This is a call for Texas Citizens who care about what our children are learning- be on the CSCOPE review teams across Texas.
Interested citizens may submit a nomination form through April 29. The CSCOPE Ad Hoc Committee expects to make committee assignments in May. The review panels would then work June 3-16 to review the material.
Click here to see the CSCOPE review timeline.
State Board of Education – CSCOPE
The State Board of Education has launched its review of CSCOPE, a curriculum which has been a lightning rod for controversy for content that is alleged to erode fundamental American values, devalue Christianity and favor Islam. The State Board of Education will be seeking public participation in the review process, beginning with review team member nominations which open this week.
“We are committed to a vigorous, thorough, transparent and fair review process,” says District 10 SBOE Member Tom Maynard (R-Florence) who is a member of the ad hoc committee appointed by SBOE chair Barbara Cargill to coordinate the CSCOPE review process. Maynard also chairs the board’s Committee on Instruction.
The board will use the same criteria to evaluate CSCOPE content as it does traditional textbooks.
CSCOPE is an online program that assists districts in aligning curriculum with state standards. In question are the more than 1,600 model lesson plans called “exemplar lessons” and the accompanying tests.
The review process will begin with social studies.
“We anticipate the appointment of 14 review teams to tackle the 431 social studies lessons and assessments, which range from kindergarten to 12th grade government,” Maynard says.
“We want a broad cross-section of parents, teachers, content experts and other stakeholders involved in the process, which will begin in early June and finish in late July,” he says.
The Texas Education Agency will open the nomination system for reviewers on Tuesday, April 9. Interested parties can access the nomination form from the State Board of Education page of the Texas Education Agency website. The application deadline is April 29.
Steps in the Nomination and Review Process
Step 1: The public will be notified about the nomination process. Nominees must fill out an application document and submit a current resume. The administrator sends the nominees’ applications and resumes to the SBOE member that represents their district.
Step 2: SBOE members may submit nominations for the review panels to include parents, classroom teachers, curriculum specialists, school administrators, and other stakeholders in Texas education. SBOE members should ensure that nominations represent at least 4 different grade levels. SBOE members should list nominations in priority order. The Ad Hoc committee will make every effort to see that there is fair representation for all board members who submit nominations.
Step 3: The Ad Hoc committee reviews the applications and recommends to the SBOE Chair nominees to each review panel. Each review panel will have 3-9 members based upon the recommendations of the Ad Hoc committee.
Step 4: From each Panel, one Facilitator is selected by the Chair of the Ad Hoc committee. This person serves as the coordinator of the meetings of that particular panel, reports to the Committee as needed and facilitates the report coming from that panel.
Step 5: The Ad Hoc committee charges the review panels to review the instructional content in CSCOPE in accordance with the guidelines set by the SBOE Chair with input from the Ad Hoc committee.
Step 6: Individual reviews, once they are complete, will be sent to the review panel facilitator by a date determined by the Ad Hoc committee. The facilitators will compile a review panel report and send the review panel documents to the administrator.
Step 7: The Ad Hoc committee will receive the reports from the administrator; the reports will also be sent to the SBOE and the CSCOPE governing body. The review panel reports will be posted on line for the public.
Step 8: The CSCOPE governing body will consider the feedback of the review panel members and determine how to use those comments to improve the lesson content offered by CSCOPE.
Step 9: The CSCOPE governing body will report back to the Ad Hoc committee
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There are two different types of philosophies of education; and nearly all educators, curriculum, vendors, organizations, and advocacy groups fall into one of these two categories. (3.3.13 — “Type #1 and Type #2 — Two Completely Different Philosophies of Education” by Donna Garner
Protect Type 1 Traditional Education in Texas! Get involved.
- If we want our public school children to learn to read well, we must have Type #1.
- If we want them to be able to speak and write English well, then we must have Type #1.
- If we want them to be patriotic citizens who revere the Founding Fathers and know and honor the Constitution, then we must have Type #1.
- If we want our graduates to be knowledgeable voters who know history and can analyze current events based upon the past and the present, then we must have Type #1.
- If we want our public school children to recognize that they and the whole world were created by a Higher Being, then we must have Type #1.
- If we want our public school children to know their math facts to automaticity, then we must have Type #1.
- If we want our public school children to be able to do well in foreign languages, then we must have Type #1 that teaches the phonetic sound system and grammar/usage in English so that they can apply that to their foreign language learning.
- If we want our public school children to read the great pieces of literature that have connected our country to past generations, then we must have Type #1.
- If we want our public school children to have the skills and knowledge they need for college and/or the workplace, then we must have Type #1.
- If we want to turn out scientists who are well read, logical, analytical, and who can write down their scientific conclusions, then we must have Type #1.
- If we want our graduates to be able to write compositions built upon facts and persuasive techniques, then we must have Type #1.
- If we want our high-school students to know how to research a topic and then put that information into well-written text, we must have Type #1.If we want legislators who are well read and who have a deep understanding of world history/American history/U. S. legal system and how those apply to current events, then we must have Type #1.
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Click the photo to sign the Petition and Join the movement to#StopCSCOPE
Women On the Wall takes on the issues that matter. Sharing information and updates on our weekly radio show on Monday mornings at 10 am CST. You will not want to miss this show. We will have up to date information on CSCOPE and guests who are the experts on education and other issues that are effecting our children and grandchildren.