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Tech Apps

How Texas Schools Are Integrating the Tech App TEKS with Learning.com.

How Texas Schools Are Integrating the TA-TEKS

by Shari Tomlinson May 7, 2024

written by Shari Tomlinson

Exciting developments are on the horizon for K-8 schools across Texas as they gear up to implement the new Technology Applications TEKS (Tech Apps/TA-TEKS) in the upcoming school year. With a focus on integrating the Tech Apps TEKS into core curriculum areas, schools and districts are charting their unique paths to ensure seamless adoption and effective instruction.

The essence of the new TA-TEKS lies in their integration into existing curriculum, rather than being taught in isolation. While this vision aligns with a holistic approach to education, many districts are grappling with the challenge of implementation. Understaffing and the rollout of new initiatives are causing administrators to tread cautiously and be mindful of not overwhelming classroom teachers already overwhelmed with responsibilities.

The Benefits of a Phased Approach

Learning.com's Tech App TEKS resources support computational thinking, digital literacy, and creativity. — Screenshot by Emily Horn | **Learning.com’s TechApps for Texas**

Districts like Deer Park ISD are launching an initiative that unpacks the new Tech Apps TEKS and provides comprehensive guidance for teachers. Kelly Grigg, Coordinator of Instructional Technology, highlights the dual purpose of this initiative: to visually introduce and embed Technology Applications TEKS into teaching practices, and to serve as a checklist for seamless integration across departments and grade levels.

Integrating TA-TEKS into core subjects emerges as a natural progression for many districts. English language arts and science curricula, for instance, seamlessly accommodate elements of the TEKS, fostering a symbiotic relationship between technology and traditional subjects. Moreover, districts with computer labs leverage these resources to cover additional TA-TEKS, supplementing classroom instruction effectively.

The phased approach not only cultivates teacher comfort with the technology curriculum but also sets the stage for broader adoption in subsequent years. Despite varied implementation strategies, the underlying consensus remains steadfast: the imperative to equip students with essential technology skills transcends any challenges encountered along the way.

How Learning.com Can Help

Learning.com offers supporting resources for integrating the Tech App TEKS. — Screenshot by Emily Horn | **Learning.com’s TechApps for Texas**

At Learning.com, we stand committed to supporting educators in this pivotal journey to implement the new TA-TEKS. The recent adoption of Learning.com’s TechApps for Texas further fuels our mission to empower teachers with equitable and easily implementable resources. From fostering digital literacy to promoting safe and responsible device usage, Learning.com is dedicated to ensuring that every student receives the essential tools to thrive in today’s digital landscape.

As Texas schools embark on this transformative endeavor, we invite educators to join us in shaping a future where technology empowers every learner to succeed. Together, let’s embrace the opportunities that lie ahead and equip our students for a world driven by innovation and digital fluency.

May 7, 2024 0 comment

Technology Standards Approved at June SBOE Meeting

by Jennifer Bergland June 20, 2022

written by Jennifer Bergland

The Texas State Board of Education (SBOE) met during the week of June 14-17. At this meeting, the board heard from the Commissioner of Education and dealt with several issues that pertain to technology in Texas schools.

Commissioner Update

At each meeting, the Commissioner of Education, Mike Morath, updates the board on things pertaining to Texas schools. He usually provides the board with pertinent updates and then answers questions posed to him by individual board members.

He began the meeting by discussing the shooting in Uvalde. He acknowledged how difficult the past four weeks have been for all involved, including the agency that is dedicated to the well-being of all children in Texas. One of the ways the agency is responding is to create a team at TEA led by a Chief of School Safety and Security. This individual will report directly to the commissioner and will work to improve the safety of our schools.

The Commissioner then highlighted the agency’s work on improving the teacher pipeline. This discussion included the recruitment, retention, and preparation of Texas teachers. He also discussed the work of Teacher Vacancy Task Force that was launched on March 10.

I always find the commissioner’s update to be insightful. You can learn a lot about the agency’s priorities and the priorities of the SBOE members. His update was given on June 15 at the beginning of the SBOE’s agenda. It lasts about an hour and twenty minutes.

Technology Applications and Computer Science Standards Revised

On Friday, June 17 the board voted to approve on second reading the revised K-8 Technology Applications TEKS. For background on the revision process, see the blog post I wrote on May 16, 2022. A vote taken on second reading is the final vote which means these standards have been approved. However, because it takes several years for the instructional materials to be created and selected, they will not be used in Texas classrooms until the 2024-2025 school year.

The board also approved on second reading the revisions made in seven CTE computer science courses: Fundamentals of Computer Science, Computer Science I, Computer Science II, Computer Science III, Foundations of Cybersecurity, Digital Forensics, and Cybersecurity Capstone.

A proclamation seeking instructional materials for each of these courses will be issued which means they, too, will be implemented in Texas classrooms in the 2024-2025 school year. This is the next step for most of the high school courses listed above. However, the changes made to Fundamentals of Computer Science and Computer Science III do not require new instructional materials, so they will be implemented in the 2022-2023 school year.

TEA Provided an Update on the Long Range Plan for Technology Update

At the April SBOE meeting, TEA gave an update on their progress on the Long Range Plan for Technology. At that meeting, the board provided TEA staff with some specific suggestions of things they wanted to see in the plan. During the June meeting, TEA provided a very brief update on their progress with the plan and their inclusion of the board’s recommendations.

The plan will change the device refresh cycle from a recommended seven years to a much shorter range of two to three years. During the pandemic most districts provided devices to their students that were taken home. Districts have reported that the wear and tear of devices that are used 24/7 prohibits their ability to extend their usage to seven years.

At the board’s request they added a stipulation that all districts must ensure compliance with CIPA. Currently, only districts that participate in the E-rate program are required to abide by the CIPA regulations. Very few districts do not participate in the E-rate program but there are a few that do not.

The plan will also include provisions that deal with cybersecurity. It will also address the need to ensure that students have access to high speed Internet both at school and home. And finally, the plan will address school safety, including the need to use technology to provide physical security to school facilities.

TEA indicated they would bring the final draft to the board for their approval at the September meeting.

In Conclusion

This the second consecutive SBOE meeting that has dealt with major issues that pertain to the use of technology. As always, TCEA is committed to monitoring these items as they make their way through the process. It is important to remember that issues that involve teaching and learning are not only decided by the Texas legislature but also the State Board of Education. I encourage each of you to identify who your board member is and reach out to them when you have questions or concerns. They work for you! If you don’t know which board member represents you, use this form to find out. Make sure you use your home address, not your school address.

June 20, 2022 0 comment

Advocacy Coding/Computer Science Curricular Standards Cybersecurity Digital Citizenship Digital Literacy STEM/STEAM Technology Applications TEKS

SBOE to Consider Tech TEKS and Computer Science Update

by Jennifer Bergland May 16, 2022

written by Jennifer Bergland

The Texas Education Agency, at the request of the Texas State Board of Education (SBOE), has been working with various groups of educators to review and revise the K-8 Technology Applications TEKS and four high school computer science courses. At the April board meeting, the SBOE approved the revisions on first reading. This triggered a required period for the public to provide comments on the new TEKS. The board will vote to approve the revised standards at their June meeting. Below is a brief summary of their work with instructions on how you can provide feedback to the board. I have also included a link to the proposed TEKS at the bottom of this post.

Review of the Process

In order to facilitate the review and revision of a set of standards, the SBOE nominates educators, parents, business and industry representatives, and employers to serve on TEKS review work groups. Work groups make recommendations to the SBOE for revisions to the TEKS.

K-8 Technology Applications TEKS

The K-8 Technology Applications were last revised in 2011. Since then, several pieces of legislation have passed that have changed the scope and direction of the standards. In 2019, the passage of HB 2984 (86R) required the SBOE to include “coding, computer programming, computational thinking, and cybersecurity” into the K-8 Tech Apps curriculum. Also in 2019, SB 11 (86R) required the inclusion of digital citizenship and cyberbullying into the curriculum.

Overview of the K-8 TEKS Changes

From their inception, the K-5 Technology Applications standards were grouped into grade bands (K-2; 3-5). The reviewers have recommended that the K-5 standards be broken into single grades just as they are in other content areas. Each grade level has its own set of TEKS. The different work group documents for the K-8 TEKS can be found on this TEA web page.

The work groups also combined strands, added new ones, and even reduced the number of strands. There are now five strands instead of six. I have listed them below and provided the group’s rationale for their proposed changes.

The primary change is the direction and rigor of the standards. The former TEKS were primarily teaching students how to use technology. With the introduction of computational thinking, coding, computer programming, and cybersecurity the TEKS are substantially more focused on building the academic skills that are involved in computer science.

My advice to teachers and school districts is to begin reviewing and studying the standards now so you will be prepared for their implementation in the 2024-2025 school year. These standards will take a much more concerted effort to implement than the ones they are replacing.

Strand Changes for the K-8 TEKS

Below are the strands the work groups have recommended. I’ve inserted the comments from the work group documents that gave rationale for their recommendations. I have also included those strands that were recommended for elimination.

Computational Thinking – New

This strand aligns with the Computational Thinker strand in the ISTE Standards for Students and CSTA concepts for Algorithms and Programming in accordance with recommendations from the content advisors and Work Group A. Programming, coding, and computational thinking are also required to be included in the K– 8 technology applications TEKS by the Texas Education Code §28.002(c3).

Creativity and Innovation – Current

This strand promotes creating original works that showcase the knowledge students have acquired. It aligns with the Creative Communicator strand in the ISTE Standards for Students, CTE Programming and Software Development TEKS Work Group recommendations, and Work Group A recommendations. Creativity is the process and creation is the product

Data literacy, Management, and Representation (New)

This strand encourages students to use critical thinking skills and digital tools to create visual representations of gathered data or knowledge to display, analyze, and evaluate results. This strand vertically aligns with the CTE Programming and Software Development TEKS Work Group recommendations.

Digital Citizenship (Current)

Work Group B reviewed current law and determined that this strand was still necessary.

Practical Technology Concepts (New Name)

This strand was previously titled Technology Operations and Concepts. It addresses the fundamental skills that students will need to use or create with technology across the curriculum and future courses. These are transferable skills in school and life. Addressing computer systems and operating systems aligns with the Computer Science Teachers Association (CSTA) standards.

Deleted Strands:

Communication and Collaboration:

Work Group D eliminated this strand because they didn’t feel that a stand-alone strand for Communication and Collaboration is necessary. Communication and collaboration are woven throughout the design process and there are explicit examples in other technology application strands.

Critical Thinking, Problem Solving, and Decision Making

This strand was deleted by Work Group B because these skills are incorporated across the standards.

Creativity and Innovation

This strand was deleted by Work Group B because these skills are incorporated across the standards.

Research and Information Fluency

This strand was deleted by Work Group B because these skills are incorporated across the standards.:

9-12 Computer Science and Cybersecurity Standards

I asked John Owen to provide a brief review of the revisions that were made to the high school courses. He is the Computer Science Project Manager for We Teach_CS at the University of Texas. He was involved in the revision of the four high school computer science courses.

“The four high school level computer science courses now under the CTE umbrella, Fundamentals of Computer Science, Computer Science I, II and III, underwent a revision process this past year which included a slight modification to the strand structure and adjustments to several student expectations in each of the courses. For the most part each course retained its original structure with wording changes to several Student Expectations to provide better clarity, relocating and consolidating several Student Expectations to under the various strands to improve the clarity and flow of the course, and a few Student Expectations added that needed to be deleted for being no longer relevant or beyond the scope of the course, or consolidated with other Student Expectations due to some duplication instances.

A significant effort was made to provide a seamless transition through these four courses to make for a seamless and logical vertical progression for the student taking two or more of these courses in sequence. Also, several of the Student Expectations from the existing topics were too closely aligned with specific languages, particularly Java, and efforts were made to create more general language describing the student expectation. For example, there were several Student Expectations that alluded to the use of object reference variables, a particular aspect of Java not always common to other languages, and broader language was used instead to enable use of other language choices.”

The different work group documents for the high school courses can be found on this TEA web page.

Providing Feedback

The deadline to provide feedback on the revised K-8 Technology Applications TEKS and/or the high school computer science and cybersecurity courses is 5 p.m., June 10, 2022. You can provide your comments using this form.

My advice is to be very specific about what you propose. If you want to recommend the removal or insertion of text in the standards, you should create a document that can be uploaded. Copy and paste the text you want to change. Then, strike the language you want to be deleted and underline the new text you want to include.

Here are the revised standards for Chapter 126, the K-8 Technology Applications. Here are the revised standards for Chapter 127, Subchapter O, the high school computer science and cybersecurity courses

Photo Credits:

Photo of students pointing to laptop by John Schnobrich on Unsplash

Photo of teacher helping student with coding by Mars Sector-6 on Unsplash

Photo of secure phone by Dan Nelson on Unsplash

May 16, 2022 0 comment