Final Review of High School ELAR TEKS

ACTION REQUIRED! The high school ELAR TEKS are under FINAL review. Independent reading is at risk of being lost in a knowledge and skills statement instead of a student expectation (SE), and the new wording includes “grade appropriate texts” dismissing the overwhelming research supporting the benefits of students choosing their own texts based on their own abilities and interests for independent reading (Allington 2012, Guthrie 2007, NCTE Position Statement 2014, Krashen 2011).
The state standards have traditionally focused on the texts we use for instruction, but students choosing their own independent reading texts does not mean that students are not going to be reading other texts in class. We recommend that they participate in both independent and instructional texts in class.
PLEASE EMAIL YOUR COMMENTS TODAY! Here’s the email address linked to the public comment request on the TEA website:

rules@tea.texas.gov

We urge you to leave a comment that includes the following:
In response to Proposed New 19 TAC Chapter 110, English I, II, III, & IV

(3)

I recommend:
1. The removal of “grade appropriate texts” from the Knowledge and Skills statement,

2. Make “self-select text and read independently for a sustained period of time” its own SE (Student Expectation), and

3.  Add “read for a variety of purposes” as an additional SE (Student Expectation).
​