For months Tea partyers and other assorted activists on the right have attacked the developers of the CSCOPE curriculum management system for supposedly doing their work in secrecy. They’ve screamed that parents and taxpayers are kept in the dark while the Texas Education Service Center Curriculum Collaborative (TESCCC) writes lessons that (allegedly) indoctrinate students into […]
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)
Head of Texas Education Board Committee Wants to Teach 'Roles of Men and Women in a Traditional Way'
Apparently, it’s one step forward, then two steps back when it comes to the Texas State Board of Education. Last month we were encouraged when the chairman of the state board committee that will review the social studies materials in the CSCOPE curriculum management system said he wanted that review process to be fully transparent. […]
Discovery Institute Plays 'I Have a Secret'
As the Texas State Board of Education prepares to adopt new science textbooks for public schools this year, we expect to see plenty of junk science thrown around by evolution deniers. And among the most prominent evolution deniers are the folks at the Discovery Institute — the Seattle-based outfit that promotes the concept of “intelligent […]
Texas Congressman Peddles Obama Falsehood in CSCOPE Witch Hunt
Congressman Steve Stockman of Friendswood (near Houston) is wading into the bizarre political witch hunt over the CSCOPE curriculum management system targeted by far-right activists in recent months. And — no surprise — the Republican tea partyer is peddling the right-wing conspiracy myth that President Obama is trying to take over Texas schools. Stockman’s campaign […]
Positive Developments Today on the Texas SBOE's CSCOPE Review
In addition to passing a resolution today opposing private school vouchers, the Texas State Board of Education also passed a resolution dealing with its review of the CSCOPE curriculum management system. We noted some serious concerns regarding that review yesterday. What we heard during the CSCOPE discussion today, however, was encouraging. Most importantly, a number […]
