Originally Posted: April 17
This week’s State Board of Education debate about high school biology standards and governing how to teach students about the theory of evolution could come down to a single word: evaluate.
At a February meeting, board members took a preliminary vote to modify those curriculum standards, keeping in language that would require students to challenge evolutionary science.
Republican board member Barbara Cargill, who led the charge to keep in the controversial language, has said requiring students to “evaluate” certain biological processes is necessary for thorough biology instruction. Critics say keeping the word “evaluate” in those standards casts doubt on evolution in a way that could open the door to teaching creationism.
The board is set to hold that debate Tuesday and will take another preliminary vote on whether to modify the standards Wednesday, with a final vote set for Friday.
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At the board’s request in July, a 10-member committee of teachers and scientists took on the challenge of narrowing the biology curriculum standards known as Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills, or TEKS. The committee removed four passages that Democrats on the board and activists say allow teachers to challenge evolution in the classroom, advancing creationist ideas.
After the board voted in February to put a few of those controversial standards back in the TEKS, educators on the committee were not happy. A few have said they did not intend to make a political statement by taking out the controversial standards. They did it to cut down on instructional time, as was their mandate, and to allow teachers more leeway for depth in the subject, said committee member Ron Wetherington, an anthropology professor at Southern Methodist University.
He called the board’s changes to the standards “pretty toxic … We just said, ‘Evaluate is out the window and we’re not even going to talk about it.'” Cargill’s proposal would add nine additional days of teaching to a high school biology class, he said.
Republican board member Marty Rowley said he has received a lot of letters from constituents “wanting to make sure we allow teachers the space to teach the strengths and weaknesses of evolution, and that we cover them with the depth that allows our students to compete globally in science.”
He said any suggestion that the standards would open the door to creationism is “unfounded. I don’t think there’s been any evidence, anecdotal or otherwise, that Texas biology teachers are teaching creationism in biology.”
After February’s vote, the committee sent the board a letter proposing a compromise. READ MORE