November 2016 Committee of the Full Board Wednesday Item 5
Discussion of Proposed Amendments to 19 TAC Chapter 112, Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills for Science, Subchapter A, Elementary, Subchapter B, Middle School, and Subchapter C, High School
November 16, 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 amendments to 19 TAC Chapter 112, Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills for Science, Subchapter A, Elementary, Subchapter B, Middle School, and Subchapter C, High School, and for the committee to hear invited testimony from representatives of the science Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) streamlining committees.
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 TEKS for science effective September 1, 1998. Amendments to the science TEKS were last adopted effective August 4, 2009. In January 2016, the board approved a new process for streamlining of the TEKS. The streamlining process is being used for the first time for the revision of the science TEKS.
FUTURE ACTION EXPECTED: Proposed amendments to 19 TAC Chapter 112, Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills for Science, will be presented for first reading and filing authorization at a future SBOE meeting.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION AND SIGNIFICANT ISSUES: Applications for appointment to science TEKS streamlining committees were accepted by the Texas Education Agency (TEA) from February 4, 2016 through March 14, 2016. The applications received were provided to SBOE members at the April 2016 meeting, and nominations for science TEKS streamlining committees were made in summer 2016. Committee members were notified of the appointment in June 2016.
Science TEKS streamlining committee members participated in a training webinar in July 2016 in preparation for the first face-to-face meeting. Also in July 2016, the science TEKS streamlining committees convened in Austin to begin work on draft recommendations for the TEKS. The committees convened again in September 2016 to complete their initial draft recommendations.
In October 2016, the committee's draft recommendations were provided to the board and posted to the TEA website for informal public feedback. The board's TEKS streamlining process calls for one member of each TEKS streamlining committee to present invited testimony at the November 2017 meeting.
FISCAL IMPACT: There will be normal business costs associated with this process for the agency, including staff and committee travel, meeting accommodations, 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 amendments would have no procedural and reporting requirements.
LOCALLY MAINTAINED PAPERWORK REQUIREMENTS: The proposed amendments 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 Support Services
Shelly Ramos, Senior Director
Curriculum Standards and Student Support
Attachment:
Statutory Citations (PDF, 31KB)