Topic: Curriculum

SBOE approves ‘streamlined’ curriculum standards

Publish Date: November 17, 2018

Today, the SBOE unanimously approved “streamlined” Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS). These are the standards teachers must use for lesson planning and test preparation, and could eventually result in instructional materials changes. This streamlining effort was initiated to address the common compliant that there are too many TEKS standards and not enough time for teachers to provide the necessary...

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‘Mexican American’ gets initial nod for course, but without the hyphen.

Publish Date: June 13, 2018

The State Board of Education took a preliminary vote today to change the name of the new Mexican-American history course to “Ethnic Studies: Mexican American Studies.” SBOE had initially assigned the name “Ethnic Studies: An Overview of Americans of Mexican Descent,” after one board member, David Bradley, said he found “hyphenated Americanism to be divisive." Mexican-American activists across the state...

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House committee to look at new ideas for evaluating student performance, effective special education programs

Publish Date: May 16, 2018

The House Public Education Committee will meet at the Capitol on May 24 at 10 a.m. to hold a public hearing looking at options for measuring student achievement beyond STAAR results. The committee will also look at TEKS in relation to measuring achievement, as well as a review of the Student Success Initiative. The committee then will hear testimony on...

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Mexican-American studies course one step closer to approval

Publish Date: April 12, 2018

A long struggle to add a course in Mexican-American studies to the state curriculum is on the verge of success. As reported in the Texas Tribune: Texas advocates for Mexican-American studies classes won a bitter victory Wednesday, gaining approval to move forward with the class they wanted but losing the course title. The State Board of Education had been debating...

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A chance to remove the “politicized distortion of history” from Texas curriculum standards

Publish Date: February 28, 2018

Eight years ago the State Board of Education blundered badly in drafting curriculum standards for social studies, approving language that has led textbook writers for the Texas market to distort what schoolchildren here learn about history. SBOE members have a chance to correct the mistakes of 2010 as these curriculum standards come up for review later this year. In the...

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School Funding Comes to a Vote in Texas House

Publish Date: April 19, 2017

--School Funding Comes to a Vote in Texas House --Senate Committee Puts Priority on More Money for Charters --State Board of Education Debates Science Standards School Funding Comes to a Vote:  Scheduled for state House floor consideration on Wednesday is HB 21, the bill by Rep. Dan Huberty (R-Houston) to revise school-finance formulas and increase school aid to districts. The...

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Defective Mexican-American Studies Text Denounced at State Board Hearing

Publish Date: September 15, 2016

Upwards of a hundred witnesses citing chapter and verse came to the State Board of Education September 13 to urge rejection of a proposed Mexican-American studies text rife with outright errors and redolent of bias. Among the witnesses were state legislators, Mexican-American history specialists, parents, and veteran K-12 educators including Texas AFT secretary-treasurer Ray McMurrey. “Students and teachers alike should...

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