Texas law requires all students who do not achieve” approaches” or higher on STAAR grades 3 through 8 or End of Course (EOC) assessments be provided accelerated instruction. These requirements, modified by House Bill 4545 of the 87th Legislature, were recently updated with the passage of House Bill 1416 in the 88th Legislature by:
- Removing the requirement for Accelerated Learning Committees while requiring Accelerated Education Plan after student fails to achieve approaches or higher on two consecutive assessments in the same subject area
- Limiting tutoring to 2 subjects and no longer including optional assessment administration
- Increasing student to tutor ratio from 3:1 to 4:1 ratio for tutoring group size
- Clarifying that students who take STAAR-Alt 2, are retained, or take substitute high school assessments aren’t subject to requirements
- Reducing minimum hour requirement from 30 to 15 for some students
- Adding Local Education Agencies (LEAs) receiving compensatory education funding as a criteria for included LEAs (previously LEAs receiving funding from Strong Foundations Grant Program, CRRSAA or ARP)
- Providing student to teacher ratio waivers for use of approved online curriculum (approvals available spring 2024)
- Clarifying that parents may modify or remove supplemental instruction requirements with a letter to campus administrator
- Clarifying that parents must be notified of student failure to perform on applicable tests
- Requiring TEA to monitor implementation of accelerated instruction
The Texas Education Agency will be hosting a webinar to provide an overview of HB 1416, review changes from HB 4545, and to walk through available supports for HB 1416 implementation on Thursday, July 13th from 10am CT to 11am CT. Interested attendees can register HERE.
Other TEA resources include:
Accelerated Instruction Webpage: TEA will provide accelerated instruction supports – including frequently asked questions and example resources from LEAs.
Direct Support: LEA personnel may reach out to accelerated.instructions@tea.texas.gov with questions or to provide resources which may be hosted on the TEA accelerated instruction webpage as a resource for other LEAs.
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