Discussion of Proposed Revisions to 19 TAC Chapter 110, Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills for English Language Arts and Reading, and 19 TAC Chapter 128, Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills for Spanish Language Arts and Reading and English as a Second Language

July 19, 2016

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

SUMMARY: This item provides the opportunity for the committee to discuss proposed revisions to 19 TAC Chapter 110, Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills for English Language Arts and Reading, Subchapter A, Elementary, Subchapter B, Middle School, and Subchapter C, High School, and Chapter 128, Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills for Spanish Language Arts and Reading and English as a Second Language, Subchapter A, Elementary, Subchapter B, Middle School, and Subchapter C, High School.

STATUTORY AUTHORITY: Texas Education Code (TEC), §§7.102(c)(4), 28.002, and 28.025.

TEC, §7.102(c)(4), requires the State Board of Education (SBOE) to establish curriculum and graduation requirements. TEC, §28.002, identifies the subjects of the required curriculum and requires the SBOE by rule to identify 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, §28.025, requires the SBOE by rule to determine the curriculum requirements for the foundation high school graduation program that are consistent with the required curriculum under the TEC, §28.002.

BOARD RESPONSE: This item is presented for review and comment.

PREVIOUS BOARD ACTION: The SBOE adopted the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) for English language arts and reading and Spanish language arts and reading and English as a second language effective September 1, 1998. Amendments to the TEKS for English language arts and reading were adopted effective September 4, 2008 and August 22, 2011. Amendments to the TEKS for Spanish language arts and reading and English as a second language were adopted effective November 26, 2008. In April 2014, the board approved revisions to the process for review and revision of the TEKS to include more specific direction to TEKS review committees. The revised process is being used for the review and revision of the English and Spanish language arts and reading TEKS.

Discussion items regarding the proposed revisions to 19 TAC Chapter 110, Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills for English Language Arts and Reading, and Chapter 128, Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills for Spanish Language Arts and Reading and English as a Second Language, were presented to the Committee of the Full Board during the January and April 2016 meetings.

FUTURE ACTION EXPECTED: Proposed revisions to 19 TAC Chapter 110, Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills for English Language Arts and Reading, Subchapter A, Elementary, Subchapter B, Middle School, and Subchapter C, High School, and Chapter 128, Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills for Spanish Language Arts and Reading and English as a Second Language, Subchapter A, Elementary, Subchapter B, Middle School, and Subchapter C, High School, will be presented for first reading and filing authorization at a future SBOE meeting.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION AND SIGNIFICANT ISSUES: Applications for appointment to English and Spanish language arts and reading TEKS review committees were accepted by the Texas Education Agency (TEA) from March 5, 2015 through April 6, 2015. The applications received were provided to SBOE members at the April 2015 meeting, and nominations for English and Spanish language arts and reading TEKS review committees and appointments of expert reviewers were made in spring 2015. Committee members were notified of the appointment in July 2015. The expert reviewers completed their review of the current TEKS and submitted initial reports to the SBOE in July 2015. Committee members participated in a training webinar in August 2015 in preparation for the first face-to-face meeting. The English and Spanish language arts and reading TEKS review committees convened in Austin in September 2015 to begin work on draft recommendations for the TEKS. The committees convened again in November 2015 to complete their initial draft recommendations.

In December 2015, the first draft recommendations were provided to the board and to the board-appointed expert reviewers and posted to the TEA website for informal public feedback. In accordance with the board's review process, each of the expert reviewers and one member of each TEKS review committee presented invited testimony at the January 2016 meeting.

The English and Spanish language arts and reading TEKS review committees convened for a third time in February 2016 in order to review feedback and work on the vertical alignment of the TEKS across grade levels and subjects. At the request of the board chair, representatives from each of the vertical alignment committees were asked to attend the April 2016 meeting to answer questions from board members. At that time, the board provided additional direction for the English and Spanish language arts and reading TEKS committee members to address at their next meeting.

The committees met for a fourth time in April 2016 to address the board's direction and finalize their recommendations for revisions to the English and Spanish language arts and reading TEKS. The English and Spanish language arts and reading TEKS committees' final recommendations were provided to the board-appointed expert reviewers and posted to the TEA website in June 2016.

Representatives from the TEKS review committees convened in Austin in June 2016 to review the drafts and provide feedback regarding whether the recommended TEKS for each grade level or course can reasonably be taught within the amount of time typically allotted for the subject or course prior to the end of the school year or a state end-of-course assessment required by TEC, §39.023, as applicable.

The final recommendations from the English and Spanish language arts and reading TEKS review committees for 19 TAC Chapter 110, Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills for English Language Arts and Reading, Subchapter A, Elementary, Subchapter B, Middle School, and Subchapter C, High School, and Chapter 128, Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills for Spanish Language Arts and Reading and English as a Second Language, Subchapter A, Elementary, Subchapter B, Middle School, and Subchapter C, High School, will be provided to the board as a separate exhibit at the July SBOE meeting.

FISCAL IMPACT: There will be normal business costs associated with this process for the agency, including staff and committee travel, meeting accommodations, expert review, and production and dissemination of documents.

PUBLIC AND STUDENT BENEFIT: Benefits include better alignment of the TEKS and coordination of the standards with the adoption of instructional materials.

PROCEDURAL AND REPORTING IMPLICATIONS: The proposed revisions would have no procedural and reporting requirements.

LOCALLY MAINTAINED PAPERWORK REQUIREMENTS: The proposed revisions would have no new locally maintained paperwork requirements.

PUBLIC COMMENTS: The official public comment period will begin when the proposal, approved for first reading and filing authorization by the SBOE, is published in the Texas Register.

ALTERNATIVES: None.

OTHER COMMENTS AND RELATED ISSUES: None.

Staff Members Responsible:
Monica Martinez, Associate Commissioner
Standards and Programs

Shelly Ramos, Division Director
Curriculum

Attachment:
Statutory Citations (PDF, 31KB)

Separate Exhibit:
Proposed Revisions to 19 TAC Chapter 110, Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills for English Language Arts and Reading, Subchapter A, Elementary, Subchapter B, Middle School, and Subchapter C, High School, and Chapter 128, Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills for Spanish Language Arts and Reading and English as a Second Language, Subchapter A, Elementary, Subchapter B, Middle School, and Subchapter C, High School
(to be provided at the July 2016 SBOE meeting)