Science standards revision time! Get ready, Texans!
The Texas State Board of Education is getting ready to revise the science TEKS (for those out of state: Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills; basically, the science education standards for the state). The following comes from the TABT (Texas Association of Biology Teachers). A similar statement has been released by STAT (Science Teachers Association of Texas).
In an unprecedented move in the last round of English Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) updates, the State Board of Education (SBOE) rejected three years of revision work completed by highly competent Texas English teachers. At the last minute, the SBOE substituted and approved a substitute document submitted by a few members of the SBOE. Please let your SBOE member and state legislature know that you are concerned with any efforts to ignore the revision work of the Texas science teachers.
TABT members are urged to contact their SBOE member and ask for support for quality science education before the July 17 SBOE meeting. At this meeting, the timeline for the revision of the Science TEKS will be established. For information on how to contact your SBOE member for your district, go directly to TEA at http://www.tea.state.tx.us/sboe/members.html.
Blog of the Airtightnoodle 
July 13, 2008 at 1:53 am
[…] Science standards revision time! Get ready, Texans!The Texas State Board of Education is getting ready to revise the science TEKS (for those out of state: Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills; basically, the science education standards for the state). The following comes from the TABT … […]
July 13, 2008 at 4:33 am
“In an unprecedented move in the last round of English Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) updates, the State Board of Education (SBOE) rejected three years of revision work completed by highly competent Texas English teachers.”
It wasn’t unprecedented. The first rejection came 2 1/2 years ago, after the first revision had already been submitted for public comment. Then Chair Miller called a “work group” where they decided to revamp (not revise) the ELAR standards. Then it happened again in Feb. 2008, when the new Chair McLeroy tried to get a “substitute amendment” pushed through which had been written and rejected 10 years earlier during the initial TEKS adoption in 1997. This failed. Then, these board members (8 in all) tried to make it sound like a coalition of professional organizations (Texas Council of Teachers of English for example) “hijacked” the process by submitting a suggested document during one of the last teacher workgroup meetings, when in fact McLeroy gave the “facilitator” and TEA permission to use that very document during the workgroup meeting. They subsequently adopted a document put together OVERNIGHT by members Gail Lowe and Barbara Cargill, then submitted to board members at 7am on the day of the meeting and vote at around 9am. Some board members wanted time to read it. They were refused.
We in ELAR have been contacting every science and history teacher we know from the beginning of this twisted path, warning them that if SBOE members can get away with this craziness with ELAR, it will serve as a blueprint for further shenanigans with the science and history TEKS revision processes. Learn from our mistakes; don’t think for a second any of this is really about education.
Good luck!
February 10, 2012 at 12:23 pm
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