My Week With TEA (Texas Education Agency)

This week I have had the pleasure of reviewing instructional materials for TEA. This is part of Proclamation 2024 issued by the State Board of Education. In general terms, instructional materials are selected after the new education standards (TEKS- Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills) are adopted.

In groups, education and industry leaders review submitted materials and accept or reject citations based on whether or not the materials meet the threshold of at least 50% of the content standards. If materials meet the 50% threshold, they are eligible for editing to improve TEKS compliance. Materials are also required to meet 100% of the ELL education standards for English Language Learners.

You may be saying to yourself “Materials can be accepted based on meeting 50% of the TEKS. How is that good for students???” Good question!

While instructional materials only have to cover 50% of the TEKS, teachers must cover 100%. What that means is that schools will potentially purchase multiple materials for each course if they select materials that don’t fully cover the TEKS.

So what is the take away ?

• Your school may have to purchase multiple resources if the instructional materials don’t cover all of the TEKS.

• You can see adopted instructional materials AND the percentage of TEKS compliance here. This is great information for school leaders and parents.

• YOU can participate in the process by applying to be an instructional material reviewer. Education and industry professionals work together to measure instructional material compliance during each session.