Standards Undermining Science Education Proposed by New Mexico Education Department

Standards Undermining Science Education Proposed by New Mexico Education Department

In September 2017, the New Mexico Public Education Department proposed draft science education standards, which limit the teaching of climate change and other proven scientific theories that are seen as controversial.

The draft standards are based on the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS), which were developed by a consortium of 26 states, in collaboration with various education groups. The NGSS are widely considered to reflect the “best practice” for science education. The New Mexico Public Education Department is, however, proposing to amend the NGSS in ways that critics say will “weaken science education.”

The amendments appear to be intended to undermine the teaching of proven, but controversial, scientific theories such as climate change. For example, in the middle school curriculum, the New Mexico Public Education Department is proposing to eliminate a reference to the “rise in global temperatures” and replace it with “fluctuations” in temperature. In the high school curriculum, the Department is seeking to add a new section, requiring discussion of changes “that were caused by natural occurrences . . . [and] not related to human activity.” References to “evolution” were also deleted from the curriculum and replaced with the phrase “biological diversity.”