School officials say it is a miscommunication to say low scores mean GISD is not teaching to the Texas curriculum. The State of Texas does not have a “curriculum”. Schools and Districts follow the TEKS, Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills, as a guideline, then choose or purchase a program from which they develop a day-by-day curriculum for the classroom. TEKS is the standard to which a District must teach to with its chosen curriculum.
As well, Districts do not make their curricula public because those are proprietary programs published internally for teacher use. Much the same way a parent who chooses home school may subscribe to or purchase a certified education program or package that he or she cannot share freely because it is, essentially, a copyrighted product.
Regardless of the medium in which students are taught, if they are taught to the TEKS, they are organically gaining the skills they need, at each grade level, to be successful.