Who’s Behind the Curtain?

Misinformation. Disinformation.

It happens everywhere, and Iowa is no exception.

Recently the Iowa Department of Education announced that the Hawkeye State’s science standards would no longer refer to “climate change” and instead refer to the phenomenon as “climate trends.” At the same time “biological evolution” would become “biological evolution over time.”

The Des Moines Register reported today that,

“You’ll have a hard time finding the term ‘evolution’ in the new science standards proposed for Iowa public schools – particularly when it applies to humans.”

“And you won’t find the term ‘climate change’ at all.”

“Both have been almost entirely banished form the proposal released for public comment, replaced with the less politically charged terms of ‘biological change over time’ and ‘climate trends.’”

“The swap came as an unpleasant surprise to members of the Standards Revision Committee.”

“The more than 35- member committee comprise of educators, Iowa Department of Education staff and community members from across the state worked on revising the standards – last updated in 2015 – over five meetings last fall before approving a version November 18.”

“But the state, they say, has changed their work, eliminating the terms ‘evolution’ and ‘climate change’ that are so crucial to understanding science – even though it retained the concepts.”

“Committee members Jeff Nordine and Angie Breitbach raised their concerns at the Department of Education’s January 15 public comment session, calling both terms ‘key vocabulary pieces’ that students will need in high school, college and beyond, as Breitbach put it.”

“’My number one frustration is ‘Why was it changed?’ Breitbach, the educational support leader for secondary science and math at Dubuque Community School District, told the Des Moines Register. ‘And none of us were told. There was no notification. The only reason I knew it was changed was because I was looking to provide feedback, and I went on and I’m like ‘Huh, no, no, this doesn’t match.’”

“Nordine, an associate professor of science education at the University of Iowa’s College of Education, said evolution still appears when referring to stellar evolution – the process for a star changing over time. But, when it comes to human evolution, the word disappears.”

…

“Heather Doe, the department’s spokesperson, didn’t respond to the Des Moines Register’s questions on why the terms had been changed. But she said in an email the standards are not a mandated curriculum.”

“’Each district selects its own curriculum, textbooks and other classroom materials,’ she said.”

“The standards committee that made recommendations was never intended to be the final word, Doe said in the email.”

“’The team serves in an advisory capacity to the department; it does not finalize the first proposed revised draft standards,’ she wrote.”

…

“If the proposed standards are approved as is, Iowa would join states like Texas that use substitutes for more common scientific terms, said Glenn Branch, deputy director of the National Center for Science Education Inc.”

…

“None of the people the Register interviewed said the proposed standards were inaccurate, but they argued the wording being used around climate change and evolution is not in line with the wider scientific community.”

“’So, for example, we talked about using the term ‘evolution’ versus the term ‘biological change over time.’ Well, the term ‘evolution’ has a very specific meaning in the scientific community, and we want students to have access to that specific meaning,’ Nordine said.”

“’And if we don’t use that term, then students won’t have the background that they need to be able to participate in conversations that are based in what we know about how scientists currently understand living system.’”

“Several committee members, educators and community members spoke during public comment hearings, airing concerns that politics were impacting the standards and worrying whether Iowa’s children would get a quality science education if controversial terms were erased.”

“Mark Dorhout, a middle school science teacher at the Panorama Community School District and a former school administrator, said he’s concerned about ‘what we’re doing for public education’ and educating the next generation of teachers.”

“’I continue to see – at least the numbers that I have seen over my 20-year career as a principal – are less and less people that are interested in becoming public school teachers,’ said Dorhout, who described himself as a conservative.”

“Changes to standards, such as the ones being proposed by the state, do not help, he said.”

“’It only causes people more concern about ‘maybe I’m not going to do this,’ Dorhout said.”

“Standards committee member, Jerrid Kruse, a professor of science education at Drake University, said the resulting language changes in the science document indicate ‘there are elements of this process that I really do believe we can’t trust.’”

“’I’m glad the concepts are still there, but…I guess, because I don’t know this for sure, my suspicion is that the changes were made for political reasons, right?’ Kruse said. ‘Like we know that there’s political hot button around words like climate change and evolution.’”

“If people, including lawmakers, are afraid of scientific words, ‘then we do run into a slippery slope of freedom of speech and all the fascism stuff that people are talking about,’ he said.”

“The public can comment on the standards via a survey available on the Iowa Department of Education’s website through February 3.”

This happened all the time when I worked as a regional superintendent in Houston, Texas. Committees would be formed, being told that whatever they recommended would be what the district carried forward for approval. And then, in the eleventh hour, those committee recommendations would be changed to align with the political tea leaves of the day.

As public school educators, past and present, we have a duty to present the most accurate information available to our young learners as we work to make them smarter and stronger. It is highly unethical to do anything other than that.

“Everyone is entitled to their own opinions, but not their own facts.”

• Daniel Patrick Moynihan, U.S. Senator from New York, 1977-2001