The teaching of evolution in the public schools of the United States is a perennial source of controversy, owing both to the prevalence of creationism in the public and the decentralization of the educational system. Creationists differ in their views and their aims, and creationism is a minority, and dwindling, view among the American public. Nevertheless, a disturbingly large proportion of science teachers are themselves creationists, while a yet higher proportion of them misrepresent creationism as scientifically credible. The decentralized educational system affords opportunities for creationist ideas to be amplified by and embedded in the educational system, as shown by a long history of antievolution legislation and a more recent history of attacks on the treatment of evolution in state science standards. Encouragingly, efforts are under way to attempt the obstacles posed by creationism to the teaching of evolution, which include the development of ways of teaching evolution effectively, the improvement of the treatment of evolution in state science standards, and the recruitment of generally shared values and specifically evangelical Christian values to support the teaching of evolution. Not all is rosy, but there is reason to hope that the arc of history is bending toward teaching evolution.