Only a handful of textbooks are meeting Tennessee’s new K-12 science standards, state education officials said at Friday’s Tennessee State Board of Education meeting.
According to Textbook Commission Executive Director Lee Houston, the commission recently prepared a preliminary list of textbooks and instructional resources for science courses that meet the state’s new standards, which go into effect next school year. She said of that list, most did not meet the standards. Board officials also noted that only one K-5 science textbook vendor, Studies Weekly, had textbooks that were approved by the commission.
Houston said many textbook publishers are simply failing to stay up to date with certain areas of research and alignment with state standards. She said many publishers didn’t do their homework regarding standards for approval, a point she also made at a recent commission meeting.
“They know what the rubrics are,” she said. “The publishers are lagging behind in this, and that’s a problem we see nationwide. I think as that progresses and they see the parts they failed on, they can correct those, and the ones that are serious will. Some missed it by a little, others missed it by a lot.”
Houston added that districts can request to use alternative textbooks moving forward.
According to documents on the State Board’s website, the Textbook Commission will meet on October 2, 2024, to hear publishers’ appeals, and consider any public comment, either written or verbal. The commission will then vote on the final items on the list and determine which textbooks and instructional materials to recommend to the State Board for final approval during its November quarterly meeting.
“If they do not pass, they have the opportunity to appeal before us with all those corrections and at that time, they would be reviewed again with their corrections,” Textbook Commission Chair Linda Cash said previously of the process.
