The State Board of Education (SBOE), during its four-day meeting this month, gave final approval to revised Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) curriculum standards for Languages Other Than English. The updated TEKS are scheduled to be implemented in Texas classrooms in 2016-2017. Four innovative courses (AVID, Reconnecting Youth, Student Leadership and Teen Leadership) were approved for renewal for the next five years and new curriculum requirements for CPR instruction (as dictated by HB 897 in the 83rd) were adopted by the SBOE.
The SBOE also broadened its call for new instructional materials for Special Topics in Social Studies to include but not be limited to, Mexican American Studies, African American Studies, Native American Studies and Asian American Studies. Although no new state-level courses were created for these topics, local school districts and charters may use curriculum standards for the state-approved Special Topics in Social Studies course.
The request for instructional material for these elective courses is included in a call-for-bids document known as Proclamation 2016. This proclamation originally included a call for new materials for Languages Other Than English (LOTE). The new print and electronic instructional materials are scheduled to be approved as part of the state adoption process in November 2015 for use beginning in the 2016-2017 school year.