The Texas Education Agency (TEA) recently announced the release of the new Open Education Resources. TEA's efforts were a response to HB1605 which aimed to strength parental rights, ensured school materials were age-appropriate, and directed TEA to establish a set of state-owned curriculum. Since its release, legislators, experts, and others have commented on the recently published instructional material from TEA:
“We, the undersigned members of the Texas House of Representatives, wholeheartedly endorse the recently released curriculum and instructional materials from the Texas Education Agency,” stated a letter signed by 59 Members of the Texas House.
State Sen. Brandon Creighton, R-Conroe, chair of the Texas Senate Committee on Education, and State Rep. Brad Buckley, R-Salado, chair of the Texas House Committee on Public Education remarked: “The legislation establishes a standard for high-quality instructional materials that are available to all Texas school districts. Once implemented, it will provide much-needed relief to teachers by eliminating the need to spend dozens of hours outside of the classroom developing curriculum.”
Governor Greg Abbott commented: “Last year, the Texas Legislature passed and I signed a law that directed the Texas Education Agency to purchase and develop instructional materials that will bring students back to the basics of education and provide necessary fundamentals in math, reading, science, and other core subjects... I thank TEA for their work to ensure our students receive a robust educational foundation to succeed so that we can build a brighter Texas for generations to come.”
TEA Commissioner Mike Morath emphasized: “There’s no such thing as a silver bullet in public education; you still need very skilled teachers who love kids and know their content… But if you’re starting from this set of instructional materials, you’re starting from a very strong foundation.”
Temple ISD Superintendent Bobby Ott shared positive outcomes from piloting these materials: “The lessons led to double-digit gains in the percentage of our students reading on grade-level.” He added that these teaching materials represent "a major step forward in giving our students access to rich reading lessons that integrate history, literature, science, and arts while ensuring instruction grounded in phonics."
Morath further explained how early-grade rigorous phonics instruction aligned with state standards is crucial: “[W]e want to make sure that Texas schools have access to rigorous phonics instruction in the earliest grades that is aligned with our state standards.” He noted that new curriculum materials based on cognitive science would support phonics use.
Speaking on a podcast about these new offerings, Morath detailed how students would be exposed to grade-level appropriate material like William Shakespeare and Greek philosophy as ways "to build a rich vocabulary and knowledge of the world." He reported improved reading scores from piloted towns across Texas with feedback indicating significant student growth.
