TEXAS HIGH SCHOOL SCIENCE
REQUIREMENTS

BACKGROUND ON EARTH SCIENCE IN TEXAS

Download the Testimony Presented to Texas State Board of Education's Committee on Instruction as a PDF file (2.5Mb)

January 2002

In 1999 the Texas Legislature passed SB 103 which required that, in order to graduate, every high school student must pass an exit science examination (TEKS ) in the 11th grade covering "...at least biology and integrated chemistry and physics." The Texas State Board of Education (SBOE) responded by eliminating Earth Science from the list of courses accepted for core science graduation credit. SB 103 also provided that statewide testing of Earth science comprehension would be shifted from the eighth grade to the fifth grade. These changes significantly deemphasized Earth science in the Texas high school curriculum. Unfortunately, the Texas Earth science community allowed these changes to occur without objection.

Last fall the American Geological Institute, under the leadership of Marcus Milling and Ed Roy, organized a letter-writing campaign to the chair of the SBOE urging a revision of the core science requirements to reinstate Earth science for high school graduation credit and a concomitant revision of TAKS. More than fifty individual geoscientists sent letters to SBOE members. Also, please refer to the "Comment" page (p.5) in the September 2001 issue of Geotimes "(No) Earth Science in Texas" written by Roy.

At the urging of David Dunn, Ms. Miller, Chair of the SBOE Committee on Instruction, agreed to hold a public hearing on the issues raised by the letter writers. Marcus Milling, Ed Roy, David Dunn and Stan Pittman constituted a working group to solicit testimony and orchestrate the presentations. On January 10, 2002, the hearing was held in Austin, Texas. Thirty witnesses from across the State of Texas testified in favor of reinstating Earth science as a high school core science course for graduation credit; none opposed the proposal.

Those who testified are firmly convinced that the inclusion of Earth science in the curriculum of Texas high schools is critical to the intellectual development of our students as well as to the economic growth of the state, the nation, and the world. They represented leaders in their respective fields at the state, national, and, in many cases, international levels. Present were representatives from industries that explore for and/or produce oil and gas, coal, stone, aggregate materials, and minerals. Also present were individuals who represent water resource, environmental, and soil issues as well as those who link Earth and space, including one of America's astronauts. The education community was represented by faculty and administrators from some of the finest higher education institutions in the state, by a number of truly dedicated middle and high school teachers, and by two university geoscience students. In addition, two educators not from the State of Texas presented their views from a national perspective. The common thread that binds those who testified is their passion for seeing that the school children of Texas are properly educated in Earth science during their K-12 education and particularly in high school.

The list of individuals who testified and their summary statements can be found on the AGI web site. Points stressed in the testimony were (1) the National Science Standards recognize Earth Science as a core educational requirement from K-12, in parity with chemistry and physics; (2) the Texas economy is critically dependent on the activities of earth scientists; (3) understanding many societal and environmental issues requires Earth Science input, (4) Earth science provides an improved understanding of other allied sciences in an applied context, and (5) billions of dollars in the Permanent School Fund were generated by the discovery and production of natural resources on state lands by practicing Earth scientists.

Longtime observers of the Texas SBOE hearings commented that they had never seen such a convincing presentation on an issue before, and Committee Chair Miller said she was "...awed by the status of the presenters." In her summary statement Miller concluded that Earth Science was important and that the Texas SBOE needed to determine how to implement the requested changes in the high school curriculum. She indicated that she favored the creation of a task force before the " ...sunset of Chapter 19 TAC 74 on March 24th." The task force would be charged to recommend a revision in graduation requirements (click here for details).

Additionally, Ed Roy reports that, in the opening session of this week's Texas Science Summit in San Antonio, Jim Nelson, Commissioner of the Texas Education Agency (TEA), pointed out there is a legitimate concern that there will be a fall off of Earth science under the new State of Texas graduation requirements and stated that more students need to take geology and that new courses such as Earth Science should be developed. At the same meeting, in the closing session, Grace Shore, Chair of the Texas State Board of Education, stated that the Board is now working to reinstate Earth science in the curriculum and stressed lobbying for the Earth science initiative must continue in order to be successful. I think you can say we have TEA's and SBOE's attention and hopefully their support for our initiative.

The efforts of the Milling-Roy-Dunn-Pittman team will now shift to the composition and charge of the proposed task force. Stay tuned for future news!