In addition to Unit Assessment Items and Performance Assessments, social studies now has Unit Performance Tasks in 6th, 7th, and 8th grade. You can access these tasks in the IFD below the Performance Assessments. See below for a description of performance tasks and access the document Unit Performance Tasks Best Practices in the Resource Section of 6th, 7th, or 8th grade social studies.

What is a Unit Performance Task?
Unit Performance Tasks are assessments designed to provide students with an opportunity to demonstrate transference of learning and synthesis of understanding by producing an authentic product. The unit performance tasks measure complex processes as opposed to discrete content that can be assessed using multiple choice items provided in the TEKS Resource System Assessment Creator. Optimally a unit performance task would address "What do people do with this knowledge outside of
school?"

Why should teachers use Unit Performance Tasks?
Assessing student mastery of unit content and skills requires a variety of assessments serving as multiple sources of evidence. The unit performance tasks were specifically designed to measure transference of the content and mastery of skills. In other words could a student use the knowledge and skills gained in the unit instruction to produce a unique original product?

In addition to Unit Assessment Items and Performance Assessments, science now has Formative Spiral Items available for K-5. These items can be used to scaffold, review, or check for understanding within and across grade levels. Items for 6-12 are under development. 

You can access formative spiral items by using the Assessment Creator in the online system. If you need support using the Assessment Creator you can find both a video and instructions in the HELP section of the website by clicking the HELP icon in the top right corner of the screen OR by clicking the SUPPORT icon at the bottom of the screen. 

The content areas of math and science have each recently published a document to help districts and campuses make decisions about possible math manipulatives and science equipment to purchase for the classroom. Many of the districts affected by Hurricane Harvey were needing to purchase new supplies and these documents were created to help support this effort. Both documents can be found in the Resource Section of the respective content.

Mathematics Suggested Basic Manipulatives by Grade Level

Vertical Alignment of Science Equipment

The new science STAAR Blueprints are posted on TEA's website. Follow this LINK to access the new documents.

For more details, read the science update in the content update section of this newsletter.

ELAR and SLAR Content Development Team

Did you know that educators across the state are contributing to the creation of the NEW ELAR/SLAR documents that will be available for K-8 implementation in 2019-2020 and for high school implementation in 2020-2021? There are 28 contractors, both writers and reviewers, currently working to create and review the curriculum and assessment components. Fifteen of the Education Service Centers will be hosting Focus Groups made up of teachers who will review the documents and give feedback. In addition, there are over 40 Education Service Center ELAR/SLAR specialists who helped review and discuss specificity at our April ESC Conference. YOU can review documents and give feedback through the online system as well. The documents will show up in the resources section of each grade level in the online system. It takes all of us working together to create the high-quality documents that will support planning and instruction for ELAR/SLAR teachers across the state!

A huge shout out to our ELAR/SLAR Content Development Team and all the educators who are contributing to the development of the new curriculum and assessment documents! Thank you for the work you do for Texas teachers and students!

• They are essential for success in the current grade or course.
• They are important for preparedness for the next grade or course.
• They support college and career readiness.
• They necessitate in-depth instruction.
• They address broad and deep ideas.

The information about readiness and supporting standards above comes from the document A New Assessment Model that can be found on the STAAR Resources website. This document was published in October 2010.

 

2018 State Conference Keynote
Don't miss this inspiring message from
Kim Thomas!

 

Click the image or link below for a Video from the 

2017 State TEKS Resource System Conference.

• THE NEW ELAR/SLAR Curriculum is BEING RELEASED!!! Look for these documents in the Resource Section at www.teksresourcesystem.net.
• June 2018 - K-12 Vertical Alignment Documents (VADs) and TEKS Clarification Documents (TCDs) with specificity
• July 2018 - K-8 1st semester Year-At-A-Glance (YAGs), TEKS Verification Documents (TVDs), and Instructional Focus Documents (IFDs)
• October 2018 - K-8 2nd semester Year-At-A-Glance (YAGs), TEKS Verification Documents (TVDs), and Instructional Focus Documents (IFDs)

• The development of high school IFDs has begun. The draft high school YAGs, TVDs, and IFDs are scheduled for release June 2019.

Completed Work

Current and Future Work

• ETCD examples are being reviewed for clarity, uniformity, and consistency. Algebra I, Algebra II, and Geometry review is complete. Precalculus will be the next course to be reviewed. Then, the last course will be MMA.
• Statistical display standards in Grades K - 8 and MMA are being reviewed for clarity, uniformity, consistency, and vertical alignment. We are adding some additional specificity and a few new examples as needed.
• Overarching/Unit Understandings and Questions are being reviewed and revised based on current training with Jay McTighe. These revisions will begin to roll out Fall 2018.
• Assessment Item Bank gap analysis and new item writing will begin development in the near future.
• New Resources in development
• Concept Tree will be replaced with Concept Charts (K - 5, 6 - 8, HS; available Fall 2018)
• Backwards Design Documents (K - HS; available Fall 2018)
• Engaging Literature for the Mathematics Classroom (available Late Fall 2018)

TEKS Resource System Summer Conference in San Antonio

• Sessions are being organized for the TEKS Resource System Summer Conference July 31 - August 2, 2018. Mathematics sessions will include topics such as planning using the PA, IFD, ETCD, error analysis, and depth of knowledge; differentiating and using performance assessments; building comprehension and fluency in basic operations; building mathematics vocabulary; and fun interactive instructional strategies such as foldables, Lego sessions, music, cooking, etc. to deepen understanding and make math enjoyable. Hope to see you there. Come join the fun. 

The social studies team spent June publishing 18-19 updated curriculum components for each course. These updates include new course arrangements as well as new resources. 

Important changes include:

• Thinking Like a Historian/Geographer units: Our team has reworked course designs in order to capture better the social studies process skills. Namely, we are highlighting the skills of the practitioner - such as how historians "do" the work of history; how geographers "do" the work of geography. You will find these skills units at the beginning of most courses. These units provide a springboard for the teacher to incorporate these skills into the pedagogy and instruction of each unit throughout the year. A "Thinking Like a Historian" (TLH) resource has been added to explain the units. Additional, the TLH resource provides an articulated, spiraled alignment of social studies process skills based on the TEKS.
• Performance Tasks: Middle schools course (grades 6, 7, and 8) now have a new assessment resource in the form of Performance Tasks. There is one overarching task aligned to each unit. The tasks align to the philosophy of the TLH units in that students "do" the work of a historian/geographer. These tasks expand assessment options and can provide additional data for teachers to evaluate student progress. See the new resource Unit Performance Tasks Best Practices for more detail.
• Overarching Understandings/Questions: All overarching understandings and overarching questions have been revised in all units. The social studies team worked with Jay McTighe to craft succinct statements/questions that focus on key understandings that emerge from a social studies education. The Social Studies "Big Ideas" resource provides background information as well as the entire set of overarching understandings/questions. These 23 understandings and accompanying questions are embedded in all units K-12. They are repeated in order to demonstrate that there are similar, deeper understandings across a range of contexts.
• The Celebrate Freedom unit has been eliminated as a curricular unit and transferred to a resource guide. See the Guide to Celebrate Freedom Week resource for information on it and other mandated observances. It is local decision how to commemorate each observance.
• Using the Understandings-Based Curriculum of the TEKS Resource System in the Social Studies Classroom is a new resource that provides detailed explanations of each element and component of the social studies curriculum. Additionally, the resource provides the research that underpins the structure of the curriculum, the background and purpose of social studies education, and avenues for deepening scholarship.
• Social Studies Literacy Spiral Items: Grade 8, World History, and U.S. History have a new assessment option of social studies literacy spiral items available in the item bank. Each unit in the three courses has one item that assesses student literacy skills of analyzing a primary/secondary source and crafting an argument supported by evidence. These items are viewable in the item bank by choosing "formative spiral items" as an item type. See the resource Social Studies Literacy Spiral Assessment Items Info Sheet for more detail.
• Other new resources added this year include Using Political/Editorial Cartoons, Reading and Making a Map, Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) in social studies, and a Document Analysis sheet.