BEFORE April, the Board Will Meet on the Required Reading List and the Vocab List: Impact on School Ratings and STAAR?

Timeline is NOT set at this point. But - you need to be listening and communicating before April. The board will meet to discuss the list before then. So - contact your folks. 

You'll also need to understand the long term impact of adding the lit list and vocabulary list to the TEKS. I'm pretty sure the HB 1605 author's didn't expect what I explain next. Let's play this thing out to see what dominoes tumble once the lists are added. (This is why I ask you to contact your Texas House and Senate folks too. Is this what they wanted? NOPE - doesn't solve the stated reason for the bill. Causes more problems.)

Let's be clear about what the required reading list is going to do long term...

The SBOE will meet sometime before April's scheduled meeting to discuss unfinished items from January's meeting. This means they will discuss the literature list and the vocabulary list. 

Once the required texts are chosen (and go through the first, second, and final readings: they will be added to the TEKS and become eligible for ASSESSMENT. 

Once the required texts are chosen, the vocabulary words will be chosen from the required texts. They will go through the approval process of first and second reading and public commentary. Then the lists will be added to the TEKS and become eligible for ASSESSMENT. 

Then the agency has a process for reviewing all the TEKS and deciding what is assessable. This means that any text is now eligible to be a passage on the test. Questions will be written for those excerpts. Vocabulary will also be assessed with questions. (Remember that by then, the multiple year assessment mess will be in place. Kids will see this stuff four times for each subject area.) 

There's a LOT to say about assessing a text kids have already read on a high stakes assessment - especially when you aren't sure which text they are gonna pick. (That's a topic for another time.) 

Then, once kids take the tests -four of them over the course of the year - the passing scores will be set based on how they all did (past tense - passing is set after all kids take the test and things are scored) -  using that scale score thing and equating. 

Then, assessment and accountability will have to decide a couple of things. 1)How will they compare how we are assessing the one day test to the results on a multiple-a-year tests to show growth? That's a mathematical mess. 2) Once we are only using the four times a year test, then they will have to decide how to set guidelines on what growth means and how they will assign points to that. 

Then, accountability will have to decide a 3rd thing: How does a district know if they are acceptable or in trouble and need a takeover by the agency?