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By Kimberly Beltran
Wednesday, September 25, 2013
Instructional material adoption is never an easy task, but members of the State Board of Education in Texas are embroiled in a showdown over new science textbooks that have resurrected the age-old debate of whether students should be taught the theory of creationism alongside that of evolution.
The board, which is expected to make its final selections in November, is fighting off accusations that some of the state-appointed reviewers were not properly qualified to examine publisher submissions and instead were pushing a conservative, anti-evolution bias.
The issues could have implications nationally because the Lone Star state stands as the second largest textbook market in the country.
“Some panelists bring an agenda to their reviews that discredits the scientific treatment of evolution because they personally reject its validity,” Ronald Wetherington, a Southern Methodist University anthropology professor and a textbook reviewer, told the board at a hearing last week, according to the Austin American-Statesman.
“This undermines the review process by making false claims of what they consider to be, but are not, factual errors in the submissions,” he said.
This is not the first time textbook content in Texas has drawn national attention.
In 2010, lawmakers in California considered legislation that would have imposed additional screening of instructional
Feds propose ‘clarifications’ of spending effort for IDEA funding
Feds propose ‘clarifications’ of spending effort for IDEA funding
As states and local educational agencies still struggle to dig out of the economic recession, the U.S. Department of Education is also still answering basic questions about maintenance of effort requirements tied to federal funds provided under Part B of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act.