Teachers, State Board Of Education At War Over English Curriculum

Given the right-wing makeup of the State Board of Education, we should expect controversies over sex education, evolution and science education, and even the teaching of history.

But, am I the only one who didn’t see the current controversy over language arts curriculum? Check this from the Fort Worth Star-Telegram:

The group of teachers whose revisions to the state’s public school curriculum for English and language arts were rejected now objects to the standards that the State Board of Education is scheduled to vote on next week.

Members of the group said they oppose the inclusion of a reading list or suggested titles within the curriculum. They also disagree with the organization of the curriculum, also called the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills, particularly the instruction of grammar in its own section.

The chairman of the state board said further revisions were necessary because the teachers’ recommendations weren’t acceptable.

“Nobody liked them,” said Don McLeroy, who was appointed the board’s chairman in July. At that time, McLeroy suggested that the board hire an outside curriculum writer to move the process along. StandardsWorks, based in Washington, D.C., got the job in November.

Grammar should be integrated into the curriculum for reading and writing rather than in a separate section, said Pat Jacoby, an Austin-area teacher who has 38 years of experience working with academically challenged and gifted students.

Among groups opposed to the TEKS realignment is the Texas Council of Teachers of English Language Arts. They note on their website:

TCTELA will join other literacy organizations in calling for the following revision of the March 19 draft:

* the reinstatement of the reading comprehension standards,
* the elimination of suggested authors and literary works within the TEKS,
* the rejection of a suggested authors’ list,
* the reinstatement of the Oral and Written Conventions Strand as a sub-strand of the Writing Strand, (rather than a separate, isolated strand),
* the increase in the rigor of the expectations for the primary grades (alignment with pre-K standards), and
* the alignment of expectations across grade levels.

I was particularly interested in the controversy over the “suggested authors and literary works” within TEKS and the suggested authors’ list. I couldn’t find the suggested authors’ list, but the TCTELA had the new TEKS realignment draft on their website, and it includes specific texts recommended to teachers when teaching specific subjects.

Since I minored in English and focused on literature, I thought I’d take a look at the proposed realignment draft and see what texts they have mentioned. Since there are several dozen works mentioned, let’s take a look at those mentioned in the realignment for “Sub-Strand 3″ which is Comprehension of Literary Text, Standard 1, which is “analyze theme and gener in different cultural, historical, and contemporary contexts and provide evidence from the text to support their understanding,” etc.

I suspect there are a large number of reasons that the teachers are upset about this. Just looking at the list, I can come up with one: if textbook selection is based on TEKS, and then, ideally, the texts should include the recommended literature mentioned in TEKS. Therein lies the problem: textbook selection is going to be exceedingly restricted (or, perhaps, geared toward a specific text by the consultants who drafted the TEKS) in order to find the selections which are recommended in the same text.

For example, for high school juniors (who study American Literature), Herman Melville’s Billy Budd and Henry James’ The American are recommended works for Standard 1 under Sub-Strand 3. For 12th graders, who study British literature, Dickens’ Oliver Twist and Shaw’s “Pygmalion” and “Major Barbara” are listed. There is no sure-fire guarantee that you can actually find a text for 11th graders with either Billy Budd or The American (or both) in the same text.

Plus, even though the recommended readings are meant to be a guide, that the recommended titles are even in the TEKS take from teachers and local English departments some measure of control and creativity.

Too, some of the recommendations are questionable, at least to me. For example, Love in the Time of Cholera is recommended reading for 9th graders. I wouldn’t have a problem with my child reading this book, but you can bet in some of the more “wing-nutty” school districts in Texas, someone would raise hell about it even though–lo and behold–the teacher may have snagged it right out of the TEKS. The book may be more appropriate for another age group.

While there is some diversity on the list, it at times reads more like a recommended reading list for a local chapter of Oprah’s Book Club than anything that will prepare students for college. I note a complete absence of works by (to name a few) Earnest Hemingway or Toni Morrison. But, Barbara Kingsolver is on the list. It’s not that the Poisonwood Bible or The Bean Trees (the Kingsolver book on the list) aren’t good works, but what is the rationale for including Kingsolver over Hemingway or Morrison? That is the precise reason that consultants shouldn’t be devising recommended reading lists.

There are other oddities. For example, Abraham Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address is suggested reading for 12th graders for one TEKS element. Unless I’m mistaken, the 12th grade concentration is exclusively on British literature. So, why is this mentioned?

Too, little thought seems to have been put into the integration of Texas-centric material into the curriculum for all grades. Mixed in with suggestions for biographies and encyclopedia articles at various points are Sam Houston, Lyndon Johnson, and Stephen F. Austin, and the Texas Rangers (we presume the rangers that are not the baseball team). It is as if the consultants simply needed to localize what they had, pulled up the Texas entry on Wikipedia and threw in some references to popular Texas figures. Did they even bother to check if there are age-appropriate biographies of SFA and Houston for kindergarten and first grade (the grades the bios are recommended for)? There may be, but are they factual? Did the consultants check? Who knows.

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