Texas state Rep. Brad Buckley, who chairs the House Committee on Public Education, recently sat down with TPPF’s Brian Phillips to discuss monumental new education reform, HB 1605.
Among other things, the bill requires the development of high-quality instructional material (HQIM) that is made available—but not mandatory—for every teacher in every school district. The material is rigorous and challenging, on grade level, and meets state standards for essential knowledge and skills.
“When we began to look at education across Texas, we realized that too many lessons were being taught below grade level in the classroom,” Buckley explained. “I don’t believe anyone got together and said, hey let’s teach below grade level. But we kind of drifted that way.”
Teachers often struggle to find suitable teacher materials, he explained.
“Too many of our previous materials did not match [the standards], so teachers were having to go outside of the classroom or spend their weekends or their evenings finding material to fill in the gaps.”
The new law, House Bill 1605, creates a process through the State Board of Education that gets input on the material from experts, parents, community members, professional educators, among others. “You have this this this whole process that affirms that the materials meet the moment,” said Buckley.
Hundreds of schools have been part of a pilot project over the last two years. District administrators made the materials available, and also trained teachers in using them.
“I’ve visited those classrooms I’ve seen the results,” Buckley said. “You see teachers that have materials where they can work on lesson delivery and not have to worry so much about lesson design. It’s not a canned curriculum but it provides them the resources necessary so that they are addressing all of the required standards.”
Teachers aren’t required to use the new material, but Buckley says those that have used it found it rewarding.
“Some teachers that were one, two or three years in [the profession] were like, I was thinking about maybe not continuing this profession but with the implementation of the HQIM, I’m being successful and I’m going to stick around,” Buckley said.
He adds that ensuring the materials meet grade level is also having positive effects.
“I just believe that kids love a challenge and when they’re challenged, they’re motivated and they’re engaged,” he said as he recounted a visit to a Temple classroom. “You had readers who were incredibly fluent and you had kids who really struggled. But in this environment, where the bar was high, there was an attitude in that classroom that they were all in it together.”
Buckley said parents will benefit from the new system, too—starting with transparency, a real concerns among Texas parents.
“All of the materials certified as HQIM will be on a parental portal,” Buckley explained. “So a parent will know exactly where their kids are in terms of what they’re learning and they can they can enter that portal so that they can have those conversations. You can ask them about what they’re reading, about their math, about the content. You get two things as a parent: one, is what they’re learning appropriate, does this match my values? Number two, how can I help them be better at it if they’re struggling? This really opens it up to the parents. I think we can have much better parent/teacher relationships now if we have this sort of transparency in the curriculum.”
“I addressed a school board meeting the other the other day in Killeen,” Buckley concluded, “And the superintendent said, ‘You know we’re moving towards making sure we have HQIM because we’ve seen the results.’ Educators know what works and they know what’s good for teachers. But more importantly, they know what’s good for kids.”