Education Week story about Fl. standards

Education Week published a story about the new draft of Florida science standards. Definitely worth taking a few minutes to read.

The committee has spoken. Now it’s the Florida public’s turn—and, when it comes to evolution, there’s a lot to say.

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The newly proposed Florida standards demand that students understand many aspects of evolution, including how evidence for evolution appears in the fossil record, embryology, molecular biology, and other areas; how humans evolved from early ancestors over millions of years; and how evolution is guided by natural selection.

Brian McClain, a high school biology teacher and a member of the committee, said he heard a few of its members suggest presenting a more critical view of evolution in the standards. But the consensus was that doing so would undermine the document’s scientific legitimacy, he said.

Not discussing evolution “would be comparable to teaching earth science without talking about plate tectonics, or chemistry without the periodic table,” said Mr. McClain, who teaches at Amos P. Godby High School, in Tallahassee. “It just has to be there.”

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In an early count of online comments submitted so far, a majority of respondents agreed with how evolution was presented in individual Florida benchmarks. But the responses, not surprisingly, also reveal sharp divisions.

“Excellent benchmark,” one commenter wrote of an benchmark about evidence for evolution.

“Do some research of creation science,” another countered. “Evolution ‘facts’ have been disproven.”