What is TExGUIDE?

As an educator, you may wonder how to make the most of all the resources your district provides. If your district provides subscription access to the TEKS Resource System, you may also have access to TExGUIDE. What is TExGUIDE? How do these resources connect, and how do they align with the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS)?

It’s easy to rely on one familiar resource to save time or because it’s the one you understand best. When you understand how to navigate and connect multiple available resources, you can more effectively meet student needs and enhance engagement. This article explains how educators use the TExGUIDE tool as an instructional resource.

What is TExGUIDE?

TExGUIDE offers student engagement and online resources that directly address instruction and instructional strategies for each standard in the Instructional Focus Document (IFD) from the Texas Curriculum Management Program Cooperative (TCMPC): TEKS Resource System.

Is TExGUIDE the same as TEKS Guide?

No. TExGUIDE and TEKS Guide are not the same. The Texas Education Agency (TEA) created the TEKS Guide to provide further explanation of the TEKS. TExGUIDE is a library of resources that educators can use to teach the TEKS standards. Educators can access TExGUIDE at texguide.net if their school district is a subscriber. TEKS Guide by TEA is accessible to all at teksguide.org.

What are the Texas Standards?

TEA states that the TEKS “are the state standards for what students should know and be able to do in each subject and grade level. The Texas State Board of Education (SBOE) has legislative authority to adopt the TEKS for each subject of the required curriculum.”

Each course, grade-level, and content area has specific TEKS organized into Knowledge and Skills Statements, Expectations, and Strands. Instructional Resources (e.g., textbook publishers, TEKS Resource System) organize these TEKS in a cohesive, research-based sequence across the course. This supports instruction and ensures all TEKS are addressed throughout the year.

What is TEKS Resource System?

TCMPC: TEKS Resource System is an online curriculum management system aligned with the TEKS. The TEKS Resource System is designed using current research-based practices. It provides a foundation of aligned curriculum for the four core content areas in grades K–12.

The TEKS Resource System includes several components. One component is similar to the TEA’s TEKS Guide, referred to as the TEKS Clarification Document.

Additional components include:

• TEKS Verification Document – a document highlighting the standards. The document illustrates where the standards are explicitly taught or reinforced within units throughout the year,
• TEKS Vertical Alignment – a web-based interface to compare multiple grade levels or standards to highlight to progression of understanding of a standard,
• Additional resources unique to a content area or course.

What does TExGUIDE include?

TExGUIDE content areas include Pre-Kindergarten through High School courses in:

• Reading Language Arts (RLA),
• Math,
• Science, and
• Social Studies

TExGUIDE organizes content into units aligned with TCMPC: TEKS Resource System.

Each TExGUIDE unit includes:

• Unit Overview, Direct Links to Instructional Focus Document (IFD), and Performance Assessments from TCMPC: TEKS Resource System. TExGUIDE provides a unit overview directly from TEKS Resource System. It includes a direct link to the IFD, making it easy to use when internalizing content and planning lessons. Additionally, TExGUIDE directly links to the Performance Assessments from each IFD. Each unit has one or more performance assessments that assess the standards directly taught in the unit.
• Standards from TCMPC: TEKS Resource System. As noted earlier, we want to reemphasize that TExGUIDE units are aligned with the TEKS Resource System. TExGUIDE includes the directly-taught standards as they appear in the TEKS Resource System units. Developing standards may be noted at times, but they are not always included in TExGUIDE.

The IFD organizes grade-level standards in a way that makes classroom instruction more intuitive and effective. In some cases, standards include text strikethroughs to indicate that part of the standard is taught in the current unit while the remaining portions appear in later units. Additionally, TExGUIDE may bundle standards from a unit and provide resources aligned to one or all of the bundled standards.

What Resources does TExGUIDE offer?

All resources are aligned to the standards. Teachers can intentionally select and integrate them as each standard is addressed in their instruction.

When a unit bundles standards, the listed resources may address all of the standards or only some within the bundle. Educators should review the resources during planning to identify which standards are included and determine how they will use each resource in instruction.

External Resources are curated from internet searches to further support instruction for the indicated standards. During planning, teachers can review the list and choose which resources to use, deciding how and when to incorporate them into instruction.

In future blogs, we will go deeper into the various ways to plan and utilize TExGUIDE resources.

Conclusion

TExGUIDE provides teachers with flexible, TEKS-aligned resources they can use when and how they work best. The platform offers both TExGUIDE-created materials and curated external tools to support effective instruction and to prioritize student engagement and rigor.

Education Service Center Region 13 develops TExGUIDE and offers it for purchase to districts that subscribe to TCMPC: TEKS Resource System or TCMPC: Texas Curriculum Resources (TCR).

Take a tour of the TExGUIDE website here.

Visit the ESC Region 13 TExGUIDE website for details on TExGUIDE PK–12 and TExGUIDE Pre-K, to download informational flyers, or request support. Reach out to Amber Laroche, amber.laroche@esc13.txed.net, or Ben Zink, ben.zink@esc13.txed.net, with additional questions.