No ‘rewrite’ by PED of science standards

We’d thank the folks at the Public Education Department for offering a rewrite of proposed science standards, but uhh … there’s just one thing: No one trusts them.

A “rewrite” of the proposed science standards is not necessary or desirable. All the Public Education Department needs to do is adopt the Next Generation Science Standards in theirentirety. Then, the state needs to adopt the excellent curricula and assessments that already exist, tied to those standards, and developed in an open process in the light of day and in use already by at least 18 other states. No need to reinvent the flat tire.

It’s been underreported that Public Education Department already has written and imposed on the state’s students and teachers a set of “end-of-course” exams that fail to assess student knowledge about the age of Earth, climate change and evolution.

These bogus exams probably will show that our science scores are “going up” because the state has left out the big ideas and the more demanding parts of the scientific process.

It has been underreported that the Public Education Department attempted to adopt only the headings of the Next Generation Science Standards, not the meat of them, the information that allows them to be implemented and cross-connected. So the Public Education Department should keep its hands off them, please. It hasn’t shown integrity, transparency or democratic intentions.

I keep hearing members of Gov. Susana Martinez’s administration criticizing “big government” and promising to save money. Instead, the Public Education Department has wasted a huge amount of tax money on this corrupt process. Don’t waste any more. Keep it simple and transparent.