Texas State Board of Education Turns Back Common Core Effort Stands Firm on English Standards

SBOE strengthens Texas English Language Arts & Reading By Carole Hornsby Haynes Ph.D. Texas Insider Report: AUSTIN Texas  For the past tumultuous year and a half the Texas English Language Arts & Reading (ELAR) Curriculum Standards (TEKS) have been under review actually rewritten rather than reviewed as the panel was instructed. A small faction attempted to hijack the current standards approved in 2008 by eliminating the literary-historical content to create new standards that are Common Core-compliant and suitable for Common Core-aligned tests. Their final draft in July 2016 drew such heavy public criticism that the Texas State Board of Education (SBOE) selected a team of five experts to address the problems. The experts submitted their final draft in December 2016. Not to be outdone the Common Core faction submitted a new" document to the SBOE at the January meeting asking that this be considered the working document" instead of the experts December draft. To their credit the SBOE stood firm that the new English standards would follow the experts recommendations. In fact the SBOE added a number of excellent amendments to further strengthen the experts draft recommendations including:

• Cursive Writing
• Teaching of American & British Literature
• Phonemic Awareness
• Decoding skills (phonics)
• Spelling
• Research Writing and
• Expository / Persuasive Writing

On February 3rd after lengthy discussion and review the SBOE gave preliminary approval for the revised ELAR standards for grades K-8. The Second Reading for final adoption will be at the April 18-21 meeting. If approved at that time the new K-8 standards will become effective in school year 2019-2020 replacing the 2008 approved standards. The preliminary vote for grades 9-12 standards was postponed until the April meeting with the Second Reading for final adoption at the June 20-23 meeting. The public is urged to submit concerns and changes to SBOE members.

• for grades K-8 from now until April meeting
• for grades 9-12 between April and June meetings

Additional articles by Carole Hornsby Haynes Ph.D. include:

• HAYNES: IS THERE A SOLUTION TO THE STAAR PROBLEM?
• Part 5:  COMMON CORE MATH IN TEXAS: TEXAS MATH SCORES DROP WORST IN U.S. SAYS EXPERT
• Part 4:  COMMON CORE MATH IN TEXAS? AND WHY HAS THE SBOE DONE NOTHING TO RESOLVE THE ISSUE?
• Part 3:  COMMON CORE MATH IN TEXAS: IS THERE A SOLUTION FOR THE MATH STANDARDS SHIPWRECK? 
• Part 2:  COMMON CORE MATH IN TEXAS? DID THE TEA OVERSTEP ITS AUTHORITY ON MATH CURRICULUM STANDARDS?
• Part 1:  COMMON CORE MATH IN TEXAS? WHY TEXAS SCHOOLS SHOULD NOT USE CENTRALIZED GOVERNMENT CONTROL
• WHY TEXAS MUST START EDUCATION SAVINGS ACCOUNTS
• WILL TEXAS STATE BOARD OF ED ADOPT COMMON CORE-COMPLIANT STANDARDS?

Follow Dr. Carole Haynes at www.drcarolehhaynes.com