A new
evaluation of state K-12 science education standards finds that most are “mediocre to awful.” The Thomas B. Fordham Institute evaluated each state’s standards for clarity, content completeness, and scientific accuracy. Of the 50 states and the District of Columbia, 75% were rated C or below. Only California and D.C. received A’s. Massachusetts received an A-; New York a B+; Connecticut and Vermont, C’s; and Maine, New Hampshire, New Jersey, and Rhode Island, D’s.
Evaluators made four
general observations:
- Anti-evolutionary pressures continue to “threaten and weaken standards in many states.”
- Many standards are “so vague as to be meaningless.”
- Standards place excessive focus on “inquiry-based learning,” which requires students to learn through “discovery” rather than direct instruction in specific content.
- Although math is essential to science, few states link the two and many “avoid mathematical formulae and equations altogether.”
Evaluators found
Connecticut’s standards generally well-written with few scientific errors. But, they note, “a significant amount of important material is missing.” The state’s 2010 standards “admirably expand some key concepts” but also “introduce a number of generalizations and errors.”
