November 2019 Committee of the Full Board Item 9
Discussion of Proposed Revisions to 19 TAC Chapter 126, Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills for Technology Applications, and Chapter 130, Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills for Career and Technical Education
November 13, 2019
COMMITTEE OF THE FULL BOARD: DISCUSSION
STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION: NO ACTION
SUMMARY: This item provides an opportunity for the committee to discuss proposed revisions to 19 Texas Administrative Code (TAC) Chapter 126, Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills for Technology Applications, and Chapter 130, Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills for Career and Technical Education. The proposed revisions would update the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) to align with recent legislation requiring the board to consolidate high school technology applications TEKS into career and technical education (CTE) TEKS and eliminate TEKS for duplicative courses. The proposed revisions would also update the TEKS for CTE to align with revised programs of study.
STATUTORY AUTHORITY: Texas Education Code (TEC), §§7.102(c)(4); 28.002(a) and (c); 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 by rule 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(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 the TEC, §28.002.
The full text of statutory citations can be found in the statutory authority section of this agenda.
FUTURE ACTION EXPECTED: Proposed revisions to 19 TAC Chapter 126 and Chapter 130 will be presented for first reading and filing authorization at the January 2020 SBOE meeting.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION AND JUSTIFICATION: The 86th Texas Legislature, 2019, passed House Bill 963, which requires the SBOE, not later than March 1, 2020, to conduct a review of the TEKS for CTE and technology applications courses for Grades 9-12 and amend the board's rules to consolidate courses and eliminate duplicative courses. The SBOE is only required to implement this provision if the legislature appropriated money specifically for that purpose. If the legislature did not appropriate money specifically for that purpose, the SBOE may, but is not required to, implement a requirement using other appropriations available for that purpose. The legislature did not appropriate money specifically for the purpose of implementing this requirement.
Texas is redesigning state-level programs of study to include coherent and rigorous content with challenging academic standards and relevant career and technical content. Programs of study will be aligned with state and regional labor market information, including high-wage, high-skill, and in-demand occupations. As a part of the program of study revision process, Texas conducted a statewide labor market analysis that discovered several instances where occupations and postsecondary training overlap. These occur in the Business, Marketing, and Finance career clusters as well as the Law and Public Safety and Government career clusters. The Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) career cluster did not align with any one industry sector but had occupations spread throughout. Lastly, the diverse economic landscape in Texas includes an entire industry sector, Energy, that was not included in the original 16 programs of study. The proposed revisions would update the TEKS for CTE to align with revised programs of study.
This item provides an opportunity for the committee to discuss proposed revisions to 19 TAC Chapter 126 and Chapter 130.
Staff Members Responsible:
Monica Martinez, Associate Commissioner, Standards and Support Services
Shelly Ramos, Senior Director, Curriculum Standards and Student Support