Implementation of Senate Bill 2124 - Advanced Mathematics Instruction

Date:  July 27, 2023
Subject: Implementation of Senate Bill 2124 - Advanced Mathematics Instruction
Category: Curriculum and Instruction
Next Steps:  Share with middle school campus administrators and counselors

 

Senate Bill (SB) 2124, passed by the 88th Texas Legislature, requires each school district and open-enrollment charter school to develop an advanced mathematics program for middle school students that is designed to enable those students to enroll in Algebra I in eighth grade. 
 
Under the program, a school district or open-enrollment charter school must automatically enroll in an advanced mathematics course each sixth grade student who performed in the top 40 percent on the fifth grade  State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness (STAAR®) mathematics assessment, or a local measure that includes either the student’s fifth grade class ranking or demonstrated proficiency in the student’s fifth grade mathematics coursework. 
 
SB 2124 requires each school district or open-enrollment charter school to develop the middle school advanced mathematics program as soon as practicable after the bill’s effective date of May 27, 2023. 
 
The agency will adopt administrative rules in the coming months to provide additional guidance related to this new requirement. Because rules have not yet been adopted and given the anticipated release of STAAR scores in August, it may not be practicable for school districts and charter schools to place students in advanced mathematics courses for the 2023-2024 school year. As a result, districts and charter schools may choose to develop their programs in the 2023-2024 school year for placement of students in a program beginning in the 2024-2025 school year.