Texas Mathematics Teacher Spring/Summer 2018 - 17

TCTM Government Relations Update
January 2018
Dr. Paul Gray, TCTM Governmental Relations Representative
Legislative Update

2018 is an election year. The primary elections for the Democratic and Republican parties were in March and the general
election will be in November. There are a variety of candidates in both parties with varying degrees of support for public
education. We strongly recommend that all educators and their eligible family members register to vote, do their homework,
and vote according to their interests in the November general election.

State Board of Education

Each even-numbered year, half of the SBOE offices are up for election. For 2018, the following districts are on the November
ballot. There are three open seats.
* District 2 (South Texas) - incumbent Ruben Cortez, Jr. (D-Brownsville) will be running against Charles Hasse (R).
* District 3 (San Antonio) - incumbent Marisa Perez (D-San Antonio) will be running unopposed
* District 4 (Houston) - incumbent Lawrence Allen (D-Houston) will be running unopposed.
* District 7 (SE Texas) - incumbent David Bradley (R-Beaumont) is retiring. Elizabeth Markowitz (D) and Matt Robinson
(R) are running for this open seat.
* District 11 (Fort Worth/N Texas) - incumbent Pat Hardy (R-Fort Worth) will be running against Carla Morton (D).
* District 12 (Dallas/N Texas) - incumbent Geraldine "Tincy" Miller (R-Dallas) is retiring. Pam Little (R) will be running
against either Laura Malone-Miller (D) or Suzanne Smith (D), pending the results of the May 22 primary runoff election.
* District 13 (Dallas and Fort Worth) - incumbent Erika Beltran (D-Fort Worth) is not running. Aicha Davis (D) and
A. Denise Russell (R) are running for this open seat.

Texas Education Agency Updates

Interim Assessments: TEA has unveiled the pilot for the STAAR Interim Assessments. They need schools to use the
assessments and provide feedback. Assessments are online. An informational webinar is available.
* Information from TEA: https://tea.texas.gov/About_TEA/News_and_Multimedia/Correspondence/TAA_Letters/
Interim_Assessment_Pilot_Available_for_Educators/
* More Information: https://tea.texas.gov/student.assessment/IA/
Accountability Watch: As a part of the new federal Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), the federal law succeeding
No Child Left Behind (NCLB), each state must submit a plan to the U.S. Department of Education explaining how they
intend to measure student success at Grades 3-8 and once in high school for both mathematics and reading. As well, states
must develop a school accountability plan that includes both student achievement and student progress.
Texas's initial plan was rejected in December and several revisions were requested. TEA filed a revised plan in mid-January
and as of press time for this publication, the U.S. Department of Education has not responded.
One of the requested revisions was to clarify how Texas measures student success. Originally, TEA proposed using the
"Approaches Grade Level" standard, based on the STAAR phase-in passing standard of about 1 standard deviation below
the final panel recommendation, as a metric of student success. The US Department of Education requested that TEA use
"Meets Grade Level," which is the final panel recommendation.
Additionally, the U.S. Department of Education requested that TEA clarify their methods of measuring student progress.
Thus, TEA has proposed a graduated plan for all student populations to increase their 2016-17 "meets grade level" rates by
30 percentage points in the 2031-32 school year.
Read more about TEA's revised ESSA plan on the TEA website,
https://tea.texas.gov/About_TEA/Laws_and_Rules/ESSA/Every_Student_Succeeds_Act/
ESSA compliance is an evolving issue as of press time for this publication. We will keep TCTM members updated through
our Facebook page (@TexasCTM) and Twitter feed (@txmathteachers).

Resources for Texas Teachers

* TEA's Curriculum Division maintains a resource list for teachers, parents, and community members.
https://tea.texas.gov/Academics/Subject_Areas/Mathematics/Resources_for_the_Revised_Mathematics_TEKS/.
* The Texas Gateway contains a new Teacher2Teacher video series with hints on instructional strategies
https://www.texasgateway.org/node/227936.
* Region 11 maintains the math4texas website (www.math4texas.org) with short videos and other resources elaborating
on content found in the revised mathematics TEKS.

www.txmathteachers.org

Spring/Summer 2018 | 17

https://tea.texas.gov/About_TEA/News_and_Multimedia/Correspondence/TAA_Letters/Interim_Assessment_Pilot_Available_for_Educators/ https://tea.texas.gov/student.assessment/IA/ https://tea.texas.gov/About_TEA/Laws_and_Rules/ESSA/Every_Student_Succeeds_Act/ https://tea.texas.gov/Academics/Subject_Areas/Mathematics/Resources_for_the_Revised_Mathematics_TEKS/ https://www.texasgateway.org/node/227936 http://www.math4texas.org http://www.txmathteachers.org

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Texas Mathematics Teacher Spring/Summer 2018