Retooled Texas Standards Raise Unease Among Science Groups

Some scientific organizations remain uneasy about Texas' new science standards, given their potential influence, even though long-standing language that says students should learn about the "strengths and weaknesses" of evolution has been stripped from the document.

Scientists, on the one hand, were heartened by the state school board’s decision late last month to remove that language.

For years, they had argued that the wording falsely suggested that scientific support for evolution is shaky—when in fact it is one of most heavily vetted theories in all of science. They also said it encouraged the insertion of religious beliefs into...