# New Texas Science Curriculum Puts the Pressure on Professional Development for Teachers

Published 2023-02-09 · Updated 2026-06-09 · Education Technology on MarketScale
Canonical: https://www.marketscale.com/industries/education-technology/new-texas-science-curriculum-puts-the-pressure-on-professional-development-for-teachers

> Keeping up with the latest trends, technology, and data in science is a vital step to ensuring a state’s science curriculum meets the needs of today’s students. It’s also a field defined by practice. So why are so many fundamental scientific concepts still taught out of a textbook? That was the big question the Texas…

Keeping up with the latest trends, technology, and data in science is a vital step to ensuring a state’s science curriculum meets the needs of today’s students. It’s also a field defined by practice. So why are so many fundamental scientific concepts still taught out of a textbook? That was the [big question](https://tea.texas.gov/sites/default/files/proclamation-2024.pdf) the Texas School Board of Education posed back in 2021. Their answer to that dilemma was an entire reworking of the state’s [science curriculum](https://marketscale.com/industries/education-technology/cast-2022-how-science-teachers-are-rethinking-stem-education/). Adjusting standards and rubrics is just half the battle, though. School districts, now several years into the transition, are faced with a tough challenge: putting together adequate professional development for teachers.

At the [conclusion of 2021](https://tea.texas.gov/academics/curriculum-standards/teks-review/science-teks-review), the Texas School Board of Education (SBOE) revised its Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) for Science for all K-8 students. The goal was to give the state’s science curriculum much-needed revisions to encourage more hands-on learning and less lecture-based education for students. Planning and building of the new science standards are underway, with a planned [operational date](https://tea.texas.gov/sites/default/files/assessing-the-new-science-teks-101022.pdf) beginning in the 2024-2025 school year and finalizing its integration by 2026.

In-depth professional development for teachers is and will continue to be a must to make the transition to the revised TEKS as seamless as possible. Professional development pros have been hard at work getting teachers ready for the transition, especially since the new science standards aim to put more day-to-day instruction back in the hands of students. What role will teachers play in the science classroom? And where is this proving to be a professional development challenge?

For insights into the revised TEKS for science, what’s new, what’s changing, the type of professional development for teachers that’s already underway, and how the training is being received, MarketScale spoke with several school district professionals in the north Texas area:

- [Tracey Bruce](https://tsela.wildapricot.org/page-18090), Secondary Science District Strategist at Grand Prairie ISD
- [Derek McDowell](https://tsela.wildapricot.org/Contact-Us), Secondary Science Coordinator at Frisco ISD and [TSELA](https://tsela.wildapricot.org/) President
- [Ann Mulvihill](https://tsela.wildapricot.org/Contact-Us), AVID Secondary Coordinator at Garland ISD and [TSELA](https://tsela.wildapricot.org/) Treasurer

**What’s in the New Science TEKS?**

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