning and Avancemos from Houghton Mifflin Harcourt are both popular in Spanish classes.

• Ebooks from publishers Cheng-Tsui and Better Chinese are equally used in high school Chinese instruction.

In addition, K-12 private schools also offer Latin and Greek.

• Prestwick House is a popular choice for Vocabulary from Latin and Greek Roots.
• And the Ecce Romani series from Savvas (formerly Pearson) is a popular Latin textbook.

 College preparatory classes are also of great importance.

It’s clear that K-12 private schools are focused on rigorous learning. There are too many examples to share across all disciplines, but here’s a sampling of college prep titles at our schools:

• The Practice of Statistics for AP from W. H. Freeman
• Patterns for College Writing from St. Martins Press
• Calculus AP from Savvas (formerly Pearson)
• Myer’s Psychology for AP from Worth
• And, schools often provide PSAT and SAT prep materials from Prestwick House, Perfection Learning and Ace Academics.

 

Of course, religious instruction plays a big part in the curriculum at parochial schools.

Our schools often select titles from highly specialized publishers such as

• Christian Schools International
• Saint Mary’s Press
• Loyola Press.

Some schools are offering a creative range of classes for students.

We’re intrigued by the classes offered at our schools and wish we could go back in time to enroll!

• Small Business Management: Launching & Growing Entrepreneurial Ventures from Cengage
• Street Law: A Course in Practical Law from McGraw-Hill

 

We’d love to hear from you! What makes a great textbook work for your classroom? When are you motivated to make a switch?