Changes brewing for school standards at State Board of Education meeting

DallasBlog.com - Trey Garrison:

“The 15-member State Board of Education on Thursday will likely scrap a curriculum revision process dominated by teachers and the Texas Education Agency and discuss a new timetable for revising the English reading and writing standards.”

Ed Cognoski responds:

According to the Houston Chronicle article, SBOE member Don McLeroy, a Bryan Republican who is pushing the effort to change the reading and writing standards, calls the current curriculum "fuzzy English" because it expects students to "describe mental images that text descriptions evoke" and "compare text events with his or her own or other readers' experiences." He wants to expunge these standards from the state's curriculum because they can't be measured on state tests.

So, there you have it. If it doesn't fit a multiple choice Scantron test methodology, it ought not be in our classrooms. Fill the lesson books with spelling and grammar. If we have to expose students to ideas, make sure they are from dead white European males. Board member Terri Leo (R-Spring) wants to replace current reading lists with classic literature.

The SBOE continues to be more interested in promoting a narrow cultural agenda than in educating our children. Rote memorization and regurgitating the SBOE members' own doctrines are more important than teaching our children to think. The United States is falling behind in education and it's in part due to state boards of education like Texas'. Whether it's evolution, sex education, or now, creative writing and critical thinking, the SBOE is an impediment to educational excellence. It's time to vote these ideologues out of office.