Tsunamis caused by the sun? LAST CALL for public comment window for Social Studies and Literary Lists closes June 15

“Tsunamis are caused by the sun, Japanese internment was a 'contribution' to the war effort, and MLK is not listed as a leader of civil rights: welcome to Texas's proposed high school standards” - this is the title The Social Studies Advocate has given their third and final deep dive on the proposed Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) for social studies.

The article puts a very fine point on what advocates have been telling the State Board of Education (SBOE) throughout this process—the standards were written too quickly based on a falsely accelerated timeline and that has resulted in significant factor errors and knowledge gaps (with some ideological leanings just for extra):

Taken together, these [high school] courses contain so many factual errors, so much missing content, such significant ideological distortion, and such a dramatic reduction in higher-order thinking skills that we believe Texas students who complete them will graduate with a narrower, less accurate, and more misleading understanding of the world than students who completed the current standards. That is not a failure of implementation. It is a failure of the document itself. 

These same issues pervade all levels of the TEKS. You can also read their analyses of elementary and middle school; all are helpful guides if you would like to submit public comments. 

The proposed standards are a radical experiment in curriculum design that has no research backing its success for student learning. We would like to remind our readers, that these standards will drive classroom instruction, all instructional materials, and the statewide assessment for all grade levels. The current standards have been in place for over a decade so these standards could negatively impact students for many years to come. 

How to Engage 

The public comment window for social studies and the literary lists closes Monday, . June 15. We urge concerned parents and teachers to submit comments via the TEA website and to contact your State Board of Education (SBOE) representative to provide direct feedback. The SBOE will meet again in Austin June 22-26 to vote on these proposals.  

There will be another opportunity for testifiers to come testify on these items at that time. Public testimony registration opens Tuesday, June 16 at 8 am and closes Friday, June 19 at 5 pm. For those that might be willing to testify, but do not live in Austin, you can submit this interest form for possible travel to/from the Dallas or Houston areas. 

Regarding the literary lists that are also still up for comment, faith leaders will also be holding an online training regarding public comment and testimony training Sunday, June 14.