I absolutely love that Texas has created standards to help us teach deeper, rather than teaching a mile wide and an inch deep. Thank you TEA (the list of things to thank you for may be a little short) for the differentiation between the Readiness vs. the Supporting Math TEKS. It gives us clear priorities on how to focus lessons, interventions and deeper thinking activities. It helps us to teach depth in the most important areas, rather than spread our teaching thin and make little impact.
Process and Content Standards
The math TEKS have Process Standards, which tell us how students should engage with math content. By engaging in the process standards, students are making connections between the content standards and applying them to use math in the real world. The knowledge and skills TEKS, which I like to call the Content Standards tell us the content students need to learn. When the STAAR Test was designed, it was created to focus on fewer skills and assess those skills in a deeper manner. TEA used recommendations from a committee of educators to divide the content TEKS between Readiness Standards and Supporting Standards.
Which Grade Levels have Supporting and Readiness Standards?
Readiness and Supporting Standards have been identified by TEA for 3rd grade, 4th grade, 5th grade and above. TEA has not named Readiness or Supporting standards for kindergarten, first or second grades, but the Lead4Ward organization has used backwards mapping to identify their own version of Supporting and Readiness Standards for grades Kindergarten, 1st grade and 2nd grade.
What are the Readiness Standards?
The Readiness Standards are the foundation of each grade level’s math content. They are the most important concepts students need to learn. The Readiness Standards are the greatest part of the foundation for the next grade level’s math content as well.
The Readiness Standards:
- Are Essential for success in the current grade
- Are Important for preparing students for the next grade
- Are important for college and/or career readiness
- Need in-depth instruction
- Address broad and deep ideas
How are the Readiness Standards tested on the STAAR test?
- Are tested every year on the STAAR test
- Comprise about 2/3 of the STAAR test questions
What are the Supporting Standards?
Supporting Standards are important, but they are not part of the core of that grade level’s content. They still need to be taught, but not to the same depth as Readiness Standards. They also take a back seat to Readiness Standards when it comes to intervention.
The Supporting Standards are identified as supporting for one or more of these reasons:
- They are introduced in the current grade, but emphasized in a later grade
- Were emphasized in a previous grade, and are reinforced in the current grade
- They help prepare students for the next grade, but are not in a way that is central
- They address more narrowly defined concepts
How are the Supporting Standards tested on the STAAR test?
- Not all Supporting Standards are tested every year
- They are tested on a rotating basis (i.e. once every other year or once every three years)
Consider this Color Coded Key for the 3rd Grade Place Value Review Task Cards. 2/3 of the questions cover the Readiness Standards for this topic, allowing for a greater variety and deeper questions on these emphasized TEKS. Having more questions devoted to the Readiness Standards also makes is easy for us as educators to remember to prioritize this standard when it comes to meeting with our reteach groups.
How Does this Impact my Teaching and Assessments?
Not all TEKS are created equal. TEA has given us a prioritized list of standards, the Readiness Standards, that should be given more time and attention in lessons, math stations, and activities in our classrooms. The Readiness Standards should be our focus for intervention. This makes my interventionist heart very happy. Let’s just think about the 3rd grade TEKS. There are 46 math content TEKS in 3rd grade. Making sure struggling students master 46 standards is overwhelming. Making sure struggling 3rd grade students master 15 Readiness Standards is very doable.
Want Resources that are built to emphasize the Readiness Standards?
Make your teaching life easier with done-for-you math units that spend more time and dive deeper into teaching the Readiness Standards. Check out my 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade math resources that Texas teachers are raving about.
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