Dive Brief:
- In West Virginia, lawmakers voted to delay the implementation of the Next Generation Science Standards, saying that mentioning global warming and climate change is ideological and politically-driven.
- ABC News reports that the 73-20 vote was driven by Republicans.
- The state Board of Education also removed Common Core-aligned math and English standards last year; the replacement standards are similar, but state education experts have called for new math and English standards to be instated by the 2017-18 school year.
Dive Insight:
West Virginia's reluctance to embrace climate change and global warming in the classroom may be directly tied to the state's faltering coal industry, a leading source of carbon emissions. "In an energy-producing state, it's a concern to me that we are teaching our kids, potentially, that we are doing immoral things here in order to make a living in our state," Republican delegate Jim Butler told ABC News.
Still, the refusal is noteworthy since mentions of science related to climate change are limited in the new standards, and West Virginia was reportedly among 26 states that had a hand in their development.
Other states have followed suit. In Wyoming, the new science standards were blocked by legislators before that decision was reversed. Ultimately, they were still rejected. Kansas has also seen controversy, with a lawsuit filed by a group called Citizens for Objective Public Education arguing that the standards teach “a non-theistic religious Worldview.”
Both Hawaii and California are among states that have embraced the standards, incorporating ed tech and innovative strategies to advance student levels of engagement with science. The Next Generation Science Standards are meant to help U.S. students catch up with their global peers regarding scientific understanding.