This article explores the relationships between (a) the quality of state science standards and student science achievement, (b) the public’s belief in teaching evolution and the quality of state standards, and (c) the public’s belief in teaching evolution and student science achievement. Using multiple measures, we find no evidence of a relationship between the quality of a state’s science standards and student science achievement. We also examine the relationship between state-level beliefs about evolution and student achievement. Here, we find a positive and consistent relationship between a state’s acceptance of evolution and student science achievement. Our results suggest that the attitudes that the public has toward evolutionary science are strongly related to student science achievement—more so than the quality of state science standards.
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