Science standards to be developed outside Board's authority

Wichita Eagle | 12/23/2005 | Panel to keep working on school science standards:

Some members of a committee that drew up proposed science standards for the state, upset with the State Board of Education for adding criticism of evolution to their draft, plan to resume meeting on their own.

Steve Case, assistant director of the Center for Science Education at the University of Kansas, said he has received responses from more than half the committee's members about plans to hold additional unpaid sessions.

"We got interrupted," said Case, who led the Science Standards Writing Committee. The panel has sought to distance itself from the final standards that the board approved in November.

John Calvert is outraged, though exactly why isn't clear.

This is good, because the standards weren't perfect even before the Board got into them, so continued revision will be good. School boards that want to be guided by the best available science will rely on these standards.