State Textbook Commission rejects every proposed textbook for two high school science courses

Stock photo of a student reading a science book (Photo by Pexels)

Publishers that produce science textbooks appear to be having trouble meeting Tennessee’s new K-12 science standards.

The State Board of Education approved the new standards in 2022 and they go into effect next school year. Textbooks approved for schools need to align with the new standards and a recent Tennessee Textbook and Instructional Materials Quality Commission meeting illustrated the challenges publishers are having meeting them.

A team of textbook review panelists recently completed an evaluation of every science textbook submitted to the state for approval.  Textbook Commission Executive Director Lee Houston said more than a few publishers failed that review.

“They had to pass 100 percent of the standards. Several did not have all the standards in there and then they also had to pass 80 percent of the criteria. Several severely missed that cut. There were very few that were close. If they failed it, they really failed it,” said Houston. “Several had not went through and done their homework of the new standards.”

Houston said one problem for a number of book publishers is they submitted materials based on the current science standards that won’t be in place next year.  Two high school courses, Anatomy and Physiology and Earth and Space Science, received no positive textbook recommendations from the textbook review panelists.The Textbook Commission recommended approval for more than a dozen textbooks at the meeting and the State Board of Education will have the final approval for each.Publishers who failed to receive a passing grade do have the option of making corrections to align with the new standards and resubmitting their textbooks for review in October.

“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,” said Textbook Commission Chair Dr. Linda Cash.

Textbook Commission General Counsel Hayden Shadden told the Tennessee Firefly it’s possible publishers of Anatomy and Physiology and Earth and Space Science textbooks will do just that and meet the new standards for approval.

School districts that want to use textbooks not approved by the state for a subject can apply for a waiver from the Tennessee State Board of Education.