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Alabama Science Education News

Recent events and news stories:

Fall 2004: Alabama Course of Study: Science (ACOSS) revisions.

Revising science standards for Alabama public schools (see our ACOSS page). Comment period is October 2004.

October 4, 2004:

Draft 2004 ACOSS released for public comment. They are available at the Alabama Department of Education webpage.

(Note: be sure to double-check the address, apparently if you have visited other DoE pages it may automatically take you to an older page such as the 2001 version of the standards.)

October 29, 2004:

Deadline for public comment on the 2004 ACOSS Draft Science Standards.

Spring 2004: "Academic Freedom Act" (see our Legislation page): died in May 2004

Monday, May 17, 2004:
SB336 dies after failing to come to a vote
Saturday-Sunday, May 15-16, 2004:
Final budget negotiations and planning for final legislative day.
Friday, May 14, 2004:
Thursday, May 13, 2004:
Tuesday, May 11, 2004:
Monday, May 10, 2004:
This week the Legislature plans for the last day of the 2004 session.
  • Legislative calendar: Monday, May 17 is the last day of the 30-day legislative session.
  • News: See article discussing bills to be considered in the state House on the last day. AP story on TuscaloosaNews.com, Monday, May 10, 2004.
  • The Discovery Institute issues a press release, "Alabama House Committee Adopts Revised Academic Freedom Bill on Evolution", May 10, 2004.
  • Opinion: David Miles, Letter to the editor on the "Academic Freedom Act", May 8, 2004.
    The bill titled the "Academic Freedom Act" has passed the Alabama Senate and is headed for the Alabama House for a vote. This is one more thinly disguised attempt to bring "creation science" into the science classroom. The AFA hides "creationism" by referring to the protection of students and teachers that discuss "alternative positions in curricula being taught or in a course of learning on the subject of origins." ... Science will continue to flourish throughout America and the industrialized world. Do the residents of Alabama really want to be left behind as science marches on? Consider the future of Alabama's youth and its prestige in the academic community.
  • Opinion: Charlotte Ward, Associate Professor Emeritus of Physics at Auburn, Is it OK to teach Earth is flat?, in the AP story on Birmingham News, May 4, 2004.
    Once again, the teaching of the standard approach to biology, the theory of evolution by natural selection, is under attack, and Alabama students may be put at a disadvantage by gaps in their education left by the choice of those responsible for seeing that they get the best education possible. ... A word to parents who don't want their children to learn modern biology: Fortunately, there are lots of jobs outside the fields of medicine and health, agriculture, biotechnology and other modern professions requiring an understanding of basic biology. I hope your children will be happy and successful in them. And, is it OK with you if someone teaches that the Earth is flat?
     Charlotte Ward won the Academic Freedom Award in 1995.

  • Bill history from ALISON.
Wednesday, April 29, 2004:
SB336 is passed by the House Education Committee by a vote of 9-1.
Thursday, April 8, 2004:
SB336 is passed by the Alabama state Senate by a vote of 28-0.
March 10, 2004:
SB336 passes in the state Senate Education Committee by a vote of 7-0.
March 3, 2004:
HB391 passes in the state House Education Committee by a vote of 10-2-1.
February 17, 2004:
SB336 introduced in the Alabama state Senate.
February 12, 2004:
HB391 introduced in the Alabama state House.

 
Alabama Citizens for Science Education
P.O. Box 36561
Birmingham, AL 35236
Email: alscience@mindspring.com
Web: www.alscience.org