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THE CARGILL
CONNECTION, March 2007
Dear
friends and supporters,
This newsletter will be short
and sweet since our items at the February State Board meeting were mainly
discussion items. I did want to let you know what happened with some of
the key issues.
Note: My
thoughts appear in blue italics.
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Swearing-in Ceremony for SBOE members:
Several members of the
House and Senate came for the swearing-in ceremony, and we truly
appreciated their interest and support. Senator Florence Shapiro,
chairman of the Senate Public Education committee, swore in the new
board members. Also present was Representative Rob Eissler, newly
appointed chairman of the House Public Education committee.
(Congratulations to Rob!) We were honored to have these legislators
attend the ceremony. You know that communication between the
Legislature and the State Board has been a very important issue to me
since I took office. It is vital that this link remains strong as we
strive to improve public education for our schoolchildren.
-
Election of State Board of Education Officers:
(Tincy Miller
continues to be our dedicated board chairman, David Bradley was elected
as vice-chairman and Rick Agosta is our new secretary. Congratulations
to Tincy, David and Rick and I thank them for their service on the
board.)
-
Announcement of Membership of Standing Committees:
(The executive committee met and
appointed members to the three standing committees. I will now be
serving on the Committee on Instruction and am delighted to have been
appointed as vice-chairman of this committee by the elected chairman,
Terri Leo.)
-
Update on English Language Arts and
Reading TEKS Revision:
This
item provided the opportunity for the board to hear an update on the
process for revising the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) for
English Language Arts and Reading (ELAR).
(We did
receive an update on the work that was accomplished by the elementary
ELAR panel members a few weeks ago. The board will continue to monitor
the progress made in improving the state curriculum standards. On the
first weekend of March, the secondary ELAR panel members met. I am
copying a few words from two or my nominees below in red:
From an
elementary ELAR panel member:
Last
year, I felt privileged to "refine" the TEKS, but this time I felt like I
had really contributed my expertise. It feels great to think that I have
influenced what will be taught to our students in Texas. The only thing
we needed more of was time. We will, however, be able to get together via
computer in March.
From a
secondary ELAR panel member:
Barbara,
Oh, my goodness!!! The TEA staff and other professionals who are working
to improve the TEKS are phenomenal! I came away from the three-day
workshop feeling good about what we had accomplished and that we were all
on the same page with the revisions. We literally kept a copy of the
board's directives in the middle of the tables to remind us of our purpose
-- to make the standards clear, concise, non-repetitive, and measurable,
on which we all agreed. The work and the pace were grueling, but the
results rewarding -- not just the revisions, but knowing that
professionals across the state agreed on changes that can help the
children of Texas. Thank you again for the opportunity to meet and work
with such a tremendously conscientious group of individuals. I wish you
could have been a fly on the wall. The dialogue was exhilarating.
-
Update on Development of New Earth and Space Science and Engineering
Courses:
This item provided
the opportunity for the board to hear an update on the process for
development of new Earth and Space Science and Engineering courses.
(Many of you have
asked to serve on the committees that will be developing the TEKS for
these new courses. I will let you know as soon as TEA sends us the
nomination forms. Thank you for being willing to develop curriculum
standards for new science courses that will benefit Texas students!)
-
Discussion of 19 TAC Chapter 74 Curriculum Requirements Subchapter C,
Other Provisions, 74.32,
Physical Activity Programs for Students in Kindergarten-Grade 8:
(Many parents in my
local school district, Conroe ISD, contacted me to ask why their
children in middle school would not be allowed to continue early release
for high-level athletic sports. I am happy to tell you that
Commissioner Shirley Neeley agreed to help “clear up” the confusion and
sent a letter to each school district in our state. A key part of the
letter states: “As
the rules are written, students may not leave campus to fulfill local
physical activity requirements. It was not, however, the intention of
the board to eliminate the option for students to achieve their physical
activity requirement through an off-campus activity offered during the
school day” In
addition, the Commissioner’s letter states, “…the
SBOE desires that districts understand that they may allow students to
satisfy locally developed physical activity requirements in middle and
junior high school by participating in off-campus activities, many of
which offer viable ways to meet the requirements and intentions of
Senate Bill 42 (now found in Texas Education Code, §28.002 (i)).”
Thank you for your help Commissioner Neeley!
ACTION ITEMS:
YOU CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE FOR KIDS!
Needed:
Charter
School Application Readers! I received this message from
TEA: “We desperately need additional readers for the Generation 13
charter applications. We have reviewed the 52 applications that were
submitted and determined that 34 are complete. Currently we have only 25
individuals who have agreed to read this round. Since we would like for
each application to be scored five times, more readers are needed.”
Please contact me at
sboecargill@sbcglobal.net or call 281-465-8095 if you would like me to
send you an application form for this invaluable
work.
Needed: TAKS Test
Committee panel members! I can nominate educators from my
SBOE District 8 to serve on educator committees sponsored by the Student
Assessment Division of TEA. The nomination form is available at
www.tea.state.tx.us/student.assessment/ and you can see the subjects
listed. Please let me know if you would like to serve on one of these
committees. My contact information again is
sboecargill@sbcglobal.net or 281-465-8095.
OTHER HAPPENINGS:
Fellow board member Don McLeroy wrote this
article, and he wisely points out the important responsibilities of the
SBOE. Thank you Don!
 |
I do want to tell you about one more thing
that makes me smile with pride! On the Friday of our board meeting, the
board enjoyed a musical presentation by students of the
Regional Day School Program for the Deaf
at Barbara Bush Elementary School in the Conroe
Independent School District. These 11 precious children, ages 3-10, met
at 5:15 A.M. to take a bus all the way to Austin to perform at our
meeting. They sang, danced, read poetry, made us wooden hearts (after
all, Valentines’ Day was coming up), and stole our hearts! Many thanks
again to these wonderful children and their dedicated teachers who got
right up there with them to dance and sing! |
Go to
www.barbaracargill.com to see a photo of these adorable children.
Look under “2007 pictures”. You can also see photos of the
State Board members being introduced on the House floor in
February. What an honor that was!
| For those of you who want more information
about the End-of-Course testing
that has been proposed in the Legislature, go to the Texas Legislature
website (www.capitol.state.tx.us)
and read about bills HB2236 and SB1031. Remember that bills tend to
“morph” over time, so please contact your legislators if you have an
opinion to express! |
State Senator: first.last@senate.state.tx.us
State Representative: first.last@house.state.tx.us
Governor Perry's opinion line:
800-252-9600
Barbara’s note:
I will
say that I hope the SBOE and TEA are given time to revise
and improve the state curriculum standards before the EOCs are developed. Having clear, concise, explicit, measurable standards are a
must to develop quality state tests. The EOCs should be
course-specific; therefore the new and improved
TEKS must be in the hands of our hard-working teachers!
Here are a few highlights of the EOC bills:
...create 12 End-of-Course exams,
replacing the 9th, 10th and 11th grade TAKS; require the scores
on the EOCs to account for 15 percent of the course grade; require this
testing to be done online as soon as practical; mandate that all 10th
graders take the PSAT; order the state to pay for each student to
take the SAT or ACT at least once; require some of the new tests
to contain college readiness questions, which are extra questions
that aren’t included when calculating whether the student
passes the exam; move the 5th grade TAKS science test to 4th
grade; add more writing elements to the 4th-8th grade TAKS tests;
|
Did you know that some
school districts are now posting their check registers online?
This means they are posting all of the checks they write. The one
exception is payroll checks as they are repetitive. Houston and Dallas
ISDs have already begun this invaluable practice. Why is this
important? As reporter Peyton Wolcott explains, “My own simple
close-to-home example was a superintendent who appeared to think nothing
of charging the district for $35 valet parking tab at edu-conferences at
the same time students were going without basics because the district
supposedly needed more money. Also, some of the worst elements of our
present public school curriculums in the U.S. are vendor-driven, and
with checks being posted parents and taxpayers will be able to see how
much those programs that don't work are costing us.”
www.PeytonWolcott.com
|
************************************************************************
The
chairman of the SBOE has cancelled our April State Board meeting due to “a
heavy workload for the agency (due to the legislative session) and a light
anticipated agenda.” However I will be in touch if something urgent comes
up during the legislative session.
East Texas
always
responds to my calls for help on important education issues and I thank
you!
I leave you with this
beautiful prayer from an unknown author:
“May
today there be peace within. May you trust God that you are exactly
where you are meant to be.
May you not forget the infinite possibilities
that are born of faith. May
you use those gifts that you have received,
and pass on the love that has
been given to you. May you be content
knowing you are a child
of God. Let His presence settle into your bones, and
allow your soul the freedom
to sing, dance, praise and love.
It is there for each and
every one of us.”
Blessings
for a wonderful Spring Break with family and friends,
Barbara Cargill
State Board of Education, District 8
281-465-8095
sboecargill@sbcglobal.net www.barbaracargill.com
Please forward this e-mail to other people who have an interest in
education.
Pol.
Adv. Paid for by Barbara Cargill for SBOE, 61 W. Wedgemere, The Woodlands,
TX 77381
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10:58 AM
"He only asks thee
to yield thyself to Him, that He may work in thee
to will and to do by His own mighty power. Thy
part is to yield thyself and His part is to work;
and never, never will He give thee any command
which is not accompanied by ample power to obey
it." - Hannah W. Smith
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