The Texas Education Agency (TEA) shared results this week from pilot projects in Texas school districts to test its new Bluebonnet Learning materials. The test of the materials in a limited number of schools ran from 2020 to 2023.
According to TEA, the instructional materials were developed using the “best cognitive science evidence” on how students learn, and have been tested and reviewed by “hundreds of Texas teachers, parents, and taxpayers.”
The materials were developed according to state legislation in response to national and state trends of declining classroom performance. TEA Commissioner Mike Morath said that student performance in Texas peaked in 2013.
A recent national study examined student classroom work to see if it was on grade-level. According to TEA, “the results revealed that only 17% of assignments were at grade level (or higher). In Texas, TEA reproduced the study methodology with elementary reading teachers in 27 Texas school systems and only 19% of assignments were at grade level (or higher).”
In Lubbock ISD, TEA’s pilot project started in four elementary schools and then expanded to 95% of the district's 28 elementary schools. The new instructional materials were used in 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade classrooms.
The district has a total enrollment of 26,000 students with 60% Hispanic, 22% White, and 17% African American students. TEA reported that 72% of the students in the district are economically disadvantaged.
Despite the pandemic and a redesigned STAAR testing program, the district and TEA reported academic gains of seven to 21 points in all 12 of the test groups, compared with the test scores of the same student populations in 2019. The largest gains were achieved by 3rd grade African-American students (+21) and 4th grade Hispanic students (+19).
TEA also reported academic gains in Temple ISD schools. Similar to the Lubbock ISD pilot, the new instructional materials were first used in three elementary schools, and were then rolled out to all eight schools in the district.
Temple ISD has 8,500 students, including 47% Hispanic, 24% African American, and 22% White students, with 76% of students being economically disadvantaged.
In 11 of the 12 test groups in Temple ISD, students saw an increase in academic achievement ranging from 2 to 18 points when compared with the scores from the same student population in 2019. The largest gains in academic achievement in Temple ISD were achieved by 3rd grade African American students (+18) and all economically disadvantaged 3rd grade students (+13) .
TEA is following a process to make final revisions to Bluebonnet Learning before it will ask the State Board of Education (SBOE) for final approval of the materials at the Board’s November meeting. If the materials are approved by the SBOE, they will be made available to any teacher or school district in Texas who chooses to use them. Though schools are not obligated by the state to incorporate the materials into their programs.
