The Texas State Board of Education (SBOE) adopted new biology textbooks for public high schools last fall, but anti-evolution activists are still trying to censor those textbooks. And they seem to be targeting one in particular: Pearson Education’s high school textbook by authors Ken Miller and Joe Levine. Through a request under the Texas Public Information […]
Each of the four candidates seeking the Republican nomination for Texas lieutenant governor raced as far to the extreme right as they could during their debate Monday night. Each one, for example, expressed support for banning abortion even in cases of rape or incest. Each one insisted that government should intrude into the end-of-life decisions families […]
Anti-science zealots can be pretty (unintentionally) comical. The Austin American-Statesman published an article today (behind a paywall) about Responsive Education Solutions charter schools teaching junk science that attacks evolution and promotes creationism as a valid scientific alternative. The article prompted one right-wing activist to claim in an online screed this morning: “Libs bullying to force evolution into Texas […]
The CEO of Texas-based Responsive Education Solutions has responded to an in-depth article in Slate detailing how the charter operator’s public schools teach junk science and political propaganda as factual. Frankly, the CEO’s response is just as troubling as the original allegations about the schools’ troubling curriculum. Responsive Ed’s CEO Chuck Cook wrote an extensive […]
Josh Rosenau, programs and policy director at the National Center for Science Education, wondered how the creationist chairwoman of the Texas State Board of Education (SBOE) came to appoint a real scientist and evolution defender to a key textbook review panel. As we reported on Tuesday, that panel unanimously rejected creationist claims that a leading high […]
This year’s sweeping win for science education in Texas now appears to be complete. Multiple sources tell us that a special expert panel has given unanimous approval to the Pearson biology textbook whose adoption by the Texas State Board of Education (SBOE) last month had been tripped up by allegations that it contained “factual errors.” A creationist on […]
During a debate in Waco on Thursday, candidates for the Republican nomination for Texas lieutenant governor said they support teaching biblical creationism in the state’s public schools. The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that teaching creationism in public school science classrooms violates the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Incumbent Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst and two […]
Our friends at the National Center for Science Education (NCSE) have been fantastic partners with the Texas Freedom Network in defending teaching about evolution and climate change in Texas public schools. Now NCSE is offering an online workshop on December 18 to train people around the country how to lobby their elected officials in support of science […]
As we have reported, the State Board of Education voted last month to adopt all of the high school biology textbooks up for adoption in Texas. The adoption of one of those textbooks, from Pearson Education, was made contingent on a final examination of factual errors made by Ide Trotter, a creationist who had served […]
Last week’s State Board of Education (SBOE) vote to adopt new science textbooks for Texas public schools represented an important victory for science education. But what you have been reading in the news media doesn’t tell the whole story about what was happening behind the scenes in this battle — including the effort to derail […]
