{"id":369347,"date":"2026-07-11T10:23:08","date_gmt":"2026-07-11T10:23:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/369347\/"},"modified":"2026-07-11T10:23:08","modified_gmt":"2026-07-11T10:23:08","slug":"texas-required-reading-list-for-public-schools-is-extraordinary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/369347\/","title":{"rendered":"Texas’ required reading list for public schools is extraordinary"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"The<\/p>\n

The children who read the most and who read from the highest-quality books are the most academically successful children in schools, writes contributing columnist Christopher de\u00a0Vinck.<\/p>\n

iStock photo\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

The\u00a0Texas State Board of Education<\/a> is doing something that I have not seen in my 40-year career in public education. As a graduate who earned a doctorate in education from Teachers College, Columbia University, and as a teacher and administrator in urban, suburban and rural schools, I have never seen a state create a statewide required reading list for every public school child.<\/p>\n

One of the reasons we have inequity in schools across the country is because local school boards make politically driven curriculum choices rather than using what is proven best practice for children\u2019s education.<\/p>\n

Children who are fortunate enough to be in schools with significant reading assignments each day, and where sustained reading happens inside the schools every day from books with complex sentences, varied vocabulary words and engaging materials, are children who become successful farmers, electricians, bakers, lawyers, doctors, engineers, chefs, porters, carpenters, teachers, soldiers and parents.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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These are the children who attend wealthy school communities from high-income families. Money does not provide a better education. Money provides children with stable routines, stable homes and stable schools, and provides children with a place where they can read in silence for at least an hour a day.<\/p>\n

It has been my experience that while looking at the reading curricula of schools in poor communities, I saw children with few books, little, if any, reading homework, and no place at home to even read silently. Children in poor schools read simple passages, simply constructed novels with short sentences, limited vocabularies and mundane,\u00a0clich\u00e9d storylines.<\/p>\n

National reading scores have changed little over the past 60 years. The same children from poor, disjointed families are poor readers, and the same group of children from wealthy, stable homes are excellent readers. To end this inequality in education there is only one remedy: reading.<\/p>\n

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Texas is doing something extraordinary, something that no other state appears to be doing: requiring children to read the same books in grades K-12. Universal statewide reading lists are exceptionally rare in the United States.<\/p>\n

The children who read the most and who read from the highest-quality books are the most academically successful children in schools. School is reading. A successful life in an increasingly sophisticated society stems from citizens who possess the most sophisticated reading skills.<\/p>\n

The Texas Education Agency compiled for the\u00a0SBOE an extensive, wonderful suggested list of quality literature all children ought to be reading in school and at home. You can view the comprehensive text recommendations in the TEA website<\/a>.<\/p>\n

I have two concerns. One, this superior innovative, statewide reading initiative will not be implemented until the 2030-31 school year. That, in my opinion, is a mistake.<\/p>\n

It has been my experience with many education initiatives that when it comes to curriculum changes, just do it and work out the kinks along the way instead of trying to figure out the kinks for three or four years, or instead of dribbling out a pilot program. Just get the books and get the children reading and leave it up to the professional teachers on how best to guide the students along the way.<\/p>\n

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My second concern: Please do not muddy the waters with the hype that Texas schools are being infused with religion and destroying the separation of church and state.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t believe the SBOE is interested in converting children to becoming Baptists, Catholics, Lutherans, Methodists, Episcopalians or evangelical Christians. While it is true that a large majority of people in Texas favor Christianity, that is not an appropriate reason to include religion and its theology into public schools. We are a country governed by laws and precedents. The Constitution lays out clear warnings about the separation of church and state, and we have seen what happens in other countries when religion dictates governance.<\/p>\n

It seems to me that the SBOE wants to guide children to celebrate what all religions represent: a belief in goodness, a spiritual understanding on death, a sense of compassion, a respect for each other and the power of love. I do not believe the state government intends to promote theological beliefs.<\/p>\n

I understand the urgency to infuse a Christian point of view into our schools. When we look back to the last 250 years, Christianity has played a significant role in our history and culture, and into our prayers at night. But I do not believe we ought to be promoting a single interpretation of God as expressed in the Bible.<\/p>\n

Each religion has its own icons of God, its own descriptors of God\u2019s powers. The Greeks and Romans already walked down this path with their many descriptions of many gods and goddesses.<\/p>\n

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Together, we human beings are like one huge brain. We think up all sorts of ways of looking at the world. Some people like Fords, others Chevys. Some people enjoy driving an antique Model A, and others like zipping around in a self-driving miracle. The point is, we all like cars.<\/p>\n

People like to attend different houses of worship: a mosque, synagogue, cathedral, church or a gurdwara, mandir or shrine. The point is we all like to have a place where we can think about God and enjoy sharing our faith with our community. Same God, different religions.<\/p>\n

When we bring passages from the Bible into our public schools, we ought to share with the children other passages as well from other religions that share the same enthusiasm for goodness.<\/p>\n

The SBOE is suggesting very few lines from the Bible compared to the hundreds of thousands of lines from the terrific books that the board is also mandating. Look at examples as to what is being added:<\/p>\n

Matthew\u00a0 6, guiding children not to be anxious.
\nPsalm 23 that reminds children that God is always there even during times of sorrow.
\nThe Eight Beatitudes that show children the virtues of humility, compassion, and righteousness.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0
\nThe story of David and Goliath, helping children see that insurmountable challenges can be overcome.
\nGenesis 11:1\u20139, children hearing about the dangers of hubris, self promotion and self importance.\u00a0
\nEcclesiastes 3, will remind children that life is filled with events: birth, death,\u00a0 joys and sorrows, but such events are connected with our interior selves as hopeful people.
\nAnd The Book of Job helps children understand the mystery of innocent suffering, and how we are limited in our understanding, but not limited in our hope.<\/p>\n

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The passages from the Bible that are being suggested are a sliver of words compared to the vast number of words that are in the rich and smart K-12 reading curriculum.<\/p>\n

Please, do not cry foul that Texas schools are infusing religion into the schools. The small passages being added are just as profound and just as influential as Shakespeare\u2019s plays and Wendell Berry\u2019s poetry.<\/p>\n

The danger is losing sight of the importance of reading in the lives of children. And this: the virtues that the SBOE wants to infuse into Texas schools have always been emphasized by teachers:\u00a0 kindness toward each other, sharing, trusting those we love, reaping the rewards of hard work, accepting challenges, expressing gratitude, considering different points of view.<\/p>\n

The SBOE\u2019s mandated reading list for grades K-12 is unique to the country, and ought to be a national trendsetter. As an aside I\u2019d make clear the number of engaging, quality books children ought to read in a year, and teachers ought to establish each day that the reading was accomplished.<\/p>\n

Texas can also make it a state commitment to remind children on the radio and television, at the gas pumps and post offices, in the churches and supermarkets, to do their evening reading.<\/p>\n

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If all children read each day from the board\u2019s mandated list of books, Texas will dramatically change education outcomes in the public schools.<\/p>\n

Have thoughts about this? Send a letter to the editor using our letters form<\/a> or email letters@dallasnews.com. Letters should be no more than 200 words and include the first and last name of the writer and city of residence.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The children who read the most and who read from the highest-quality books are the most academically successful…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":369348,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[27,29,28],"class_list":["post-369347","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-texas","tag-texas","tag-texas-headlines","tag-texas-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/369347","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=369347"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/369347\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/369348"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=369347"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=369347"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=369347"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}