So how did at least six evolution deniers get placed on panels charged with reviewing proposed new biology textbooks for Texas public high schools? Look no further than the corrosive influence creationists have had over the Texas State Board of Education (SBOE) for years. When Gail Lowe lost her bid for re-election to the state board […]
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)
Alarm Bells Are Ringing: Creationists Get Influential Positions in Texas Science Textbook Review
It looks like the Lone Star State’s reputation as a hotbed of anti-science fanaticism is about to be reinforced. At least six creationists/”intelligent design” proponents succeeded in getting invited to review high school biology textbooks that publishers have submitted for adoption in Texas this year. The State Board of Education (SBOE) will decide in November which textbooks to […]
Biology Textbook Review Week in Texas
Teams made up of educators, parents and other community members from around Texas are meeting in Austin to complete their reviews of textbooks and other instructional materials in science that publishers have submitted for the state’s public schools. The teams are meeting to determine whether the proposed materials conform to the state’s Texas Essential Knowledge […]
#FAIL: Dan Patrick Petition Brags About Passing Anti-CSCOPE Bill He Hasn't Passed Yet
UPDATE: Sen. Patrick’s website petition about CSCOPE was updated early Friday evening with a partial correction regarding the status of SB 41. By around midnight, however, the petition had disappeared completely from the website. *** We have some unsolicited advice for Texas state Sen. Dan Patrick: If you’re going to brag about passing a bill […]
CSCOPE Witch Hunt: Patrick, Dewhurst Compete for the Loony Vote While Throwing Local Control Out the Window
Now Texas Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst has joined state Sen. Dan Patrick, R-Houston, in throwing local control out the window and pandering to fanatics attacking the CSCOPE curriculum program used in hundreds of Texas school districts. In a letter to the State Board of Education on Wednesday, Dewhurst said that he is “deeply troubled” that teachers in […]
