Public Hearing on Proposed New 19 TAC Chapter 113, Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills for Social Studies, Subchapter A, Elementary, Subchapter B, Middle School, Subchapter C, High School, and Subchapter D, Other Social Studies Courses

August 1, 2022

COMMITTEE OF THE FULL BOARD: DISCUSSION
STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION: NO ACTION

SUMMARY: A public hearing before the State Board of Education (SBOE) is scheduled for Monday, August 1, 2022, in the William B. Travis Building, Room 1-104. Testimony will be presented regarding proposed new 19 Texas Administrative Code (TAC) Chapter 113, Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills for Social Studies, Subchapter A, Elementary, Subchapter B, Middle School, Subchapter C, High School, and Subchapter D, Other Social Studies Courses. In accordance with SBOE operating procedures, oral testimony will be limited to two minutes per person. Additionally, the public hearing will be limited to no more than six hours.

STATUTORY AUTHORITY: Texas Education Code (TEC), §§7.102(c)(4); 28.002(a), (c), (h), (h-1), (h-2); and 28.025(a).

TEC, §7.102(c)(4), requires the State Board of Education (SBOE) to establish curriculum and graduation requirements.

TEC, §28.002(a), identifies the subjects of the required curriculum.

TEC, §28.002(c), requires the SBOE to identify by rule the essential knowledge and skills of each subject in the required curriculum that all students should be able to demonstrate and that will be used in evaluating instructional materials and addressed on the state assessment instruments.

TEC, §28.002(h), requires the SBOE and each school district to require the teaching of informed patriotism, Texas history, and the free enterprise system in the adoption of instructional materials for kindergarten through grade 12, including the founding documents of the United States.

TEC, §28.002(h-1), requires the SBOE to adopt essential knowledge and skills that develop each student's civic knowledge, including an understanding of the fundamental moral, political, and intellectual foundations of the American experiment in self-government; the history, qualities, traditions, and features of civic government in the United States; the structure, function, and processes of local, state, and federal, government institutions; and the founding documents of the United States.

TEC, §28.002(h-2), requires the SBOE to adopt essential knowledge and skills that develop each student's civic knowledge, including an understanding of the fundamental moral, political, entrepreneurial, and intellectual foundations of the American experiment in self-government; the history, qualities, traditions, and features of civic government in the United States; the structure, function, and processes of local, state, and federal, government institutions; and the founding documents of the United States; the ability to analyze and determine the reliability of information sources, formulate and articulate reasoned positions, understand the manner in which local, state, and federal governments works and operates through the use of simulations and models of governmental and democratic processes, actively listen and engage in civic discourse, and participate as a citizen in a constitutional democracy by voting; and an appreciation of the importance and responsibility of participating in civic life, a commitment to the United States and its form of government, and a commitment to free speech and civil discourse.

TEC, §28.025(a), requires the SBOE to by rule determine the curriculum requirements for the foundation high school graduation program that are consistent with the required curriculum under TEC, §28.002.

The full text of statutory citations can be found in the statutory authority section of this agenda.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION AND SIGNIFICANT ISSUES: The TEKS for social studies and economics were originally adopted effective September 1, 1998. The Kindergarten-Grade 12 social studies TEKS and the TEKS for economics were revised effective August 23, 2010. In 2018, the SBOE approved streamlining revisions to the social studies TEKS for Kindergarten to Grade 8 and four high school social studies course (U.S. History Studies, World History Studies, World Geography, United States Government). The SBOE also streamlined the TEKS for Economics with Emphasis on the Free Enterprise System and its Benefits and consolidated the TEKS for economics into Chapter 113.

In 2015, the SBOE adopted revisions to the TEKS for certain Advanced Placement (AP) and International Baccalaureate (IB) social studies courses to require that students demonstrate proficiency in the TEKS for the corresponding AP and IB courses in addition to the AP or IB course requirements.

In 2021, the 87th Texas Legislature passed Senate Bill (SB )1063, amending TEC, §28.025, to add a one-half credit course in personal financial literacy and economics as an option to meet the one-half credit graduation requirement for economics under the Foundation High School Program. SB 1063 requires that the SBOE adopt TEKS for the personal financial literacy and economics course and that the required curriculum for the course allocate two-thirds of the instructional time to personal financial literacy and one-third of instructional time to economics.

Additionally, the 87th Texas Legislature passed House Bill (HB) 4509 (Regular Session, 2021) and SB 3 (Second-Called Session, 2021), to require the teaching of informed patriotism and the founding documents of the United States and require the SBOE to adopt essential knowledge and skills for social studies that develop each student's civic knowledge, including an understanding of the fundamental moral, political, and intellectual foundations of the U.S. government.

At the June and November 2021 SBOE meetings, the board discussed the review of the social studies TEKS. Board members designated content advisors for the social studies TEKS review in August 2021. An application to serve on work groups was posted on the TEA website in September 2021. Additionally, in September 2021, a survey was posted on the TEA website to ask for feedback on the current TEKS for social studies. TEA staff provided SBOE members applications for approval to serve on the social studies work groups in September, October, and November 2021 and January and April 2022. The content advisors convened to discuss consensus recommendations in December 2021 and January 2022. In April 2022, the SBOE asked TEA to convene work groups to develop TEKS for two additional ethnic studies courses, Native American studies and Asian American studies. The SBOE directed future work groups to develop TEKS for kindergarten–grade 8 as follows: the TEKS for kindergarten-grade 2 would address topics in Texas, U.S., and world history thematically and work groups should look to see if there are other organizational options for organizing the kindergarten-grade 2 content; and the TEKS for grades 3–8 would address history chronologically with grades 3-5 focusing on world history and grades 6-8 focusing on Texas and U.S. history. In May 2022, the SBOE convened a special meeting to hear public feedback on the proposed new framework for the kindergarten–grade 8 TEKS. Work groups were convened to develop recommendations for the social studies TEKS in January, February, March, April, May, June, and July 2022.

Proposed new 19 TAC Chapter 113, Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills for Social Studies, Subchapter A, Elementary, Subchapter B, Middle School, and Subchapter C, High School, and Subchapter D, Other Social Studies Courses is presented for discussion as a separate item in this agenda.

Staff Members Responsible:
Monica Martinez, Associate Commissioner, Standards and Programs
Shelly Ramos, Senior Director, Curriculum Standards and Student Support