News and updates about YOUR online curriculum, the TEKS Resource System | Spring 2019
In This Issue
Social Media Links!
Twitter

ELA/R Twitter

Math Twitter

Science Twitter

Social Studies Twitter

Bilingual Twitter


Statewide Websites

TCMPC Site

A Note from the TEKS Resource System Director, Ann Graves
Hello Friends,

Spring is officially here! Not only are we seeing a change with the landscapes and warmer temperatures, I am confident your students are blooming and you are seeing growth! The 2018-2019 school year will be over sooner than we expected.
We are excited to announce the upcoming release of the newly revised Assessment Creator in May. Lots of feedback from the regional ESCs helped create this new version. We know you will find it easier to use and more intuitive as you create your own assessments. Your ESC Coordinators and Specialists will be trained in April in order to provide updated training and professional development in your region. 
Lastly, if you haven't registered for the summer curriculum conference  (TEKSCON2019)   held in San Antonio July 30th - August 1st, there is still time. Tim Clue, a motivational speaker and former teacher, will be the Keynote and Steve Barkley will be a specialty speaker. There will be a multitude of breakout sessions. Whether you are a teacher, coordinator, director, principal, or superintendent there will be sessions for you! Please go to tcmpc.org  to find information about housing and registration. 

Best of luck for a great end to the 2018-2019 school year. We are fortunate to have teachers and administrators who value the TEKS Resource System! Please remember to give us feedback and continue to share how we can make the system even better. Thanks for a job well done!

Sincerely,
Ann Graves
Director, TEKS Resource System
Quick Tips for District TEKS Resource System Administrators


The TEKS Resource System Website provides online delivery and district customization of curriculum and assessment components and content-specific resources. The website is  a district managed  platform that includes the  following tools:
  • Bookmarking, quick search, and calendar features
  • Teacher Website Builder
  • Design Templates
  • Assessment Creator
  • Administrator Walkthrough Tool
  • District-level communication and resource sharing
The extensive help menu provides video and quick guide  support  for districts and/or  teachers  to facilitate the use of the tools above .  Don't miss out on all the resources and tools in the TEKS Resource System that can support and increase customization and implementation of your district-wide curriculum!
Upcoming TEKS Implementation -
The TEKS RS has your back!
The SBOE voted for an adjusted implementation schedule for the K-5 Streamlined Social Studies TEKS. See the implementation schedule below for the changes. 
Please know, the TEKS Resource System is working to make sure you have the curriculum and assessment documents you need for implementation!

2018-2019:
  • Implement Streamlined Science TEKS
2019-2020:
  • Implement NEW ELAR and SLAR TEKS for Grades K-8
  • Implement Streamlined Social Studies TEKS for Grades 6-12
2020-2021:
  • Implement NEW ELAR TEKS for High School
  • Implement Streamlined Social Studies TEKS for Grades K-5
2019 State TEKS Resource System Conference: TEKSCON
 
We are hosting our annual 2019 TEKS Resource System Conference in San Antonio on July 30 - August 1, 2019. Use the orange button below to register for your district team to attend! We will have an amazing lineup of presenters and inspirational speakers to motivate and inform you and your team for the 2019-2020 school year.

July 29 | Early Check-in | 3:00 pm - 6:00 pm
July 30 - August 1 | Check-in | 7:30 am - 9:00 am
July 30 | Conference | 9:00 am - 3:45 pm
July 31 | Conference | 8:30 am - 3:45 pm
August 1 | Conference | 8:30 am - 11:15 am
__________________________________________

Keynote Speaker: TIM CLUE

Long before Tim Clue was an educator, professional speaker, published playwright, husband, and father, he was an undiagnosed hyper-active dyslexic rug rat from a small town outside Chicago.  From this environment was cultivated a deep passion for teaching, writing, and presenting. By 24, Tim was a college educator and coaching a nationally-recognized speech team, all while training at Improv Olympic, Second City, and performing stand-up comedy in Chicago.
Now Tim has brought to bear all his experiences as an educator, improv training, and headlining comedy stages and has synthesized his calling as a Humorous Motivational Speaker. Tim is bringing "social" back into the meeting space by inspiring and connecting educators through the infinite power of laughter and connections.
__________________________________________


NEW Assessment Creator Features Coming SOON!
New features of the assessment creator will be live soon. Districts/Campuses/Teachers will be able to create and save their own database of customized district questions! Don't miss the trainings at your regional ESC to learn about these new features that allow you to create griddables, open-ended, and multiple choice questions for your assessments.

TCMPC
The Texas Curriculum Management Program Cooperative, or TCMPC, is a shared service agreement between the 20 Educational Service Centers (ESCs) in Texas. This shared service agreement, or SSA, allows all ESCs to share responsibility for the management and operations of the online curriculum management system. The TCMPC provides content and support. The content includes curriculum components and sample unit assessment items aligned to the most current versions of the State Board of Education-adopted standards (TEKS) for the following subject areas:
  • English Language Arts and Reading (K-12)
  • Spanish Language Arts and Reading (K-5)
  • Mathematics (K-12)
  • Science (K-12)
  • Social Studies (K-12)
  • Spanish translated versions of Mathematics, Science, Social Studies, and SLAR (K-5)
The TCMPC believes that teachers, working with parents and their communities, know how to best educate their students. For more information regarding the curriculum and assessment components that are offered by the TCMPC, please refer to our Component Chart.
Using the Understandings-Based Curriculum of the TEKS Resource System in the Social Studies Classroom

Using the Understandings-Based Curriculum of the TEKS Resource System in the Social Studies Classroom is a fabulous publication found in the Resources folder of all social studies grade levels. It truly helps you understand the purpose and development of all the components in the TEKS Resource System. Please reference this informative document on a regular basis to better connect and use the components in our online system.
Content Updates:

ELAR/SLAR Update
Language Arts Curriculum Update:
  • All K-8 ELAR draft curriculum documents are now posted
  • More than half of the SLAR curriculum documents are posted; the rest of the IFDs are being reviewed and will be coming soon
  • Nine-week YAGs are posted
  • HS ELAR development is more than halfway complete; these draft documents will be posted once we get through K-8 (mid-late summer)
 
Upcoming in Language Arts
  • Beginning to develop Grades 2-8 assessment passages and items
  • Developing and presenting a TOT training to ESC specialists/consultants on the new TEKS and new TEKS Resource System ELAR Language Arts curriculum (last week of April); contact your local ESC to inquire about their plans to turn around the training
  • Processing and applying the feedback from ESC Focus Groups and other users to all K-8 curriculum documents
  • Entering the final versions of curriculum and assessment into the live system (publishing live begins in July)
  • Hosting several sessions on the new TEKS and the new curriculum at the TEKS Resource System conference July 30-August 1
Math Update

Updated STAAR Analysis Documents - Complete and Live!
  • Mathematics 2015-2018 for Grades 3-8 and 2016-2018 for Algebra I
  • Matemáticas 2015-2018 for Grades 3-5 
  • Notable changes 
    • 2018 items include rationales provided by TEA
    • Unit numbers listed for each item now reflect only the units that align with the content of that item 
New TEA Mathematics January 2019 TEKS Supporting Information documents (with TEKS Resource System comments) - Complete and Live!
  • Mathematics Grades K-8 and Algebra I
  • Compared to previously released documents
    • All changes highlighted
    • Comments added to indicate changes made in our curriculum and assessment components
  • Available in the resource section for each grade level
Curriculum and Assessment Revisions - Complete and Live!
  • Mathematics Grades K-8 and Algebra I
  • Matemáticas Grades K-5
  • Based on analysis of STAAR released items and TEKS Supporting Information documents
  • Reviewed for ...
    • New information
    • Clarifications of expectations
    • New problem formats 
    • Misconceptions found in STAAR rationales
  • Revisions made and/or new examples added, where appropriate, to ETCDs, IFDs, PAs, and vocabulary
  • Revisions made and/or new items added, where appropriate, to Unit Assessment items and Formative Spiral items
  • Revisions vertically aligned across the grade levels
  • Revision log updated with specific revisions
    • Located in the lower center of the home page
    • Searchable by grade level, unit, and/or component type
Additional Assessment Item Development - Coming 2019-2020 School Year!
  • Mathematics Grade 2-HS
  • Matemáticas Grade 2-5
  • New item development based on analysis of current item bank and STAAR Blueprint and Item Percentages resource
Science Update
Science Content Development 
Continuous addition of assessment items
Recently published:
  • All Sample Guiding Questions
  • All Performance Assessment Rubrics
  • STAAR Analysis resources for Grades 3-5, 6-8, and Biology
  • Vertical Alignment of Science Vocabulary (K-12)
  • Updated and streamlined Engaging Literature for the Elementary Science Classroom
Coming Soon:
  • Backward Design documents for K-12
  • Concept Charts K-5, 6-8, Biology, and IPC/Chemistry/Physics
  • Updated Science Notebooking documents
  • Middle School formative assessment items
Contract opportunities:
  • Apply on the ESC 13 website
  • Anatomy and Physiology Cadre
  • Forensic Science Cadre
  • Assessment writing
Social Studies Update
Streamlining
  • Our streamlining work continues. In reality there were only a handful of deletion made by the state.
  • Most of the changes you will see in assessment items and curriculum is simply renumbering standards. 
  • Due to split implementation by the state, grades 6-12 will reflect changes for the 2019-20 school year. Expect to see those changes starting mid-June.
Legislative update
  • Several bills are working their ways through the Texas House and Senate that affect social studies education including 
    • efforts to eliminate social studies STAAR testing, implement the naturalization test as a high-stakes social studies assessment, require a personal financial literacy half credit, and replace world history with a project-based civics course. 
    • If you want more information, you can read about bills in the works at https://capitol.texas.gov/Home.aspx. There you can create a profile, set up alerts, search for bills by text or number, and chart the progress of bills working through the legislative process. If you want to speak up, call you senator or representative!
Other work
  • We are moving ahead on implementing a conceptual U.S. history course. 
    • This course is in draft form in the resources section of the current U.S. history course. 
    • We will continue to support our current sequential U.S. history course. 
  • Additionally, we will bring new performance tasks to several high school courses. 
  • Look for these changes in the summer once we've finished our streamlining project.