State ed board reins in science standards hinting at creationism

The Texas State Board of Education has agreed to revise science standards that critics say would have undermined instruction on evolution. The Texas State Board of Education has agreed to revise science standards that critics say would have undermined instruction on evolution. Photo: Leigh Prather, Fotolia Photo: Leigh Prather, Fotolia Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close State ed board reins in science standards hinting at creationism 1 / 1 Back to Gallery

AUSTIN -- The Texas State Board of Education on Wednesday took a preliminary vote to compromise on a pair of high-school science standards that critics say encouraged the teaching of creationism.

The 15-member board voted unanimously to change language in its standards to take the pressure off teachers to delve deep in evaluating cell biology and DNA evolution.

"I was very pleased with how smoothly everything went," said Ron Wetherington, an evolutionary anthropologist at Southern Methodist University and member of the High School Biology Streamlining Committee that recommended the board modify language in the standards to save teachers class time.

Standards using words like "analyze and evaluate" are like "dogs whistles," he said, that ideological groups see as an opening to explore creationism and intelligent design as explanations for the origin of life.

The first change to the standards, if confirmed by a second vote on Friday, would require students to "compare and contrast scientific explanations" for the complexity of cells, instead of "evaluate." The change would return the standard to the original language recommended by the committee, reversing an addition in February authored by Republican board member Barbara Cargill of The Woodlands.

The second standard tentatively approved by the board Wednesday would require students to "examine" instead of "evaluate" scientific explanations for the origin of DNA. Cargill had suggested the board add "evaluate" instead of leaving the standard alone, as the committee suggested.

The vote tentatively sheds wording embraced by the Discovery Institute, a group known for its advocacy of teaching intelligent design. The group encouraged Texans to pressure school board members to keep the wording.

Board members said they had received dozens of emails and phone calls encouraging them to keep "evaluate" in the standards.

Critics say the changes ultimately removed curriculum standards, added during a fiery 2009 Board of Education battle, that resulted in socially conservative members of the board permitting the teaching of creationism and intelligent design in evolution.

"The issue has always been with politicians ignoring the objections of classroom teachers by forcing them to waste precious instructional time on junk science arguments designed to do little more than undermine student understanding of factual, established science on evolution," said Kathy Miller, president of the Texas Freedom Network, which advocates for religious freedom and individual liberties.

The changes came after the board approved dozens of changes in the state's science standards for students in kindergarten through 12th grade to eliminate redundancies and save teachers class time. The board is also reviewing standards for English Language Arts and Spanish Language Arts.