APS Supports Science Education in Texas

The APS has signed on to a statement by the National Center for Science Education asking the Texas State Board of Education to “support accurate science education.” The letter is signed by over fifty associations and societies “representing hundreds of thousands of scientists and teachers,” according to NCSE. Below is a copy of the statement and a list of signatories.

A Message to the Texas State Board of Education

The undersigned scientific and educational societies call on the Texas State Board of Education to support accurate science education for all students by adopting the science standards (Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills or TEKS) as recommended to you by the scientists and educators on your writing committees.

Evolution is the foundation of modern biology, and is also crucial in fields as diverse as agriculture, computer science, engineering, geology, and medicine. We oppose any efforts to undermine the teaching of biological evolution and related topics in the earth and space sciences, whether by misrepresenting those subjects, or by inaccurately and misleadingly describing them as controversial and in need of special scrutiny.

At its January 2009 meeting, the Texas Board of Education rightly rejected attempts to add language to the TEKS about “strengths and weaknesses”—used in past efforts to undermine the teaching of evolution in Texas. We urge the Board to stand firm in rejecting any such attempts to compromise the teaching of evolution.

At its January 2009 meeting, the Board also adopted a series of amendments to the TEKS that misrepresent biological evolution and related topics in the earth and space sciences. We urge the Board to heed the advice of the scientific community and the experienced scientists and educators who drafted the TEKS: reject these and any other amendments which single out evolution for scrutiny beyond that applied to other scientific theories.

By adopting the TEKS crafted by your expert writing committees, the Board will serve the best educational interests of students in Texas’s public schools.

  1. American Anthropological Association
  2. American Association of Physical Anthropologists
  3. American Association of Physicists in Medicine
  4. American Association of Physics Teachers
  5. American Astronomical Society
  6. American Geological Institute
  7. American Institute for Biological Sciences
  8. American Institute of Physics
  9. American Physiological Society
  10. American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
  11. American Society for Cell Biology
  12. American Society for Investigative Pathology
  13. American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics
  14. American Society of Human Genetics
  15. American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists
  16. American Society of Naturalists
  17. American Society of Plant Biologists
  18. American Society of Plant Taxonomists
  19. Association for Women Geoscientists
  20. Association of American Geographers
  21. Association of Anatomy, Cell Biology, and Neurobiology Chairs
  22. Association of College & University Biology Educators
  23. Association of Earth Science Editors
  24. Association of Environmental & Engineering Geologists
  25. Biological Sciences Curriculum Study
  26. Biotechnology Institute
  27. Botanical Society of America
  28. Clay Minerals Society
  29. Council on Undergraduate Research
  30. Ecological Society of America
  31. Federation for American Societies for Experimental Biology
  32. Federation of American Scientists
  33. Human Biology Association
  34. Institute of Human Origins
  35. National Association of Biology Teachers
  36. National Association of Geoscience Teachers
  37. National Earth Science Teachers Association
  38. National Science Teachers Association
  39. Natural Science Collection Alliance
  40. Paleontological Society
  41. Scientists and Engineers for America
  42. Society for American Archaeology
  43. Society for Developmental Biology
  44. Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology
  45. Society for Sedimentary Geology
  46. Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles
  47. Society for the Study of Evolution
  48. Society of Economic Geologists
  49. Society of Systematic Biologists
  50. Society of Vertebrate Paleontology
  51. Southwestern Association of Naturalists
  52. The Biophysical Society
  53. The Helminthological Society of Washington
  54. The Herpetologists’ League
From: 
Email:  
To: 
Email:  
Subject: 
Message:

~/Custom.Templates/Document.aspx