NM PED Changes Science Standards

Bowing to public outrage, the New Mexico Department of Education said it will restore the word “evolution” in its proposed science standards and will also restore a reference to the Earth's age of 4.6 billion years.

The changes to the Next Generation Science standards came a day after hundreds of members of the public packed a hearing on the proposed standards and vociferously opposed them.

What drew the most public outrage was the PED's proposal to eliminate the word “evolution” from the curriculum as well as a reference to the Earth's age.

The department made the announcement about the revisions in an email Tuesday night to members of the news media.

“The New Mexico Stem-Ready Science proposal discussed this past month was built considering standards adopted in other states as well as input from New Mexicans,” PED Secretary-designate Christopher Ruszkowski said in the email.

“Many states that have adopted higher standards have made adjustments based upon input from their communities. New Mexico is no different. Similar to the process in other states, our goal in holding a public hearing is to ensure all those who wanted to discuss these proposed standards would be heard. We have listened to the thoughtful input received and will incorporate many of the suggestions into the New Mexico Standards.”