Last month the State Board of Education once again turned the revision of social studies curriculum standards for Texas public schools into a political circus. Just as they did in 2010, board members ripped apart draft standards proposed by teachers and scholars. In vote after vote, they substituted their political beliefs for historical facts. Join […]
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)
Texas SBOE Puts Politics Ahead of Truth in Curriculum Standards
The State Board of Education had the chance this week to #TeachTheTruth in revised social studies curriculum standards for Texas public schools. But from Moses to the Civil War, board members once again decided to substitute their personal beliefs for facts and accurate history. We just sent out the following press release. […]
Texas Activists to March for Accurate History about Slavery and the Civil War
Treue Der Union monument in Comfort, Texas With the State Board of Education currently debating whether to #TeachTheTruth about the history of slavery, the Confederacy and the Civil War in Texas public schools, a group of activists has launched a new effort to bring attention to the real history of that period. In August the group plans a march commemorating the […]
Anti-LGBT Groups Push to Bar Sex Ed in Texas
Anti-sex education activists have launched new efforts to keep Texas students ignorant about how to protect themselves from disease and unintended pregnancy. And this time they’re trying to stir up hostility toward LGBT people to do it. […]
Warning Signs in the Texas Curriculum Standards Revision
Two big problems got the most attention at last week’s State Board of Education discussion of proposed revisions to social studies curriculum standards for Texas public schools: the whitewashing of slavery’s role in causing the Civil War and exaggerations of the influence of religion on the American founding. Unfortunately, we saw warning signs that some state board members still aren’t ready to #TeachTheTruth. […]
