Kansas has been selected to be one of 20 lead states that will help write new national science standards.

The announcement Tuesday gives Kansas, a state just a few years removed from a fight over the teaching of evolution, influence in writing a common set of standards for public schools.

Other states on the lead team include California, Maryland, New York and Vermont. The project is a collaboration assembled by the National Research Council and Achieve, a nonprofit education reform organization.

A condition of being selected to be a lead state requires the Kansas State Board of Education to consider adopting the national standard when it updates the state requirements in 2014. The standards are used to determine the content and process students need for learning science.