The Texas Education Agency has selected three Texas school districts with high-achieving advanced mathematics programs to serve as models for the rest of the state’s public school districts.
The model districts selected were Allen ISD, Tomball ISD, and Barbers Hill ISD.
During a meeting on Wednesday, Monica Martinez, TEA’s managing director of the Curriculum Divison, presented the top three districts to the State Board of Education (SBOE). Their advanced mathematics programs will serve as a guide for other public school districts as math scores across the state continue to underwhelm.
The SBOE agenda that day focused on advanced mathematics in sixth and seventh grade. All three of the selected ISDs have unique approaches to this subject.
Allen ISD has the most traditional approach. Sixth-grade advanced math students are taught regular math Texas Essential Knowledge Skills (TEKS) with enrichment and extensions. Seventh-grade math students are taught seventh- and eighth-grade TEKS organized by topic, all in one year.
At the three middle school campuses in Allen ISD, 99% of students who were enrolled in advanced mathematics courses during the 2022-2023 school year met grade level, and 89% of students achieved mastery, according to information presented by TEA at the meeting.
Tomball ISD and Barbers Hill ISD take a more unique approach.
In Tomball ISD, sixth-grade advanced math students learned all of the regular sixth-grade TEKS along with half of the seventh-grade TEKS. In seventh grade, advanced math students learn the remaining grade seven TEKS as well as all of grade eight TEKS.
All advanced math students met grade level at the district’s four middle school campuses, and 95% of students mastered it during the 2022-2023 school year. For comparison, Dallas ISD saw only 32% of its sixth-graders and 14% of seventh-graders meet grade level in math.
Sixth-grade advanced math students at Barbers Hill ISD learn all of the sixth-grade TEKS, along with some seventh-grade and some eighth-grade TEKS. Seventh-grade students learn the remaining grade seven and grade eight TEKS.
At Barber Hill ISD, which has two middle school campuses, 97% of advanced math students met grade level, and 76% mastered it.
“We found out who’s experiencing success and found out the way they structure their sixth and seventh grade,” said Martinez.
The TEA reached out to math instructors from all three ISDs to apply to join a workgroup to develop cohesive advanced mathematics instructional materials for all of Texas public schools.
Feedback from the workgroups will be presented at the SBOE meeting in November. As many school districts in Texas do not have an advanced mathematics program, a uniform curriculum can help give those school districts the tools to offer accelerated math classes.
Paul Gray, former president of the National Council of Supervisors of Mathematics, was invited to the meeting to offer his expertise.
“Sixth grade is particularly packed, especially compared to seventh or eighth grade,” said Gray. “This gives students more uniform experiences. Scope and sequence for each district might be different but you know the content is the same. We have a lot of families that are highly mobile within the state.”
Additionally, Gray said this presents an opportunity to greatly help rural school districts, which often lack curriculum teams.
“We have a really good opportunity to pursue some equity in school districts from the state level, help poor schools, and help our kids,” Gray said.
Some board members are against the idea of streamlining an advanced mathematics curriculum.
“I’m not a big fan of reinventing the wheel and wasting time. If there are successful programs that are already working, send us the rubric, and let us just adopt that,” said Board Member Julie Pickren (R-Pearland).
Board Chair Aaron Kinsey (R-Midland) suggested that board members select two ISDs for workgroups to focus their efforts on. Ultimately, members decided on Allen ISD and will let the workgroups choose option number two.
SBOE will continue to meet throughout the remainder of the week in Austin. Meetings can be livestreamed here.
