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Vanessa Trejo

Professor Bevill

ENGL 1302-IN1

29 April, 2017

Improving the approach towards mathematical TEKS

TEKS, Texas essential knowledge and skills. TEKS is a very important thing here in

Texas, considering that TEKS is the guide that teachers base most of their curriculum by. At the

end of the school year, students have to master the requirements that TEKS sets in order to move

on to the next grade level. TEKS undergoes changes every now and then when the State Board of

Education (also known as the SBOE) sees the need for a change. The latest change to TEKS was

done in 2012 when Commissioner Robert Scott brought together top math educators and

experts from Texas to form a Mathematics Advisory Group (Cargill 1). These math experts

decided that the mathematical TEKS needed to be adjusted to meet the changes happening in the

world, arguing that many careers now require more and different mathematics (Cargill 2). This

change in the mathematical TEKS resulted in teachers struggling to deliver these new lessons

and meeting all the new TEKS standards. The State Board of Education recognizes that these

changes are going to be very difficult for both teachers and students considering that the last

change prior to the 2012 change was done in the school year of 1998-99 (Nelson). Teachers went

from teaching the same material for twelve years to a three sixty spin on material. Another

problem that the shift down of TEKS first faced was the dramatic drop of STAAR math test

scores. In the summer of 2012, 25,374 students were tested on the Algebra 1 material. The results

of this test were thirty three percent passing, one percent passing with a commended score;

which is above average, sixty seven percent failing, and fifteen percent failing with a minimum
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score (STAAR State Wide Summary Reports 2011-2012). After the modification made to the

mathematical TEKS in 2012 the scores dropped dramatically in the summer of 2014. A total of

one thousand seven hundred and fifty nine students were tested on the algebra 1 material. The

results were the following, seventeen percent passed, zero percent passed above average and

eighty three percent failed. Seeing these results make people wonder, maybe the new

modification made to TEKS arent very efficient? Well yes it is true, the drop rate of scores is

huge. However keep in mind this was the first year the new mathematical shift down was being

tested. The Texas Education Agency should improve their approach towards the math TEKS

change because this would benefit the students to do better and to prepare them for the future.

Providing teachers with more math adjustment training will be a great way to better

prepare teachers for the drastic alterations of the math TEKS. As a math supervisor, Devin Hanes

says we are asking first year teachers and veterans to be first year teachers again (Dallas News

1). The idea that TEKS was going to be undergoing some changes was introduced to the school

districts well in advanced. This allowed trainings on the new TEKS available starting in the

summer of 2013 (Cargill 2). Understanding that children will need extra help with this change is

just as important as recognizing that teachers will need extra help as well. Furthermore,

adjustments will require several training opportunities that be mandatory. The change in math

TEKS was made so that our students would be better prepared for the future not to set them up

for failure. If the teachers dont completely comprehend what they are supposed to be delivering

to the class then it is inevitable that this will lead to failure. The saying practice makes perfect

can be applied to this situation; it is understandable for teachers to be scared of something new.

Ashley Nick, a 5th grade teacher in Richardson ISD started a training session in the summer of

2013 she states she felt there was some apprehension in the room, however as the trainings
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went on Ashley Nick restates that the anxiety dropped a bit (Dallas News 2). Spreading this

tactic all over the state of Texas will result in positive outcomes from the shift down of TEKS.

As children enter the adolescent stage, they begin to question everything, especially

school. Middle school teachers often hear the question How is this important? or When will I

used this in real life? These types of questions increase when children feel challenged in their

academic classes. When students feel like what they are learning in the classroom will never help

them out in the real world after high school things like dropout rates increase. Students drop out

for several reasons; one major factor is coursework is not challenging enough to maintain

students interested (Hawkins and Richardson 1), hopefully this will not be an issue with the new

mathematical TEKS. Another reason why students drop out is because teachers do not link

rigorous course material to things that matter in students everyday life (Hawkins and

Richardson 2). This is a huge concern now that the material has gotten challenging in every

grade level. Students are likely to feel like they dont have to try to learn this new challenging

material because it does not benefit them in their everyday lives. A new study shows that

students who sit through a lesson full of just text book reading and lectures are 1.5 times more

likely to fail (Bajak 1). Including active learning methods (Bajak 2) during a lesson is a great

benefit for students because not only are they constantly engaged and participating, but they are

also learning more this way. When working with groups and making projects children are using

more than one sense; they are using their touch, vision, and hearing. The more parts of the brain

you use, the more likely you are to retain information (Cleaver 1). As Ben Mardell, says kids

learn through all of their senses. It is true that always working with busy hands can be

challenging and a little extra work for the teacher it is worth the effort. A hands on classroom will

definitely help smoothen out the transition of the new mathematical TEKS.
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All children have different ways of learning. Some students work better with groups,

others hate working alone, and others just need that extra one on one help. However, when you

have a full class of students, sometimes it is hard to provide one on one help to that students that

is struggling. This concept can get a little harder when you are a middle school teacher, several

middle schools have drifted away from the idea of pulling small groups of students out of

classrooms to have a mini tutorial session. With the new shift down of TEKS frustration and

struggles are to be expected. Thus I propose that schools should go back to the small group

tutorial sessions. These small groups can have several benefits, one of the many benefits is

flexible learning. When working with a small group it is easier to monitor the rest of the

students (Genie tutors 1) and work with an individual on the side. Deciding what students are

going to be pulled out of an elective classroom for small group tutorial can be decided based on a

specific math area those students are struggling in. This will also facilitate the tutorial session

because the teacher will know what specific area most of the students in that group are struggling

with. Another great benefit to working in small groups is building team working skills (Genie

tutors 2). In a large classroom, students might feel embarrassed or are just scared to ask a

question in front of the rest of their classmates because they are afraid to ask a dumb question.

Leaning in small groups makes places a child in a situation where they have to be socially

active (Genie tutors 3) because everyone in the group is working on the same problem. Small

groups will kill two birds with one stone while students get extra academic help there are

unconsciously working on their social skills. In order for small groups to work the school must

hire a few extra people such as tutors or co teachers to pull these children out of their elective

classes and into the small groups. The amount of tutors hired by the school will strictly depend
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on where the school is located and the amount of financial support the school district provides

for that school.

All in all several different approaches can be made to try to facilitate the drastic shift

down of the mathematical TEKS. With every change there are struggles, and with this particular

change it will just have to be a trial and error type of situation. What works in one school district

may not always work for the other. However it is important to constantly be making an effort to

facilitate these changes for the students and for the teachers. These adjustment will require a little

more effort, time, and money investment however the results of having college ready students

will certainly be satisfying. Children are the future, therefor there must be a constant effort to

help build well-educated individuals for tomorrows future.

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Work Cited

Bajak, Aleszu. "Lectures Aren't Just Boring, They're Ineffective, Too, Study Finds." Science |

AAAS. N.p., 12 Jan. 2016. Web. 20 Apr. 2017.

Cargill, Barbara. "State Board of Education." State Board of Education, n.d. Web. 19 Apr. 2017.

Cleaver, Samantha. "Hands-On Is Minds-On." Hands-On Is Minds-On | Scholastic.com.

Scholastic Inc., n.d. Web. 20 Apr. 2017.

Hawkins, Alyssa, and Scott Richardson. "Weaving STEM, Exploration, and Community

Service." AMLE - Association for Middle Level Education. Association for Middle Level

Education, n.d. Web. 20 Apr. 2017.

Nelson, Jim. "TEA Correspondence." TAAS. N.p., 25 Oct. 1999. Web. 26 Apr. 2017.

<http://ritter.tea.state.tx.us/taa/taas991025.html>.

STAAR State Wide Summary Reports 2011-2012. STAAR Statewide Summary Reports 2011-

2012. Texas Education Agency, n.d. Web. 5 Apr. 2017.

"STAAR Statewide Summary Reports 2013-2014." STAAR Statewide Summary Reports 2013-

2014. Texas Education Agency, n.d. Web. 6 Apr. 2017.

Weiss, Jeffery. "New State Math Standards Mean Many Kids Started the Year behind

Education." Dallas News. The Dallas Morning News, 06 Sept. 2014. Web. 19 Apr. 2017.

"5 Benefits of Learning in Small Groups." Genie Tutors. Genie Tutors, 15 Jan. 2016. Web. 20

Apr. 2017.