Hi John,
Texas has a long history of political battles over what schools can and can’t teach about climate change and evolution — and at the end of this month, the State Board of Education (SBOE) will meet to review a list of science textbooks for school districts in Texas. In November, they'll vote on which books to adopt.
The Texas Freedom Network Education Fund and the National Center for Science Education (NCSE) asked a panel of expert scientists and educators to evaluate how well the textbooks submitted to the SBOE by publishers address climate change and evolution. Read the joint report at gradingthetextbooks.org.
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Key takeaways from the report: - The majority of the textbooks reviewed in the report conform to the state science standards and rules adopted by the SBOE. Some materials exceed them.
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Despite this, we expect right-wing extremists, creationists, and climate change deniers on the board to politicize the discussion, argue against adapting these textbooks, and make blatantly false claims that they don't meet the standards.
- The current state standards set the bar extremely low for teaching on climate change and evolution — making any objections board members might make all the more shameless.
Why it all matters:
Texas is one of the country’s largest markets for public school textbooks, meaning the materials adopted by the SBOE this year will inform how children across the country (not just in Texas!) learn about climate change and its effect on their future. Children must be able to learn science accurately, honestly, and thoroughly so that they can take the steps needed to curb the crisis they’re inheriting. In solidarity, |
