Final Progress Reports - Southern Regional Education Board

In its initial report to the state, SREB worked with Texas on an intermediate process to further specify the readiness
standards in terms of performance expectations and to connect college readiness to assessment, teacher preparation
and the curriculum. In a 2009 joint letter, Senator Shapiro, chair of the Senate Education Committee, and Representative
Eissler, chair of the House Public Education Committee, requested that the TEA and the THECB work
together “to create a plan of action to further specify the CCRS in the English/language arts and reading and mathematics
TEKS.” The letter further linked the standards with other essential steps in the college-readiness agenda by
stipulating that “the end goal is to define these standards in terms of performance expectations that allow these specific
standards to be used for assessment, teacher preparation, professional development, and instructional materials.”
Collaboration between K-12 and higher education continued to characterize the critical steps of aligning the state’s
standards with the new college-readiness standards and establishing performance expectations. The CCRS were incorporated
into the content standards (TEKS) by the state Board of Education through a highlighting and alignment
process; TEA and THECB staff, with assistance of educators and national experts, have identified the TEKS
in Algebra II and English III that are critical for college and career readiness and aligned to the CCRS. This work
occurred in three phases:
Phase I (March-June 2009): Using the TEKS and the CCRS as the base, content experts examined the gap
analyses developed by various vertical teams, reviewed descriptions of what it means to be college-ready,
compared the identified critical college-readiness skills to national college-readiness skills (e.g., SAT, ACT,
ADP, etc.), and developed performance expectations associated with each critical college-readiness skill for
English III and Algebra II.
Phase II (September 2009-February 2010): A broader spectrum of high school educators and higher education
faculty validated the performance expectations associated with each critical college-readiness skill identified for
English III and Algebra II. This validation involved the review and (if necessary) the modification of initial
material created in Phase I.
Phase III (March 2010-August 2011): Utilizing the expertise of the Phase II validation group as well as outside
experts, the final phase of this project is currently under way and will result in the development of curriculum
for Algebra II and English III college-preparatory courses.
Texas has achieved the first critical step in the process of embedding college readiness in K-12 and higher education:
The state has established one set of performance standards for English and mathematics that is shared by public
schools and postsecondary institutions. The process of reaching consensus on the need for high college-readiness
standards and the actual activity involved to develop the standards have been very intentional and collaborative in
Texas. SREB entered the work at a time when an external group could bring an “outsider” perspective to the effort
as well as add momentum through resources to support the work of the state education agencies and to provide
additional expertise.
K-12 Readiness Assessments
SREB holds that school-based assessments of student progress in achieving the readiness standards are important
for several reasons:
If students are assessed early enough in high school, those not meeting the standards can be assisted before
graduation and college entry.
The assessments themselves establish the actual performance expectations of the content standards, thus
clarifying for teachers and students the specific performance needed.
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