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Study will ask Texas teachers how they use and how to improve TEKS

two girls raise their hands in a classroom

Image: Wikimedia Commons

A forthcoming study will examine how Texas teachers approach preparing their students for the language and arts section of the state’s standard test for essential skills.

The Education Research Center at Texas A&M University will conduct the study with funding provided by Texas Council of Teachers of English Language Arts.

For this study, the center’s researchers will develop and administer an online survey.  Based on responses, researchers will identify a sample of teachers to interview by telephone.

The study will focus on assessing the perceptions of teachers across Texas related to the English Language Arts and Reading Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills, known popularly as the TEKS test.

Specifically, the study will investigate:

* How teachers perceive the current version of the test.

* How teachers are using the test in their teaching.

* What revisions teachers would propose to future versions of the test.

Principal investigators are Hersh Waxman, a professor of teaching, learning and culture as well as director of the Education Research Center, and Jacqueline Stillisano, co-director of the center, in the College of Education and Human Development

Findings will be shared with the State Board of Education and Texas Education Agency, Stillisano said.