AUSTIN—The State Board of Education preliminarily approved new English language arts curriculum standards Thursday, rejecting another proposal crafted by a working group of Texas teachers appointed by the board.

If given final approval on Friday, the curriculum will remain in place for the next decade and sets standards for state tests and textbooks, as well as classroom teaching.

“We had hoped that they would listen to the voices of the teachers and trust the work that they had produced,” said Jennifer Canaday, a lobbyist for the Association of Texas Professional Educators. The curriculum standards adopted Thursday are “not reflective of input of Texas teachers even though the board selected teachers from their various districts to serve on these work groups charged with the task of making recommendations.”

The standards approved were developed by StandardsWork, a company hired to facilitate the revision process, which incorporated input from experts selected by a subcommittee of the board.

Teachers had pushed for the standards to include reading comprehension as a major component and to include grammar as a separate section rather than embedding it elsewhere.

Board Vice Chairman David Bradley indicated that he would bring amendments from the teacher’s document to be considered on Friday.

Critics called the adopted standards a patchwork, without cohesive and fluid lessons for teachers to follow. Canaday called the approach harmful to students.

The version “was perceived to have a number of gaps and to lack necessary alignment from grade to grade and that is what the teachers attempted to fix,” she said.

In one amendment adopted Thursday, the board approved adding language that would encourage certain concessions for English language learners.

State education officials had been under pressure to adopt an English curriculum by this summer to comply with the state budget and give publishers enough time to develop textbooks for the 2009-10 school year.

The board, which sets school curricula, selects textbooks and manages the $25 billion Permanent School Fund, is split almost evenly between social conservative Republicans and moderate Republicans and Democrats.