Controversial Evolution Standard Supported by Texas Board of Education
Controversial Evolution Standard Supported by Texas Board of Education
On February 1, 2017, the Texas State Board of Education (SBOE) voted preliminarily to retain a direction in its science standards requiring students to consider “all sides of science evidence” and “evaluate” explanations for the “sudden appearance” of organisms in the fossil record. Science education groups had opposed retention of this language, particularly the word “evaluate,” which they say requires the teaching of creationism as an alternative to the theory of evolution.
| Update: In April 2017, the SBOE voted in favor of revising the standards, so as to achieve a compromise between those in favor of promoting creationism and those advocating for the teaching of evolution only. Under the revised standards, the requirement for students to “evaluate” evolution was removed, and replaced with a new requirement that students “examine scientific explanations for the origin of DNA” and “compare and contrast scientific explanations for the complexity of certain cells.” |
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