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The General Appropriations Act, Article III, Rider 42, passed by the 81st Texas Legislature, authorizes the commissioner to set aside an amount not to exceed $47,000,000 for the 2010-2011 biennium to administer competitive grants to school districts and open-enrollment charter schools. The grants must be aimed to improving student achievement in mathematics and preparing students to meet the Algebra I EOC standard. Funds made available through the Algebra Readiness grant program are intended to be used to implement programs that increase the preparedness of middle school students to meet standards and pass assessments in Algebra I.
In partnership with the Texas Education Agency (TEA), the Institute for Public School Initiatives (IPSI) at The University of Texas at Austin College of Education is providing statewide technical assistance to support the implementation of this grant program. The primary goals of this technical assistance are to provide Texas school districts and charter schools with ongoing guidance in developing and implementing successful research-based comprehensive school reform models in order to increase student preparedness for high school mathematics, especially Algebra I.
IPSI and TEA seek to achieve three key goals. The first goal is to increase teachers’ mathematics content knowledge for instructional effectiveness to improve performance for struggling students and those at risk for failure in mathematics. The second goal is to equip school leaders to support and facilitate teachers’ efforts to increase student achievement in mathematics. The third goal is to provide targeted intervention services to middle school students identified as unlikely to meet the EOC standard in future Algebra I assessments.
Current grantees can access the following document for further information (login required):
Algebra Readiness Planning Document
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The General Appropriations Act, Article III, passed by the 81st Texas Legislature, Rider 42, authorizes the commissioner to set aside an amount not to exceed $300 million dollars during the biennium for the Student Success Initiative to focus on reading, math and postsecondary success. Grants are provided to districts for the purpose of implementation of scientifically-validated and research-based instructional strategies on campuses at which students are identified as unlikely to achieve the TAKS reading standard by the end of third grade, TAKS reading and math standards by the end of grade five and eight, those students unlikely to meet the end-of-course Algebra I standard in high school, and to ensure postsecondary readiness in all core content areas.
IPSI and TEA seek to achieve three key goals. The first goal is to help Texas public school districts and charter schools meet the acceleration requirements of the Texas Education Code (TEC) §28.006(g). The second goal is to help Texas public school districts and charter schools as they meet accelerated instruction requirements mandated by House Bill 3, passed during the 81st Texas Legislature. The third goal is to provide districts with exemplar intervention and acceleration practices disseminated through the TEA’s Project Share platform and statewide conferences.
Visit the TCSS page for more information.
Current legislation requires the phase-out of high school TAKS assessments and replaces them with twelve End-of-Course (EOC) assessments. Several new EOC exams were created in 2009 to assess student learning in U.S. History and Chemistry; Physics and World Geography were operational in 2010; Algebra II and English 1 will be operational in 2011; and English II, III, and World History will be operational in 2012.
How do we define College Readiness? College readiness means the level of preparation a student must attain in English language arts and mathematics courses to enroll and succeed, without remediation in an entry-level general education course for credit in that same content area for a baccalaureate degree or associate degree program (House Bill 3, Section 39.024a). College and Career Readiness Standards have already been incorporated into the TEKS for ELA, math and science. The social studies TEKS will be finalized this spring.
In partnership with the Texas Education Agency (TEA), the Institute for Public School Initiatives (IPSI) at the The University of Texas at Austin College of Education will create online learning modules in TEA’s Project Share platform for mathematics, science and social studies at the high school level, as well as middle school math, science and social studies materials. It is IPSI’s goal to help students exceed the minimum score required on each EOC assessment in order to meet graduation requirements and ensure all students meet the college-readiness component of the EOC for Algebra II.
Visit the OnTRACK page for more information.
In partnership with the Meadows Foundation, TEA, and the Meadows Center for Preventing Educational Risk, IPSI leads the development of an intervention for Tier II students in mathematics. Teachers attending the MSTAR Academies: Foundations for Grades 5/6 and 7/8 trainings will receive information on the MSTAR universal screener and the MSTAR Intervention Project. This online intervention has the potential to impact 150,000 students statewide in grades seven and eight.
