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Outrages

  

9486 in the collection  

    Texas Education Board rejects English teachers' input on new curriculum standards

    Ohanian Comment: Well, in all their wisdom why shouldn't the state board of education overrule teachers on how grammar is taught? This IS Texas.

  • Rene Nuñez is a Texas licensed real estate broker.

  • Don McLeroy is a dentist.

  • Mary Helen Berlanga is an attorney

  • Cynthia Noland Dunbar currently teaches anatomy & physiology to high school juniors and seniors. Additionally, she is a licensed practicing attorney.

  • Rick Agosto is president/chief executive officer and co-founder of Aureus Partners, Inc, a global financial sales and marketing firm for institutional investment companies.

  • Patricia "Pat" Hardy taught high school world history and world geography for 30 years

  • Lawrence Allen, Jr. served as principal of the Jesse H. Jones High, assistant principal of Dowling Middle, Jones Senior and Jack Yates High School.

  • Geraldine Miller is a licensed real estate broker.

  • Ken Mercer is a businessman and former member of the Texas House of Representatives.

  • Mavis B. Knight has more than 30 years of volunteer service working with civic and education organizations to provide mentoring and other services to youth, families, and senior citizens.

  • Terri Leo is a teacher of the visually impaired.

  • Gail Lowe has been a long time classroom volunteer. In 2005, she was named Conservative of the Year by the non-partisan Lampasas County Conservative Club.

  • David Bradley is a self-employed businessman, is licensed in insurance and real estate sales. And an Eagle Scout.

  • Bob Craig is a partner in the law firm of Craig, Terrill, Hale & Grantham, LLP.

  • Barbara Cargill is the founder and director of Wonders of the Woodlands Science Camp.


    • So, you have a problem with these people decreeing how teachers should teach grammar? What's wrong with you? Don't you believe in standards?

    By Terrence Stutz

    AUSTIN – State Board of Education members, casting aside months of work by English teachers across the state, tentatively approved new curriculum standards Thursday for English and reading classes that will be used in Texas schools for the next decade.

    Led by its social conservative bloc, the board rejected a curriculum proposal written and backed by several teacher associations – including those representing English teachers – and instead adopted a Washington, D.C.-based consultant's plan that changes the way grammar is taught..

    The teacher-backed proposal was rejected on a 9-6 vote, before board members approved their consultant's plan by the same 9-6 split. Voting with the seven social conservatives on the board – all Republicans – were Geraldine Miller, R-Dallas, and Rick Agosto, D-San Antonio.

    Key differences in the two plans centered on how grammar should be covered and the best methods for teaching reading comprehension.

    A majority of the board wanted grammar taught by itself, while teachers wanted it taught in writing classes as is currently done in most schools. The board majority also discarded widely used teaching strategies for reading that were favored by teacher groups.

    "It is disheartening that the board has completely discounted the recommendations of teachers who are in the classroom teaching these subjects," said Cynthia Tyroff of Texas Council of Teachers of English and Language Arts, one of 17 teacher associations that worked on the teacher-backed plan.

    But board member Cynthia Dunbar, R-Richmond, said some teachers and their supporters "subverted" the process of writing the curriculum standards by working behind the scenes to influence the final version of the plan.

    "We don't want to say we're not listening to teachers, but I am very frustrated," she said. "This process has become a joke and mockery."

    The standards adopted by the board will remain in place for the next decade, dictating what is taught in English classes in all elementary and secondary schools, and also providing the basis for state tests and textbooks used in the schools.

    — Terrence Stutz
    Dallas Morning News
    2008-05-23

    INDEX OF OUTRAGES

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