Evaluators measure interest to determine the material's capacity to promote critical thinking skills and to motivate, engage, and intellectually stimulate students. To be recommended for use in California schools, technology programs must be rated Exemplary or Desirable on a six-point scale. Resources must also comply with the State Board of Education's Standards for Evaluation of Instructional Materials with Respect to Social Content . Evaluators reject programs containing demeaning labels or role stereotyping. Literature, music, art, and stories and articles having a particular historical or cultural perspective are exempt from the social content criteria.
Evaluators also indicate whether a program contains sensitive content.
They note instances of nudity, explicit sexual material, profanity, excessive violence, and glamorized portrayals of drugs and dangerous substances. The Evaluation Process Teams of educators evaluate materials at 12 sites throughout California. In some cases, individual teachers evaluate material with students at school media centers, and computer software is usually evaluated in a classroom to verify the program's effectiveness. School teams of at least three members evaluate computer-interactive videodiscs. The clearinghouses also work with 17 regional Software Resource Centers to provide access to computer software and CD-ROM programs that have been rated as high quality.