This week the State Board of Education decides whether the next generation of Texas public school students have textbooks that teach 21st-century science or junk science that once again makes the Lone Star State a national laughingstock. Texas Education Commissioner Michael Williams has released the list of textbooks he recommends for adoption, and all of the […]
Textbook Censorship
The Texas State Board of Education decides what every student in Texas public schools will learn from kindergarten through high school. The board does so by adopting curriculum standards and textbooks for public schools in the state.
For decades, far-right politicians on the State Board of Education and their extremist allies have taken advantage of this flawed system to dismiss the advice of experts and scholars. They have instead worked to inject their personal views into textbooks on everything from evolution and climate change to the history of slavery, civil rights, and separation of church and state.
Resources
- Report Reveals Serious Flaws in Social Studies Textbooks
- The State Board of Education: Dragging Texas Schools into the Culture Wars (2008 report)
- Evolution, Creationism & Public Schools: Surveying Texas Scientists (2008 report)
- Culture Wars and the Classroom (2010 report)
- Senate Bill 6: Changes in the Textbook Adoption Process (2011 report)
- Texas Science Curriculum Standards: Challenges (2012 report)
- Science Textbook Review (2013 report)
- Social Studies Textbook Review (2014 report)
Thunderclap for Science
The conclusion of our year-long effort to protect science in Texas hangs on a final vote at the State Board of Education this Friday. And on Thursday morning when the board begins its crucial deliberations over the science textbooks, we want to show them the world is watching. We’re going to hit them with a […]
Help Us in the Final Push for Sound Science Textbooks in Texas
On Nov. 22, our Stand Up for Science campaign will come to an end. That’s when the Texas State Board of Education will take a final vote on adopting new science textbooks that will be in classrooms for the next decade. Now is the time to take action by telling the members of the state board: “Adopt […]
National Science Teachers Association Exec Director Weighs in on Texas Textbook Adoption
David Evans, executive director of the National Science Teachers Association, has written an opinion column about the science textbook adoption in Texas this year. You can read the full piece posted on LiveScience.com. Here’s an excerpt: There are many ways that humans come to know, experience, understand and appreciate the world in which we live. […]
Google+ Hangout: What's Happening with the Texas Science Textbook Adoption
Watch and listen in as the Texas Freedom Network’s Kathy Miller, the National Center for Science Education’s Josh Rosenau, and University of Texas Professor Arturo De Lozanne talk about the battle to defend evolution and climate change science in proposed science textbooks for Texas schools. The State Board of Education is scheduled to vote November […]