The Senate Committee on Education met on March 1st to hear invited testimony from the Texas Education Agency (TEA). A video archive of the hearing can be found here.

This report is intended to give you an overview and highlight the discussions on the various topics taken up. It is not a verbatim transcript of the discussions but is based upon what was audible or understandable to the observer and the desire to get details out as quickly as possible with few errors or omissions.

 

Senate Committee on Education

 

Opening Remarks, Staff Introductions, Adopted Committee Rules

 

Texas Education Agency Commissioner Mike Morath

  • Think about students in k-12 and how they have performed after
  • Unified goal between agencies in Talent Strong Texas is in 2030, 60% of Texans will have some sort of postsecondary value
  • Provides slide with year over year student outcomes
  • Data appears to illustrate there is a different standard for graduation than we do for readiness in college, career or military
  • Reviewed comparison of Texas to Nation
  • Not 100% of students below grade level will get caught up, not currently delivering good outcomes from all; there are some students who will never catch up
  • There are lessons learned from virtual, there are versions that can be good for some depending on how it is structured
  • Notes Texas has smaller student teacher ratios than every before, more pay than before and more quitting than before
  • Teacher Vacancy Task Force findings provided to committee
  • One major finding other than pay is working conditions and work life balance
  • Reviews slide of funding for instructional materials
  • Reviews slide on Historical and Projected E-Learning Devices
  • Notes students are not consistently exposed to rigorous instructional materials
  • Morath gives two examples of reading samples to illustrate need for material on grade level
  • Sen. Royce West – asked about e-learning devices, legislature can either replace or not replace, West thinks there needs to be replacement but in light of if they replace is there a reduction in other instructional material costs?
    • Don’t see textbooks in many classrooms today, which can be challenging
    • Textbook on digital device, don’t want students on devices all the time, studies show cognitive limitation with reading extensively on device, etc
    • If school district is force to choose between investing more in paper products or technology this is challenging and districts will often choose one or the other
    • In experience still need students reading paper products so in many cases technology is cost additive
    • There are blended learning situations in mathematics that can be done especially if well designed, seeing there can be mathematic achievement gain in those situations
  • Chair Brandon Creighton – what is your opinion on textbook/paper resource in classroom and student bringing home own written notes knowing there are gaps, what is common sense impact
    • Much better off designing tangible well designed resources – textbooks
    • School is about memory function
    • Were materials designed to addressed, requires well designed material
    • Many teachers can go gather resources but it can be a full time job for teachers
    • Can equip districts with well designed resources they have access to so it frees up teachers nights and weekends
  • Creighton – asked about cost savings realized and unrealized
    • Have seen a reduction in structured textbook, a lot of expenses on collection of materials
    • In many cases there are just cost additive, gives example of smart board vs chalkboard; if practice has not resulted in improvement in instructional quality then just see additive cost
    • Creighton – asked about classrooms with smart board vs chalkboard
    • Don’t have those numbers but know there are many
  • Sen. Tan Parker – questions on screen time and wants to see more details to help inform
  • West – asked about student comparison groups, ask if gap is narrowing
    • Times when it does narrow and times when widens, some progress has been made but not adequate
  • West – follow up, is Texas investing in something not working
    • Question is on outcomes, money does matter but not strong correlation between spending
  • West – HB 4545
    • Refers to slide on low-performing schools, before COVID and HB 4545 32% and 36% accelerated in reading and match respectively, after HB 4545 saw a jump in percentages across all student populations
    • Notes there were other changes but so was HB 4545, conclusion is evidence is that HB 4545 has had a positive effect
    • West – are we using retired teachers to tutor?
    • Yes, and…all hands on deck
  • Creighton – Beaumont to North Texas, seems like HB 4545 was top 5 concerns on implementation and address requirements
  • Morath and Creighton discuss requirements or things that can be done to help
    • Need a mixed approach to give districts multiple tools, best ratio is 3-1 and possibly 4-1 but there are targeted blended learning and online tutorials with evidence behind it for success (but different than online zoom for 7hr)
    • Decoding in reading is more like a math skill so that can be done with technology
    • To conclude – certain technology can work but needs to be intentional
  • Creighton – was the state more prescriptive or allowed for flexibility so how do we address
    • Need outcome based approach, for example if there is a demonstration you know how to do it then TEA could wave underlying requirements
  • Creighton – what damage did we see in COVID and what was HB 4545 trying to correct, and did COVID cause generational damage we will never catch up on
    • Points to slide on year over year outcomes
    • Math declines are equivalent to all improvements over the last 10-20 years, all the work done and improvements were wiped out
    • Correlation between lifetime income and math proficiency are pretty strong, would estimate it is $2 trillion lost to students in income if Texas didn’t address
  • Sen. Angela Paxton – end of the day, its what works for kids, what helps kids learn and for some it’s a great place to make a lot of money if you can get someone to adopt your idea
  • Paxton – wants to look at things strategically, great teachers and engaged parents are needed, encourages the committee to ask – what works for kids?
  • Sen. Paul Bettencourt – want to talk about enrollment decline, we simply will have less children in the public education
    • In last 2-3 weeks have gotten information from Fall PEIMS
    • This is an important from appropriation standpoint
    • TEA received snapshot of enrollment and projections in Oct but they don’t process this until now
    • Prior to that have seen other reports, Demographer seeing plateau of enrollment in that there are 100k not in public schools and birth rate declining
    • Will have flat rate or marginally declining in next few years
    • But projections from school districts are still projecting enrollment growth
    • Not sure how to square this conflicting details
    • Bettencourt – difference between optimism and realism, may be a few years before this does occur but not seeing with growth as many people bringing school aged children in the 50’s
  • Bettencourt – points to outcomes saying there is a problem with scores, agree with HB 4545 conclusions and extra paperwork is not required, what can be done to improve math scores
    • Need to think about how students learn math, mathematics is linear set of skill growth
    • Need designed curriculum to know pre-requisite for the lesson and formative assessment that allows to diagnosis on which ones are mastered and then mini tutoring to get student up to speed if they are missing, etc – this requires a lot of teacher training and instructional materials and curriculum intentionally designed
  • Bettencourt – if materials are not at grade level then not challenging students
  • Creighton – is it more important to reach 20×30 goals or to calibrate rigor
    • No way to reach 20×30 goals without addressing daily rigor of material
    • If teachers spend all time teaching and preparing lessons, then not time to sit and reflect
    • Need to think about how we have engineered the teaching experience
  • Creighton – goes back to only a few minutes for lunch and many hours on developing lesson plans, so wouldn’t helping on lesson plans help the teacher
    • That would be a significant value add for many teachers
    • There are some teachers it is not needed and possibly not even appreciated
    • For teachers who have taught for years and years they need to be left alone if they have honed skills and crafted what works
    • Creighton ask what if its optional, Morath agrees that would be the optimum environment for it
  • Creighton – asked about Task Force recommendations
    • Appreciate teacher time, if they are spending many hours a day developing curriculum then that is an issue
    • Radically different instructional approaches, need this to address work life balance
  • Creighton – do teacher surveys from districts go to TEA
    • No there is not a standard survey
    • Creighton – committee intends to bring forward a teacher bill of rights
    • There are Superintendents that do share that information with TEA but its not a requirement
  • Sen. Mayes Middleton – Push to go to 4 days a week, isn’t 5 days a week better for students
    • Evidence is clear it is harmful for student achievement but there is complexity around this
    • This tends to be more possibly in rural but there are logistics involved
    • If all things that pull kids out of class are moved to Friday, and then maximize instructional time 4 days, and then build in reflection time for teachers on 5th day – if all those conditions are true then it is not harmful to student achievement
  • Sen. Morgan LaMantia – how do you balance reflect time with workforce shortage
    • Not a policy necessarily, logistically need to address school by school

 

Teacher Panel

Tina Molina, Georgetown ISD (math interventionist but currently teaching 4th grade)

  • Shares her story on her path to becoming a teacher
  • Overview of impact made on student’s life in teaching
  • Honing craft is something teaches are passionate about doing
  • Teachers used expertise and creativity to collaborate during challenging times when all online
  • Teachers are not only ones who overcame in pandemic
  • Cafeteria staff provided meals 2x a day, technology deployed and others in district worked to meet students
  • Student teacher relationships were consistent
  • Teacher dedication to students did waiver during the pandemic
  • Teachers have supported communities but now they need support: access to mental health resources, increase salaries and increase funding for public schools

Amanda Bare, Kerrville ISD (teach 7th grade English)

  • Teacher Incentive Allotment was implemented (TIA) and it pushed her
  • Worked to make every lesson memorable and relatable
  • Saw 100% growth with her STAAR scores, not why she teaches but it is a measurement
  • Students walked out of her classroom with a years worth of growth, will get extra compensation because of TIA
  • Does work on Sunday, “works her tail” off, but expects to because her kids need
  • Thinks long term, wants students to be life long learners and wants them to think
  • Proud of the work her district has done, because of TIA a lot of teachers in her district are getting compensated
  • Wants Texas to be #1, appreciates committee work, remember students first and teachers second
  • West – fired up and ready to go now, thanks teachers for their passion, Texas should be #1
  • Sen. Donna Campbell – asked what grade she teaches, asked how she knows many students will not go to college
    • 7th grade, a bit nervous since she is not used to calm and still room
    • Point was college is not a long term goal, many of them work already and looking to get out of education as soon as they can to bring income into the family
    • Campbell – you are setting the example and students can make more money when they get through college
  • Sen. Pete Flores – can we adopt things statewide that work, can we promote best practices and initiatives
  • Bettencourt – agrees this was what was intended for TIA, want to know if they have any suggestions on math scores
    • Molina – Think work on HB 4545 and conversation earlier shows issues, good intentions but improvements are needed
    • Molina – Interventions in classroom and tutoring hours
    • Bettencourt – Would getting read of the accelerated committee paperwork help
    • Bare – Yes, it would free up schools with less paperwork
  • Creighton – describe type of students and examples of 504
    • Gifted and Talented, emergent bilingual, dyslexia, 504 and SPED
    • 504 could be asthma or reading disability but most of her 504’s are at risk of not graduating
  • Subcommittee on Higher Education will meet for a few minutes after this and hear from Higher Education Commissioner Keller