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Biology Standards and Textbooks | Health Education | Earth and Space Science |
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Drought, Water, and Climate Change | Energy Policy |
of Science Education in Texas since 1980
TCS on Twitter: @TexScience
Steven Schafersman, President of Texas Citizens for Science,
is now a candidate for the Texas State Board of Education, District 15.
Please visit his campaign website for more information.New investigative reports about issues affecting Texas public schools
and education will begin to appear here soon.
Texas Citizens for Science Responds to the
Thomas Fordham Institute's The State of State Science Standards, 2012Press Release
2012 January 31
Today the Thomas Fordham Institute releases its latest review of state science standards, giving Texas a C grade for its efforts. Texas deserves a C, but it should have an A, and it would have earned an A if the ideologically-driven and activist Republican members of the Texas State Board of Education had not voted to edit, manipulate, censor, distort, and corrupt the science standards presented to them by panels of scientists, science curriculum experts, and science teachers in 2009. The standards were not perfect, but they were much better than the final version that resulted after the State Board did its dirty work by a series of 8-7 votes to amend the standards. The best science standards Texas could adopt are those of the Common Core State Standards coalition, thereby completely eliminating the scientifically-ignorant and politically-motivated members of the Texas State Board of Education.
A Framework for K-12 Science Education:
Practices, Crosscutting Concepts, and Core IdeasNOW AVAILABLE from the National Academies of Science Press
Science, engineering, and technology permeate nearly every facet of modern life and hold the key to meeting many of humanity's most pressing challenges, both present and future. To address the critical issues of U.S. competitiveness and to better prepare the workforce, Framework for K-12 Science Education proposes a new approach to K-12 science education that will capture students' interest and provide them with the necessary foundational knowledge in the field.
Texas Governor Rick Perry is Running for President
and Making Quite a Name for Himself2011 August 18 - Rick Perry's Anthropogenic Climate Change Denialism and Endorsement of Creationism
2011 June 14 - The Politicization of Public Education in Texas: Background of State Funding of Public Education, Texas Biology Curriculum Standards, and the Texas Education Agency Biology Panel Review
Texas Adoption of New Digital
Supplemental Biology Instructional Materials
is Still Fraught with Politicization2011 August 26 - Press Release: Politicization of Science Instructional Materials Adoption Continues at the Texas Education Agency
2011 August 19 - Did Science Win or Lose With the Adoption of Supplemental Biology Instructional Materials in Texas? The Commissioner of Education agrees with the changes submitted by Holt McDougal, but politicization of the Biology adoption process continues in Texas.
2011 August 10 - Anita Givens to SBOE Memo about Biology Instructional Materials Revisions
2011 July 27 - Chart of Holt McDougal Revisions To Its Supplemental Biology Instructional Materials As Accepted by the Texas Commissioner of Education
2011 July 26 - TCS Scientific Analysis of David Shormann's Bogus "Errors" in the Holt McDougal Supplemental Biology Instructional Materials
2011 July 26 - Creationist Error List and Holt McDougal Original Response to Errors Reported by Biology Panel to TEA
2011 July 26 - Original Shormann Creationist Biology Panel Review of Holt McDougal Biology Materials
2011 July 21-22 - Live Blog of July 21 Public Testimony and July 22 SBOE Adoption of Science Materials
2011 July 21 - TCS President Steven Schafersman's July 21 Public Testimony
2011 July 20 - Correction needed in the McGraw Hill Glencoe and Holt McDougal Supplemental Biology Materials about the History of the Endosymbiotic Theory
2011 July 20 - Correction needed about the use of Ernst Haeckel's vertebrate embryo diagrams and a discussion of the Evaluation submitted to TEA by the Discovery Institute
Below is essential background information about the attempted intrusion of Intelligent Design Creationism into the new supplemental science instructional materials by the Texas SBOE:
2011 June 14 - The Politicization of Public Education in Texas
2009 May 14 - Texas Science Standards and March Madness: Did We Win or Lose?
The Texas Drought
2011 June 2 - Dealing with Drought, Freshwater Shortages, and Climate Change
2011 May 2 - Groundwater and the Rule of Capture
2011 April 28 - Anthropogenic Climate Change and Climate Science Denialism
2011 April 28 - Impacts of Climate Change to Western Water Resources
2011 April 19 - Permanent Drought in the Southwestern United States
2012 February 17 - USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Maps
Older Investigative Reports and Essays
2009 October 19 - Governor Rick Perry's Education Report Card: F
www.texscience.org/reviews/gov-perry-report-card-2009Oct19.htm
2009 October 7 - Darwin's Darkest Hour: A Review of the Television Drama
www.texscience.org/reviews/darwin's-darkest-hour-2009Oct7.htm
2009 September 16-17 - An Illustrated Description of the Texas State Board of Education Meetings on Social Studies Standards and An Investigation of David Barton's American Christian Heritage Display
www.texscience.org/blogs/sboe-social-studies-2009Sept16-18.htm
2009 August 11 - Bill Dembski Engages Culture in a Unique Way: Rewarding Blog Trolls
www.texscience.org/blogs/dembski-rewards-blog-trolls.htm
2009 July 10 - Gail Lowe Appointed the New Chairman of the Texas State Board of Education
www.texscience.org/blogs/lowe-appointed-sboe-chair.htm
2009 May 14 - Texas Science Standards and March Madness: Did We Win or Lose?
www.texscience.org/reports/texas-science-standards-final-2009May14.htm
2009 April 22 - June 1 - Don McLeroy Not Confirmed as Chairman of the Texas State Board of Education
www.texscience.org/reports/mcleroy-nomination-not-confirmed.htm
2009 April 20 - The Institute for Creation Research Brings a Flawed Lawsuit Against the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board; Texas Citizens for Science Claims ICR Has No Legal Justification for Its Litigation
www.texscience.org/releases/icr/ICR-lawsuit-analysis-2009April20.htm
2009 April 14 - Senate Bill 2275 Will Remove Texas State Board of Education Authority Over Curriculum Standards and Textbook Selection
www.texscience.org/releases/SB2275-press-release-2009April13.htm
2009 April 1 - Chris Comer v. Texas Education Agency Lawsuit Dismissed
www.texscience.org/news/comer/comer-lawsuit-dismissed-2009April1.htm
2009 March 14 - House Bill 4224 Would Return "Strengths and Weaknesses" to Texas Science Standards and Allow Students and Teachers to Express Creationist Beliefs Without Penalty -- HB 4224 is the Texas Academic Freedom Bill
www.texscience.org/reports/HB4224-return-weaknesses-2009March14.htm
2009 March 12 - Proposed House Bill 2800 Will Exempt the Institute for Creation Research from the Law that Governs the Awarding of Science Degrees by Texas Institutions of Higher Learning
www.texscience.org/reports/HB2800-exempt-ICR-2009March12.htm
2009 March 11 - New Identical Education Bills, SB 3 and HB 3, Will Change Texas Public Education Forever
www.texscience.org/reviews/SB3-HB3-analysis-2009March11.htm
2009 February 18 - Bad Education Bills, HB 1216 and 1503, Have Been Filed in the Texas Legislature That Will Reduce Math and Science Graduation Requirements
www.texscience.org/reports/highschool-graduation-curriculum-2009Feb18.htm
2009 February 13 - The Battle of the Evolution Polls
www.texscience.org/news/battle-evolution-polls-2009feb13.htm
2009 February 12 - Happy Darwin Day!
www.texscience.org/reviews/darwin-day.htm
2009 February 6 - Darwin Day in Houston, February-April 2009
www.texscience.org/releases/darwin-day-2009.htm
2008 December 31 - Science-Based Education Critical for Students' Future
www.texscience.org/news/mrt-evolution.htm
Ideology and Politics Trump Science in Texas!
Some New Texas Science Standards Are
Compromised and FlawedNew Texas Science Standards were finally adopted on March 25 but the process was politicized by Fundamentalist Religious ideologues. Several Biology and Earth and Space Science standards were censored to remove scientific information and to create the possibility that anti-evolution, pro-Intelligent Design Creationism content could be inserted into science textbooks later.
Radical Religious-Right and Young Earth Creationist members of the State Board of Education voted as a bloc to damage some science standards. They picked up some votes of others Board members to adopt the flawed and substandard standards. In this case, compromising with Biblical Literalists also compromised science education in Texas.
2009 May 14 - Texas Science Standards and March Madness: Did We Win or Lose?
www.texscience.org/reports/texas-science-standards-final-2009May14.htm
2009 April 10 - Texas Citizens for Science Responds to Discovery Institute Attacks on Texas Scientists
www.texscience.org/reviews/di-attacks/
2009 April 8 - Official Texas State Board of Education Science Standards Summary and Votes
www.texscience.org/pdf/sboe-votes-2009.htm
2009 April 7 - Official Public Comments for Proposed Science Standards Compiled by the Texas Education Agency Science Staff
www.texscience.org/pdf/science-public-comments/
2009 March 31 - Live Blogs of the Texas State Board of Education Meeting, 2009 March 25-27
www.texscience.org/meetings/sboe-live-blog-2009March25-27.htm
This includes links to news reports and editorials, State Board minutes, and audio files.
2009 March 23 - National and State Science Association Statements about Texas Science Standards
Numerous national and state science associations have written letters to the Texas State Board of Education asking that the Science Standards be adopted as written by the original science panels and without unscientific amendments made by nonscientist State Board of Education members. Dozens of other national and state science associations have signed a statement asking for the same thing. This statement will be released on Wednesday, March 25, at the Texas Education Agency in Austin at an 11:30 a.m. press conference just before public testimony begins. Several prominent scientists and science advocates will speak at the press conference.
Here are five of the letters. (These are all PDF files.)
- American Association for the Advancement of Science
- National Association of Geoscience Teachers
- The Paleontological Society
- National Association of Biology Teachers
- Texas Association of Biology Teachers
2009 March 14 - Don McLeroy, Confused Again
www.texscience.org/reviews/mcleroy-confused-again.htm
2009 February 10 - Serial Misrepresentations and Inaccuracies from a Texas Anti-Science Polemicist and Agitator
www.texscience.org/reports/tbse-errors-2009feb10.htm
2009 February 7 - News of the Death of the Tree of Life Has Been Greatly Exaggerated
www.texscience.org/reports/sboe-tree-life-2009feb7.htm
2009 February 3 - Take That, Charles Garner! Baylor University Teaches Evolution
www.texscience.org/releases/charles-garner-baylor.htm
2009 January 31 - Creationist State Board of Education Members Attack Common Ancestry and the Tree of Life
www.texscience.org/reports/sboe-common-ancestry-2009Jan31.htm
2009 January 29 - Report of the Earth and Space Science TEKS Working Group Concerning the Five Amendments Passed by the State Board of Education on January 22, 2009
www.texscience.org/reports/ESS-Report-Final-2009Jan29.htm
2009 January 27 - News Reports about the Texas State Board of Education meetings of 2009 January 21-23
www.texscience.org/reports/sboe-science-standards-news-reports-2009jan21-23.htm
2009 January 25 - Links to Amendments, Votes, Audio Files, and Live Blogs from the Texas State Board of Education meetings of 2009 January 21-22
www.texscience.org/reports/sboe-amendments-votes-audio-2009jan21-22.htm
2009 January 25 - Live Blogs of the Texas State Board of Education Meeting, 2009 January 21-23
www.texscience.org/meetings/sboe-live-blog-2009January21-23.htm
This includes links to news reports and editorials, audio files, and other resources.
2009 January 19 - Comment on an Austin American-Statesman News Report
www.texscience.org/news/aas-comment-2009jan19.htm
2009 January 17 - The Rhetoric and History of the False and Unscientific "Weaknesses" of Evolution
www.texscience.org/reports/weaknesses-evolution-jan2009.htm
2009 January 15 - Young Earth Creationist Attack on the New Texas Earth and Space Science Course: A Scientific Response
www.texscience.org/reports/ess-response-yec-2009jan15.htm
2009 January 13 - Let's Get Ready to Rumble! Science v. ID Creationism Smackdown, January 21, Austin
www.texscience.org/releases/texas-kangaroo-smackdown.htm
2009 January 13 - Please Help Defend the New Texas Earth and Space Science Course
www.texscience.org/releases/defend-earth-space-science.htm
2009 January 12 - Texas Science Standards Will Be Debated and Voted On During January 21-23: Public and Expert Testimony Will Be Heard
www.texscience.org/reviews/science-standards-jan-2009.htm
2008 November 25 - Live Blog of the Texas State Board of Education Meeting, 2008 November 19
www.texscience.org/meetings/sboe-live-blog-2008November19.htm
2008 November 13 - Message to Texas Citizens for Science Members and Supporters About the Public Testimony for Texas Science Standards
www.texscience.org/releases/2008nov19-science-standards.htmVisit Teach Them Science for an excellent and beautifully-designed website devoted to informing the public about the attack on science standards in Texas by politically-organized and aggressive Creationists and how to respond.
Texas Citizens for Science President Steven Schafersman will live blog (with photos) the entire three days of public and expert testimony, State Board of Education debate and voting, and the press conferences. The live blogs will be posted here on the TCS website. In addition, any person can go to the Texas Education Agency homepage and listen to a live audio feed of the hearing in progress.
Older Investigative Reports and Essays
2008 November 6 - The Expert Feedback Reports of Three Texas Science Professors and Three Anti-Scientific Intelligent Design Creationists Are Now Avaiable
The Expert Feedback Reports of the three anti-scientific Intelligent Design Creationists and the three mainstream science professors and educators appointed by members of the Texas State Board of Education are now available online. A detailed analysis of the three reports by the Creationsts will be published on this site soon.
You may leave comments about this report on Schafersman's blog column in the Houston Chronicle Evo.Sphere Blog.
2008 October 28 - The Discovery Institute and Texans for Better Science Education Engage in the Swiftboating of Christine Castillo Comer
A new Investigative Report by TCS President Dr. Steven Schafersman reveals the true story about the attempt by the Discovery Institute and Texans for Better Science Education to Swiftboat Christine Castillo Comer, the former Texas Education Agency Director of Science who was illegally forced to resign over a forwarded email message that announced an upcoming pro-evolution, anti-Intelligent Design Creationism presentation. The TCS Report shows why the TBSE press release and timeline and the DI column contain errors that have all the characteristics of a classic political smear.
You may leave comments about this report on Schafersman's blog column in the Houston Chronicle Evo.Sphere Blog.
2008 October 15 - Texas Citizens for Science Strongly Criticizes the Texas State Board of Education for Nominating Three Anti-Evolutionists and Intelligent Design Creationists to the Six-Member Science Standards Review Panel
The Texas State Board of Education is at it again. This time some members have nominated three anti-evolution Intelligent Design Creationists to the six-person panel of university science professors that is supposed to review the draft science standards written by panels of scientists and science teachers. TCS President Dr. Steven Schafersman has prepared a Report and News Release that contains information about these three individuals with links to the documents that demonstrates why the two out-of-state nominees are unfit to be members of the review panel.
You may leave comments about this report on Schafersman's blog column in the Houston Chronicle Evo.Sphere Blog.
2008 October 14 - Texas Citizens for Science Supports Laura Ewing for State Board of Education District 7, the Beaumont, Galveston, and Eastern Greater Houston area.
Her opponent, Radical Religious Right Republican David Bradley, is unfit for the office for many reasons. Texas Citizens for Science is happy to reprint a Laura Ewing Campaign Flyer here. TCS President Steven Schafersman will have much more to say about the Ewing-Bradley race and other State Board of Education races in his Houston Chronicle Evo.Sphere Blog.
2008 October 1 - 21st Century Science Coalition is Launched in Texas to Oppose Anti-Evolutionists
Scientists from the University of Texas at Austin held a press conference in Austin on September 30 to launch the newly-formed 21st Century Science Coalition to defend the accuracy and reliability of science education in Texas public schools. You can read about this new coalition in a brief TCS report about the new 21st Century Science Coalition.
You may leave comments about this report on Schafersman's blog column in the Houston Chronicle Evo.Sphere Blog.
2008 September 28 - Radical Texas State Board of Education Members Attempt to Force Their Sectarian Religious Views on Public Schools Using a Discredited and Unconstitutional Bible Curriculum
Texas Citizens for Science President Steven Schafersman has written an Investigative Report about four Radical Religious-Right Republican members of the Texas State Board of Education who have misused their office by promoting an unconstitutional and inaccurate Bible curriculum. The report looks at several reasons why their act is unethical and may be illegal, and it examines the history of the Texas Bible curriculum bill and law.
You may leave comments about this report on Schafersman's blog column in the Houston Chronicle Evo.Sphere Blog.
2008 September 26 - Texas Citizens for Science Vice-President Paul Murray Reviews "What Every Christian Should Know About Intelligent Design" by William Dembski
Texas Citizens for Science Vice-President Paul Murray attended "The Bible and Modern Science Conference" of the Center for Christian Apologetics in Houston, Texas. He attended several of the presentations including the one by Intellligent Design authority William Dembski titled "What Every Christian Should Know about Intelligent Design." He recorded and transcribed Dembski's presentation, and reviews it in What Every Rational Person Should Know About ID.
2008 September 25 - The Texas Education Agency Has Released the New K-12 Draft Science Standards for Public Review and Comment. TCS President Dr. Steven Schafersman Reports on the New Standards and Reviews the Biology Standards
Every ten years, the Texas Education Agency must revise the curriculum standards for the various disciplines in public schools. The standards are followed by authors and publishers for textbook content, by teachers for course content, and by the TEA for standardized end-of-course exams. This year and early next year it is the turn of Science. The just-completed revision of the English Language Arts and Reading standards was highly contentious, and Science standards are likely to be equally controversial. The proposed new and revised science standards are now available for public reading and comment. Texas Citizens for Science President Dr. Steven Schafersman has written a Report about the standards and also briefly reviews the newly revised Biology standards.
You may leave comments about this report on Schafersman's blog column in the Houston Chronicle Evo.Sphere Blog.
2008 August 15 - Texas Education Agency Approves Expansion of Grades 3-8 Online Education for Texas Virtual Academy Using the Anti-Science K12 Curriculum Once Promoted by William Bennett
Texas Citizens for Science President Dr. Steven Schafersman has written an Investigative Report that exposes the anti-science K12 curriculum used by the new Texas Virtual Academy (TXVA) at Southwest Schools in Houston, Texas. The TXVA was designed to funnel public tax money to Christian Fundamentalist and Biblically Literalist families who homeschool their children, and now it has just been approved by the TEA for use in several more large cities in the state. The TXVA uses the discredited K12 curriculum once promoted by William Bennett, which avoids the e-word and allows parents to keep their children ignorant of evolutionary biology. Both TEA and K12 plan to help homeschooled students remain uneducated about evolution by allowing students to skip the evolution sections of their science courses and keeping standardized state 10th-grade end-of-course biology exams free of questions about evolution (but perhaps including a few questions about bogus "weaknesses" of evolution). Readers may also consult the News Articles and Editorials that have dealt with this topic since 2001.
TCS President Schafersman wrote about this topic in a 2003 article about the K12 Anti-Science Curriculum of Virtual Charter Schools just before the Legislature considered and rejected it. Unfortunately, this ugly, smelly beast did not die a natural death, but was kept hidden until the Commissioner of Education could release it to the thousands of families that want to give their children a religious, anti-scientific education at taxpayer expense. Ultimately, with the TXVA, Texans will pay for a third-rate science education that further fails our students while shoveling millions of dollars of public tax money to right-wing virtual academies and politically-connected, anti-science, online curricula companies.
You may leave comments about this report on Schafersman's blog column in the Houston Chronicle Evo.Sphere Blog.
2008 August 13 - Members and Supporters of Texas Citizens for Science in Houston Can Register for Free for the Bible and Modern Science Conference sponsored by the Center for Christian Apologetics
The Center for Christian Apologetics is sponsoring a Creationism conference in Houston on Saturday, August 23. The title is The Bible and Modern Science: What Every Christian Should Know. One of the organizers of the conference, Kurt Wise, Director of CCA, has offered free registration to the first ten atheist members of TCS who request registration by email. Hopefully, CCA will also allow some of the religious members of TCS free registration, too. Request soon to be among the first ten, and certainly before August 18, when registration closes. Seating is limited.
2008 August 12 - Texas Citizens for Science President Now Has a New Texas Evolution and Education Blog on the Houston Chronicle Website
Texas Citizens for Science President Dr. Steven Schafersman now has a new blog on the Houston Chronicle website named Evo.Sphere in which he writes columns about evolution and education in Texas. He shares this new blog with five University of Houston biology professors who write about evolutionary biology. The Chronicle has two other new science blogs named Atmo.Sphere that covers climate issues and Cosmo.Sphere that covers space science. These new blogs were initiated by Eric Berger, the Chronicle's science writer who has a blog named SciGuy.
Here is a list of the first nine blog columns in the order written.
- New Blog about Evolution and Education in Texas
- Did Thomas Jefferson Believe in Intelligent Design Creationism?
- Let's Explore "Explore Evolution"
- The Disjunctive Duality of Science Distinction
- Evolving Toward a Compromise
- Was Thomas Jefferson a Deist? Is Science the Best Describer of Reality?
- The Evolutionary Origins of Religion
- Richard Dawkins, PZ Myers, and Warren Chisum: Let's Get Them Out of the Way
- Texas Education Agency Approves Expansion of Grades 3-8 Online Education for Texas Virtual Academy Using the Anti-Science K12 Curriculum Once Promoted by William Bennett
Columns, commentaries, and reviews by Steven Schafersman which formerly appeared on the TCS website will now be found on the Evo.Sphere blog. A list of titles with direct links to the blog posts will be kept updated here. Long research articles, essays, and public testimonies will continue to appear here.
2008 July 20 - Testimony about Texas Science Standards to the State Board of Education in Austin, 2008 July 17, by TCS President Steven Schafersman
Texas Citizens for Science President Dr. Steven Schafersman presented Testimony to the Texas State Board of Education about the scientifically inappropriate language of "strengths and weaknesses" in the state's science standards. He advocated that the standards be revised to remove this poor language.
2008 July 15 - Texas Citizens for Science Testimony to the House Public Education Committee in Austin, 2008 July 16, concerning the Texas State Board of Education
Texas Citizens for Science President Dr. Steven Schafersman's Testimony to the Texas House Public Education Committee concerning the illegal and damaging activities of the Texas State Board of Education is now available. In the testimony, TCS documents the continuing efforts of the SBOE to censor science textbooks and injure science standards.
2008 July 13 - Science Education in Texas: Keeping It Religion-Free. Speakers to Highlight Dangers of Creationism Encroaching into the Public Schools.
The event is at 6:30 p.m., Wednesday evening, July 16, UT Austin Campus, Burdine Hall, Room 108.
Admission is free, and free parking is available at C Lot after 5:45 p.m. and in the LBJ Lot anytime.Science education in Texas is under attack as never before, as evidenced by the recent ouster of State Director of Science Education Christine Castillo Comer for the offense of promoting science education. Now, as Comer pursues her lawsuit for wrongful termination, the Center for Inquiry-Austin, Texas Citizens for Science, and University of Texas Section of Integrative Biology invite the public to a forum on the fight to keep evolution at the forefront in science education.
Speakers and talks include:
Steven Schafersman - How Will Texas Oppose Aggressive, Organized Creationism in Texas?
Schafersman is a 22-year veteran college and university science professor, and founder of the Texas Citizens for Science, where he has been president since 1980. His talk will focus on how Texas science supporters will oppose the continuing efforts of those who willfully demean science education.
Ed Brayton - Yes Virginia, It Really Is All About Religion.
Brayton, founder and president of Michigan Citizens for Science, is the voice behind the popular blogs Dispatches from the Culture Wars and The Panda's Thumb. He will show, despite claims to the contrary by proponents, the solely religious nature of the Intelligent Design movement.
Josh Rosenau - Nothing New Under the Sun: The Evolution of Creationism.
Rosenau, a staffer at the National Center for Science Education, describes the central irony of the creation-evolution controversy-how rapidly and frequently creationism evolves. He will show how creationist strategies have changed, what to expect in the future, and how to protect accurate science education in the public schools.
A question and answer period will follow the talks.
2008 July 13 - Texas Citizens for Science Reviews the New Lousisian Science Education Act that was Inspired by the Discovery Institute's Academic Freedom Bill
Texas Citizens for Science President Dr. Steven Schafersman will soon complete an essay review about new Lousisian Science Education Act that permits and even encourages public school science instructors to teach pseudoscientific objections to evolution, the origin of life, global warming, and human cloning. The new law implicitly even allows teachers to teach various forms of Creationism, including Intelligent Design Creationism, and allows school districts to purchase Creationist "supplemental textbooks" such as Explore Evolution. Several states came close to passing this notorious anti-scientific legislation, but Louisiana was the first to be deceived. Until the essay is completed, please visit the webpage that contains News Articles and Editorials about this new law.
2008 July 13 - Texas Citizens for Science Reviews the Lawsuit Filed Against the Texas Education Agency by Christine Castillo Comer
Texas Citizens for Science President Dr. Steven Schafersman will soon complete an essay review about the Chris Comer lawsuit against the Texas Education Agency that analyzes the Petition's legal arguments. Until then, please visit the webpage that contains News Articles and Editorials about this story. Also, you can obtain a copy of the Chris Comer Lawsuit Petition on the TCS website.
2008 June 4 - Texas Citizens for Science Reviews the Efforts of Creationist Members of the Texas State Board of Education to Force "Weaknesses" of Evolution into the Texas Science Standards
Texas Citizens for Science President Dr. Steven Schafersman has written an essay review about the efforts of Biblical Creationists on the Texas State Board of Education to Keep Anti-Science "Weaknesses" in the Texas science standards. The seven radical religious right members of the Texas SBOE want to keep the "strengths and weaknesses" language currently in the Texas science standards and add specific alleged but bogus "weaknesses of evolution" to further undermine science education in the state. The essay reviews two long and important news reports just published about the forthcoming Texas science standards revision and provides valuable context and historical information about the "weaknesses" language. It also looks at the humorous responses by Discovery Institute officers who apparently based their critiques of one of the news articles on only its headline.
2008 June 2 - Texas Citizens for Science Reports on the Petition of t