January 28, 2026 Committee of the Full Board Item 5
Consideration of K – 12 Social Studies Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills Key Topics and Subtopics
January 30, 2026
COMMITTEE OF THE FULL BOARD: ACTION
STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION: ACTION
SUMMARY: This item provides an opportunity for the board to consider recommendations from Content Advisors on key topics and subtopics for the social studies Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS).
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 identify by rule 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 determine by rule the curriculum requirements for the foundation high school graduation program that are consistent with the required curriculum under TEC, §28.002.
The full text of statutory citations can be found in the links above.
FUTURE ACTION EXPECTED: First reading and filing authorization of proposed new 19 TAC Chapter 113, Subchapters A-D, will be presented at a future SBOE meeting.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION AND JUSTIFICATION: In accordance with statutory requirements that the SBOE identify by rule the essential knowledge and skills of each subject in the required curriculum, the SBOE follows a board-approved cycle to review and revise the essential knowledge and skills for each subject.
The TEKS for social studies and economics were originally adopted effective September 1, 1998. The Kindergarten-Grade 12 social studies TEKS and the TEKS for economics were revised effective August 23, 2010.
In 2015, the SBOE adopted revisions to the TEKS for certain Advanced Placement (AP) and International Baccalaureate (IB) social studies courses to require that students demonstrate proficiency in the TEKS for the corresponding AP and IB courses, in addition to the AP or IB course requirements. In 2018, the SBOE approved streamlining revisions to the social studies TEKS for Kindergarten to Grade 8 and four high school social studies courses (U.S. History Studies, World History Studies, World Geography, United States Government). The SBOE also streamlined the TEKS for Economics with Emphasis on the Free Enterprise System and its Benefits and consolidated the TEKS for economics into Chapter 113.
In 2021, Senate Bill (SB) 1063, 87th Texas Legislature, Regular Session, amended TEC, §28.025, to add a one-half credit course in personal financial literacy and economics as an option to meet the one-half credit graduation requirement for economics under the Foundation High School Program. SB 1063 required that the SBOE adopt TEKS for the personal financial literacy and economics course and that the required curriculum for the course allocate two-thirds of the instructional time to personal financial literacy and one-third of instructional time to economics. At its June 2022 SBOE meeting, the SBOE adopted TEKS for the new course, §113.76, Personal Financial Literacy and Economics, and the rule became effective August 1, 2022.
In 2021, the 87th Texas Legislature passed House Bill (HB) 4509, Regular Session, and SB 3, Second Called Session, to require the teaching of informed patriotism and the founding documents of the United States and require the SBOE to adopt essential knowledge and skills for social studies that develop each student’s civic knowledge, including an understanding of the fundamental moral, political, and intellectual foundations of the U.S. government. The SBOE approved proposed amendments to 19 TAC Chapter 113, Subchapter A, Elementary, Subchapter B, Middle School, and Subchapter C, High School, to update the standards for Kindergarten-Grade 8 and five high school courses: Economics with Emphasis on the Free Enterprise System and its Benefits, United States History Studies Since 1877, World History Studies, World Geography Studies, and United States Government, to align with SB 3 requirements.
The 89th Texas Legislature, Regular Session, 2025, passed HB 27 to require students to successfully complete a one-half credit personal financial literacy course instead of the one-half credit economics course or one-half economics and personal financial literacy and economics course to satisfy the economics requirement under the Foundation High School Program. The bill also requires that the current one-half credit economics course be extended to a one-credit course. Additionally, the bill permits students to select the third social studies credit required for graduation from economics, world geography, or world history. The bill also added new TEC, §28.025(b-24), requiring the SBOE to allow a student to comply with the personal financial literacy requirement by successfully completing an AP course that contains substantively similar and rigorous academic content.
In October 2024, the chairman of the SBOE established an ad hoc committee on social studies standards. The committee was charged with evaluating Texas’s current social studies learning standards, researching best practices in history and civics education, and providing recommendations for developing exemplary state standards to ensure that Texas students receive a high-quality social studies education that prepares them for informed citizenship.
The goal of the committee was to provide clear, actionable recommendations for developing social studies curriculum standards that will position Texas as a national leader in history and civics education. The standards should equip students with essential knowledge of world, U.S., and Texas history; geography; and civic institutions while fostering the skills and dispositions needed for engaged citizenship in a diverse democratic republic.
A public hearing on recommendations for a framework to guide the organization of the TEKS for social studies, including the identification of core content topics that students should know in U.S. history, Texas history, world history, geography and civics in Kindergarten-Grade 12, was conducted during the April 10, 2025 Ad Hoc Committee on Social Studies meeting. Agency staff presented an update on the status and progress of the Social Studies Ad Hoc Committee’s charges and the Committee of the Full Board (COFB) heard public testimony at the June 2025 SBOE meeting. A survey to collect input on key topics, strand titles, course sequencing/layering, and effective practices to inform the social studies TEKS revision was distributed in August 2025. At the September 2025 meeting, the SBOE approved the social studies framework course sequence and strands for Kindergarten-Grade 8.
The SBOE approved the Social Studies Framework and Strands in September 2025. The SBOE designated content advisors for the social studies TEKS review and an application to serve on social studies TEKS review work groups was posted on the TEA website in October 2025. A discussion item regarding content advisor recommendations for key topics to be included in the Social Studies TEKS Framework was presented to the COFB at the November 2025 SBOE meeting.
This item provides an opportunity for the SBOE to consider key topics and subtopics as recommended by the content advisors to be included in the new TEKS for social studies.
Staff Member Responsible:
Shannon Trejo, Deputy Commissioner, Office of School Programs
Attachment I:
Content Advisor Recommendations to the SBOE for Revised Key Topics (Side-by-Side Comparison)
Attachment II:
Content Advisor Recommendations to the SBOE for Key Topics and Subtopics for the Social Studies K-12