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We believe every child deserves high-quality education. We support leaders ensuring this right, especially for underserved students, to help them reach their full potential.
Welcome to edVantage TX newsletter by Democrats for Education Reform TX, highlighting the policies, people, and news shaping TX education.
The edVantage TX newsletter is a new regular communication by DFER TX that brings you the news and policy updates you need to help shape the education policy debate.
Contact the DFER TX team at info@dfertx.org to learn more and get in touch about how we can help your team approach crucial education policy debates next session.
Today’s edVantage TX Newsletter brings you:
- 2024 STAAR Results
- What’s In & What’s Out – Interim Charges
- Teacher Retention Rates & Residency Programs
- Electoral Victories for TX Education
- DFER TX Spotlight: State Rep. Christian Manuel
- What We Are Reading
2024 STAAR Results
Overall & Key Takeaways
This morning TEA released the 2023-2024 STAAR results in Grades 3-8, a week after releasing the End-of-Course (EOC) results. Here are some key takeaways we noticed:
- In 3-8 Reading and Language Arts, students had varied results. 4th and 6th graders saw an increase meeting standards, whereas 3rd, 5th and 8th graders saw a decrease. Based on this year’s results, only 46% of 3rd graders are reading on grade level.
- In 3-8 math and science, significant decreases persisted across the board, with the starkest declines in 8th grade math and 5th grade science. This is persistent with findings that Texas’ math achievement has been consistently declining for over a decade, and we have not yet returned to pre-pandemic levels of achievement.
- The achievement gap between racial groups continues to be extreme – across nearly every subject and grade level, the percentage of Black students on grade level is 20+ percentage points lower than white students.
- One bright spot: emergent bilingual students appear to be steadily improving. In reading and social studies, emergent bilingual students surpassed pre-pandemic levels on their EOCs.
These scores indicate that there is still much work to be done to ensure our students are prepared for the workforce and beyond.
Interim Charges
What’s In & What’s Out
What’s In✅ Early literacy and numeracy was a shared priority in both chambers, signaling positive bipartisan support for continuing momentum from last session.
✅ Evaluation of the teaching workforce (particularly on the influx of newly hired uncertified teachers).
✅ The school-to-workforce pipeline and Tri-Agency initiative.
✅ Evaluation of the Texas Through-Year Assessment Pilot (TTAP).
✅ Monitoring charges on HB 1605 (high-quality instructional materials), HB 2209 (Rural Pathway Excellence Partnership [R-PEP] program), SB 2124(advanced math pathways for students in middle school), and HB 8 (community college finance reform).
DFER TX has been engaged in the implementation of these bills and is looking forward to engaging with committee members and staff on upcoming interim hearings.
What’s Out
❌ Notably missing from the interim charges was a focus on the drastic need for additional public school funding as districts across the state struggle to meet their daily needs.
DFER TX will continue to advocate for much needed funding increases for public schools and our underpaid teachers.
Electoral Updates
The highly anticipated runoff elections occurred last week.
While most political observers focused on high-profile Republican races, including the Speaker’s contest, DFER TX’s political team supported numerous aligned candidates in the Democratic runoff contests.
DFER-Supported Electoral Victories
Vince Perez, HD 77 (El Paso)
Jonathan Gracia, HD 37 (Cameron/Willacy County)
Cecilia Castellano, HD 80 (South Texas)
The races for HD 37 and HD 80 will be among the most-watched general election contests this fall. HD 37 is a prime opportunity to flip from Republican to Democrat.
Teacher Retention and Residencies
A new pathway to retain teachers?
In April, the State Board of Education created the Enhanced Standard Certification for Texas Teachers, making Texas the first state in the nation to formally recognize teachers who complete a high-quality residency program.
Residencies are a successful preparation pathway to retain teachers in a state with an unprecedented teacher attrition rate; one study highlights that over 90% of teachers who complete a residency program are still teaching by their third year.
DFER TX was proud to join our allies and advocates and successfully push this across the finish line in support of Texas teachers. We are eager to continue this momentum for the next Legislative Session where we hope to advocate for the funding of residency programs, as well as other recommendations from the Teacher Vacancy Task Force.
DFER TX SPOTLIGHT
Highlighting Texans Committed to Our Children
What We Are Reading
“Is Greg Abbott Celebrating Victory on School Vouchers Too Early?” – Texas Monthly
2024 Kids Count Data Book: State Trends In Child Well-Being – The Annie E. Casey Foundation
“University of North Texas Names Harrison Keller as Sole Finalist for President.” – Texas Tribune
Ready for the Upcoming Policy Debates?
We are here to help.
Contact the DFER TX team at info@dfertx.org to learn more and get in touch about how we can help your team approach crucial education policy debates next session.