State Board of Education Instruction Committee update at todays hearing in Austin--please share! So you have SPOKEN and Mr. Maynard along with the State Board of Education Instruction Committee has listened. Kudos to Mr. Maynard and Mrs. Miller for the outstanding job they did by trying to bring your voice to the forefront of this meeting. It began at 9am with a member from TEA introducing the process in which the new standards were created and the adoption process passed into law. Next, the testimony from two school districts that were maintaining stable growth within the New Math TEKS presented their positive experiences. These districts admitted their progress was due to the two years of constant preparation, intense instructional material resources for their teachers, and student interventions. Parent and teacher testimonies followed, these were heart wrenching to listen to. Alison Howell, who is leading our mission, stood outstandingly strong today representing all of you during testimonies, questioning, and later during board discussion about student struggles, gaps, and Common Core comparisons. The struggles students face daily paired with teacher frustrations over gapped material was a reoccurring theme throughout the day. At the conclusion of todays hearing Mr. Maynard moved this process forward by suggesting the need for a focus group. This group will contain one parent and teacher from each board members district, the board members, and the commissioner. They will meet and discuss processes and solutions that will support teachers in the classroom and help with the new transition for our students. This focus group was supported by each of the committee members present today. Mrs. Miller was an intense advocate for your children today. Your State Board of Education is listening as we have spoken up and have spoken out against what is being done to our children. We have much work to do, but know that the process towards a package of solutions is beginning in order to save your childs educational year. The work is not over. Here is what we do next: First, e-mail Tom Maynard ([email protected]) and urge him to recommend that Commissioner Williams suspend district accountability for the Math STAAR Test in grades 3-8 for 2015. This would remove intense classroom pressures teachers are currently feeling by having the ill prepared rollout process of the TEKS implemented this year. This will immediately create a less stressed learning environment for our children who are already struggling through the gap areas in their math curriculum. Second, e-mail Barbara Cargill ([email protected]) and urge her to ask the Attorney General, Greg Abbott, to provide a formal opinion on how closely these new Math TEKS align to Common Core. The New Math TEKS have been implemented. It will be next to impossible to turn it back, but the SBOE Instruction Committee is listening and taking recommendations from US on how to slow the process down, allow time for educators to cover gaps created by the new TEKS, and work towards fixing the System. I challenge you to be bold and fierce when it comes to protecting what YOUR CHILD IS BEING HELD ACCOUNTABLE TO DO! Thank you for the emails and phone calls-today in Austin it sounded like a roar!
Posted on: Fri, 21 Nov 2014 03:52:12 +0000
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