The Wyoming Board of Education (WBE) met late last week to deliberate on the pending Wyoming Department of Education (WDE) recommendations for new state education standards. Wyoming is currently among the lowest ranked states in science education.
The board decided to push back the official decision for standard adoption until later meetings, citing a need for more information amount the specifications of each standard.
The science standards in particular fell under close scrutiny as the public debate surrounding them has been much more heated and publicized.
“The idea of having the WDE compile more information before [the board] makes our final decision is simply so we know exactly what we’re approving,” said Pete Gosar, Treasurer for the Wyoming Board of Education. “It’s not because we find fault with any of the standards per se.”
Many public groups opposed to the adoption of the new science standards continue to raise concerns in regards to the pending lawsuit currently embroiling the Kansas Education Board. Anti-Evolution groups filed suit against the Kansas board for adopting the New Generation Science Standards (NGSS), arguing that it is unconstitutionally biased against religion.
The Wyoming Board of Education is not taking the Kansas lawsuit into much consideration, however.
“That’s an issue that can be settled at the courts, if it comes to that,” Gosar said. “We’re merely acting as an organization to decide which new standards to implement. We’re concerned with the facts and comparative analysis of the standards themselves.”
Gosar further commented that the WBE exists for a reason, to consider all available information so that an informed decision can be made.
“As of right now, there’s a lot of misinformation floating around in the public sphere in regards to these new standards,” Gosar said. “The more light that gets shown on this issue, I think it will help with a lot of people’s concerns.”
Before the WBE began considering the adoption of new education standards at all, the overall state of education results in the state came under scrutiny by the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, a think tank that looks at aggregate results of education standards all throughout the nation. The scores received by the education system in Wyoming were fourth lowest in the nation, according to the Fordham Institute website.
The Fordham Institute also rates the efficacy of standards in general. The ratings given to the Common Core standards which are being considered for adoption by the WBE were comparatively low, especially the NGSS.
East Coast think tanks are not high on the list of overall deciding factors for the WBE, according to Gosar.
“Some people on the board may be taking all of that into account, but personally I am not,” said Gosar. “The people in the WBE are doing an extremely thorough job of compiling information for us, and I trust what they’re going to put in front of us as a final product.”
