HB 3 Implementation: Early Childhood and CCMR Board-Adopted Plans and Goals

House Bill 3 (HB 3) amends Texas Education Code (TEC) to add Sec. 11.185 and 11.186 to include plans that target early childhood (EC) literacy and math proficiency and college, career, and military readiness (CCMR). This letter provides guidance to schools in order to meet the requirements of the required plans.

Plan Requirements 

Under HB 3, school boards are required to adopt plans in early childhood literacy and math, as well as college, career, and military readiness. All plans are required to include: 

• at least one assigned district-level administrator or employee of the regional education service center for the district’s region to coordinate implementation and submit annual report to the board on the district’s progress; 
• an annual review by the board at a public meeting; 
• an annual report posted on district and campus websites; and 
• specific, quantifiable, annual goals for five years at each campus.

Early childhood plans are required to include: 

• annual goals for aggregate student growth on 3rd grade math and reading STAAR; 
• annual targets for students in each group evaluated under closing the gaps domain; 
• targeted professional development for classroom teachers in kindergarten through 3rd grade for campuses that the board identifies as not meeting the plan’s goals and that considers the unique needs of students in bilingual education or special language programs. 
• annual targets that may be set for students in bilingual or ESL programs.

College, career, and military readiness plans are required to include: 

• annual goals for aggregate student growth on CCMR readiness indicators evaluated under the student achievement domain; and 
• annual targets for students in each group evaluated under closing the gaps domain. 

Specific and Quantifiable Goals

To meet the requirement of specific and quantifiable, each board outcome goal needs to contain a baseline (current state), a target (future state), a population (which students will be impacted), and a deadline (month and year by when the current state will equal the future state). Annual targets must be included for each goal in addition to the five-year deadline target. It is recommended that school boards adopt progress measures to create alignment between district outcome goals and the board-adopted plans.
 

Progress Monitoring

Superintendents propose EC and CCMR plans to the board for adoption. It is recommended that the plans for each campus be aligned to the board outcome goals and progress measures in such a way that the specific campus plan is predictive of the board outcome goal and progress measures. It is also recommended that the plans and goals be influenceable by the superintendent in order that the superintendent’s evaluation can be aligned and indistinguishable from the board outcome goals and progress measures. 
School boards must review the progress of each plan at least annually at a public meeting. It is recommended that the board adopt a monitoring calendar and a multi-year schedule that describes the months during which interim updates on goals and plan progress measures are reported to the board. The specific EC and CCMR plan requirements can be reviewed and made available in monitoring reports that are delivered to the board according to the plans review schedule. It is recommended that interim update reports contain (1) the goal being monitored, (2) data showing the previous three reporting periods, the current reporting period, and the annual and deadline targets, (3) the superintendent's evaluation of performance, and (4) supporting documentation that evidences the evaluation and describes any needed next steps.

Next Steps

Schools should have all three required plans in place no later than the end of the 2019–2020 school year and should use the 2019–2020 school year to determine the best possible plan for their students. 
Templates to create board outcome goals, progress measures, campus plans, a monitoring calendar, and monitoring reports are available on the TEA website: www.tea.texas.gov/HB3-in-30. 

Questions

If you have any questions related to this TAA on Early Childhood and CCMR board adopted plans and goals under House Bill 3, please contact the Division of School Governance by phone at (512) 475-3697 or email HB3info@tea.texas.gov. We will be compiling answers to frequently asked questions (FAQs) on the HB 3 webpage at https://tea.texas.gov/hb3 
 

Regards,

Dr. Drew Howard
Senior Director of School Governance and Leadership Support