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	Another step in the right direction. But is the struggle 
over? Not by a long shot.

Martin


[ncse-news] Evolution education update:  February 14, 2006

A special midweek evolution education update with good news from Ohio.

According to early reports, the Ohio Board of Education voted 11-4 at its
February 14, 2006, meeting to remove both the "Critical Analysis of
Evolution" model lesson plan and the corresponding indicator in the state
standards.  The board's vote follows in the wake of a motion to remove the
lesson plan during the board's January meeting, which failed
9-8.  Following that vote, Governor Taft issued a thinly veiled rebuke to
the board, and a large majority of the Science Content Standards Advisory
Committee described the lesson plan as "a pointed attempt to insert old and
discredited creationist content in Ohio's science classrooms."

"This is a stunning triumph for the students of Ohio's public schools,"
commented NCSE's executive director Eugenie C. Scott, "and a stunning
repudiation of the all-too-successful attempts of creationists to undermine
evolution education in the Buckeye State.  Let's hope that all such
attempts to introduce creationism by the back door meet the same
fate."  But the Associated Press reported (February 14, 2006) that "three
board members who voted in January to keep the plan in place were absent
Tuesday, and supporters of the science material pledged to force a new vote
to return the material soon."  NCSE will provide further details as they
become available.

Since its introduction in 2004, the "critical analysis" language was copied
elsewhere, including Arizona, Kansas, and, recently, South Carolina, where
language similar to Ohio's indicator 23 was incorporated in a draft of the
state science standards.  Not content with that compromise of the treatment
of education, the Education Oversight Committee -- which includes state
senator Michael Fair, the sponsor of several antievolution bills in the
past -- is attempting to expand the "critical analysis" language.  The
state board of education will consider the committee's latest proposal on
March 8, 2006, three weeks after the Ohio board's historic vote.

For the AP's story (via Channel 5 in Cincinnati), visit:
http://www.channelcincinnati.com/education/7053046/detail.html

For NCSE's detailed report on the situation in Ohio, visit:
http://www.ncseweb.org/resources/news/2006/OH/330_ohio39s_antievolution_lesso_2_10_2006.asp

For a story in the Charleston Post and Courier on the situation in South
Carolina, visit:
http://www.charleston.net/stories/?newsID=70746&section=localnews
-- 
Martin Weiss, Ph.D
Vice President, Science
New York Hall of Science
47-01 111 th Street
Corona, New York 11368
718 699 0005 x 356

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