Visit Kansas Citizens for Science Website
This site is dedicated at this time to issues related to the science standards situation in Kansas. See the documents linked below for further information.
Pamphlets
for Scopes Week
Response
to IDnet Proposal for Draft 6
Pratt
Letters
Phillip
Johnson Flier
Candidates
for state Board of Education
Jonathan
Wells Flier
Summary of Science Standards Issue in Kansas: A two page flier summarizing the Fordham Report, the Tom Willis creationist involvement, and the Board's rationalizations for their actions.
Packet of material sent to all local Board Presidents in response to State Board cover letter to the standards. KCFS mailed all district Board Presidents a packet of materials on May 1. This packet included a response to the science standards cover letter, a copy of USD 437's resolution rejecting the state standards and adopting the Fifth Working Draft, and other resources.
The Fordham Foundation review of the science standards: The conservation Fordham Foundation, which has evaluated the standards in all curriculum areas in all 50 states, recently gave the Kansas Science Standards an "F". Since the Board voted to *not* send the standards out for further review, I will assume that they accept the Fordham Foundation's judgment ;-)
Press Release 12/10/99: This press release outlines the claim that virtually all the additions made to the August standards were written by members of a Genesis-based creationist group led by Tom Willis, president of the Creation Science Association of Mid-America (CSAMA), and not the Board writing team of Steve Abrams, Scott Hill, and Harold Voth, as they have claimed.
Standards
Science Writing Commitee's Fifth Working Draft: This is the original Fifth Working Draft submitted by the 27-member science writing committee. This was the draft that was changed by the Board writing team to further the creationist agenda. Download a copy in Word 97-98 format, or download a copy in PDF Format.
Comparison of August standards with the Willis Drafts: This complete version of the August standards shows all the additions ostensibly made by the Board writing team, color-coded to show the source of the additions. Over 95% of the additions are taken verbatim from Willis's CDC draft A8.
Comparision of August standards with the proposed 5th draft of the science writing committee, by Peter Gegenheimer: This complete version of the 5th draft proposed by the science writing committee shows all the deletions as well as additions made by the Board writing team.
Willis' Citizens Drafting Committee (CDC) draft A8, June 26, 1999: This is the "alternative" draft written by the Willis group that was never revealed to the Board or the science writing committee, but was evidently used extensively by the Board writing team in making their additions. It is a primary source of virtually all of the additions referenced in the above document Comparison of August standards with the Willis Drafts.
Willis' Citizens Drafting Committee (CDC) draft 4A, April 24, 1999: This is the first "alternative" draft written by the Willis group that Steve Abrams presented to the Board in May without revealing its source. A number of statements from this draft are also in CDC A8, and appear in the standards adopted in August. This draft is also referenced in the above document Comparison of August standards with the Willis Drafts.
Evidence showing that the Tom Willis group wrote CDC/A8 and gave them to Board member Steve Abrams, who subsequently used them as the basis for the changes made to the Fifth Working Draft
Evidence from Draft A8 that Tom Willis's group was the author: This page presents evidence that draft CDC A8 was primarily written on Tom Willis's computer, that the Citizens Drafting Committee acknowledged their involvement, and that the file was received by Steve Abrams and then returned to Tom Willis' group.
Evidence from Celtie Johnson's website of the CDC's Involvement: This page shows screenshots of Celtie Johnson's website, in which she gives extensive credit to the involvement of the Citizens Drafting Committee. This is also where Draft 8A was found.
Evidence from "Kansas Tornado", by creationists Paul Ackerman and Bob Williams: This page summarizes the early involvement of the Willis CDC group in writing the standards, as explained by creationists Paul Ackerman and Bob Williams in their recent book "Kansas Tornado." Paul Ackerman told more of this story at the Case for Creationism seminar in Lawrence in November. All quotes are from "Kansas Tornado."
Miscellaneous speeches and articles
POSH's critique of Kenneth Miller's Biology textbook is at posh.roundearth.net/biology.htm
Kenneth Miller's Response to POSH is at www.kcfs.org/miller/analysis.html
Article by Rev. Thad Holcombe, University of Kansas Ecumenical Christian Ministries, eloquently opposing the actions of the state Board.
Speeches to Board, and Press Release, from the February 8, 2000 Board meeting. A number of citizens spoke to the Board about the importance of having the standards reviewed, as they had voted to do in December. However, the Board once again put politics over education, and voted to *not* have the review, and to proceed with making state assessments based on the crippled science standards they had adopted.
Open Letter to Steve Abrams and Scott Hill, Board meeting speech, January 11, 2000: This speech asks Dr. Abrams and Mr. Hill a number of questions about how they inserted the Willis draft 8A material into the standards, why they claimed to be the authors of that material when they weren't, and how they can justify deceiving both the public and their fellow Board members about this situation.
Newspaper articles on the recent situation: Recent articles from the Kansas City Star, Johnson County Sun, Pitch Weekly, and University Daily Kansan, about the creationist involvement.