Accelerated Instruction

Accelerated Instruction Requirements in Texas

Texas law requires all students who do not achieve approaches or higher on STAAR grades 3 through 8 or EOC assessments be provided accelerated instruction. These requirements, modified by House Bill 4545 of the 87th legislature and recently updated with the passage of House Bill 1416 in the 88th legislature, provide that qualifying students must be:

• Assigned a TIA designated teacher for the subsequent school year in the applicable subject area;

OR

• Provided supplemental instruction aligned with the research on high impact tutoring in the TEKS for the applicable grade levels and subject area in the following manner:
  • No less than 15 or 30 hours depending on student performance and is provided in the summer or at least once per week in the school year;
  • Limited to two subjects per year, prioritizing math and RLA;
  • Provided in a group of no more than four students, unless the parent or guardian of each student in the group authorizes a larger group;
  • Designed to assist the student in achieving satisfactory performance in the applicable grade level and subject area and includes effective instructional materials designed for supplemental instruction;
  • Provided by a person with training in the applicable instructional materials for the supplemental instruction and provided by one person for the entirety of their accelerated instruction.

Key Changes in Requirements from HB 1416

House Bill 1416 updated accelerated instruction requirements from House Bill 4545 by: 

• Removing the requirement for Accelerated Learning Committees while requiring Accelerated Education Plan after student fails to achieve approaches or higher on two consecutive assessments in the same subject area
• Limiting tutoring to 2 subjects and no longer including optional assessment administrations
• Increasing student to tutor ratio from 3:1 to 4:1 ratio for tutoring group size
• Reducing minimum hour requirement from 30 to 15 for some students*
• Providing student to teacher ratio waivers for use of approved online curriculum (approvals available mid-June 2024) 

Additional details are available in the resources section below.

HB 1416 Ratio Waiver List

The Ratio Waiver List offers approved instructional products to bypass the 4:1 student-tutor ratio

HB 1416 FAQ

Get quick answers to frequently asked questions about HB 1416

*HB 1416 requires TEA to define requirements for students requiring 30 hours of supplemental instruction through the rulemaking process. TEA proposed rules that provide that students who fall into the "Low Does Not Meet" category of STAAR performance receive no less than 30 hours of supplemental instruction. The rules also provide that students in third grade who do not approach grade level or higher are required to receive 30 hours of supplemental instruction.

TEA Guidance

• Accelerated Instruction Webinar Deck (PDF)
• HB 1416 and Accelerated Instruction Webinar (YouTube)
• Accelerated Instruction One Pager (PDF)
• What’s Changed From HB 4545 to HB 1416 (PDF)
• Best Practices in HIT from Top Performing LEAs (PDF)
• Master Scheduling Supports Deck (PDF)
• Accelerated Instruction: HB 1416 Overview and Optional Webinar Opportunity (TAA) 

Templates/Tools

• HB 1416 (88R) Supplemental Accelerated Instruction Flowchart (PDF)
• Accelerated Education Plan Best Practices Checklist — English, Spanish (Word)
• Accelerated Education Plan One Pager for Parents — English, Spanish (PDF)
• Parent Notification Letters for Accelerated Instruction Requirements — English, Spanish (Word)

Outcomes Based Contracting

• OBC Toolkit (SEF) (Web)
• Contract Language Template (SF) (Word)
• Contract Language Example (SF) (Word)
• OBC Case Study (Ector County) (PDF)

2026-27 Accelerated Instruction Waiver for Eligible School Districts/Open-Enrollment Charter Schools 

The school districts and open-enrollment charter schools listed below qualify for a one-year accelerated instruction waiver. Each school system on this list met the applicable criteria (TAC §104.1001), including having at least 60% of students move from Did Not Meet Grade Level in the previous year to Approaches Grade Level this year, without overrepresentation of student subgroups, including students receiving special education services or students identified as educationally disadvantaged.

Although this waiver reflects meaningful progress, TEA recognizes the continued value of additional academic support, such as tutoring or assignment to a TIA-designated teacher, for students who have not yet met grade level expectations. The waiver is optional and should not discourage school systems from continuing the supports that contributed to this academic milestone.

High Impact Tutoring and Student Outcomes

Early data indicates that school closures and disruptions in SY19-20 and SY20-21 are likely to result in unfinished learning for many students statewide, making multi-year recovery and acceleration supports even more crucial. As LEAs consider how to best facilitate learning acceleration, many are considering high impact tutoring (HIT), as there is strong evidence that high impact tutoring is one of the most effective ways to increase learning gains for students.

High-impact tutoring programs have a few key characteristics:

Well-trained, consistent tutor (can be a teacher, paraprofessional, or teacher candidate) who builds a strong relationship with studentsHigh-quality instructional material aligned to standards and core classworkOne-to-one or small group for individualized support (1-3 student max. ratio recommended)Embedded in, or immediately before or after, the school day to maximize student accessAt least three sessions per week for sustained support; Minimum of 30 minutesData-driven with tutors building sessions around student strengths and needs

Texas students have experienced academic growth post-Covid but learning acceleration is still critically needed, particularly in Math. On the 2022 STAAR, only 52% of students met grade level expectations in Reading Language Arts while only 40% of students met grade level in math.1

Evidence suggests that high impact tutoring can have a significant impact on outcomes for students:

A 2020 meta-analysis of 96 studies of high-quality tutoring programs found that students made 5 months of additional progress on average, a large pooled 0.37 effect size.1

The average effect of tutoring programs on student achievement is larger than the effects found in approximately 85% of studies evaluating education interventions and equivalent to moving a student at the 35th percentile of the achievement distribution to the 50th.2

“Teachers reported students' enthusiasm, and progress. They saw many positives to the program which they believed led to student success including the small teacher to student ratio, consistently teaching the same small group of students, consistent tutoring days and times and utilizing the program with fidelity.

Over 90% of students in the High Impact Tutoring reading program increased reading fluency from March 2022 to mid-May 2022. During that same time period, a majority of students gained ½ year reading level in less than 3 months as measured by our district reading assessment and most students improved substantially in basic reading TEKS as measured by our universal screener.”

— Administrator, Greenville ISD

1 Nickow, Andre Joshua, Philip Oreopoulos, and Vincent Quan. (2020).
2 Kraft, M. A. (2020).

Tutoring Implementation Supports

High Impact Tutoring Toolkit

Early data indicates that school closures and disruptions in SY19-20 and SY20-21 are likely to result in unfinished learning for many students statewide, making multi-year recovery and acceleration supports even more crucial. As LEAs consider how to best facilitate learning acceleration, many are considering high impact tutoring, as there is strong evidence that high impact tutoring is one of the most effective ways to increase learning gains for students.

The High Impact Tutoring Toolkit (PDF) is designed to help districts think through key pieces of program design and make connections to other helpful resources. While this toolkit is not exhaustive, it outlines the foundational principles and key considerations that all LEAs should consider when implementing a high impact tutoring program.

High Impact Tutoring Toolkit

Foundational principles and key considerations for implementing a high impact tutoring program.

Toolkit Resources

Introduction & TEA Supports

• Webinar (YouTube)
• Slide Deck (PDF) 

Program Design

• Webinar (YouTube)
• Slide Deck (PDF) 

Program Implementation

• Webinar (YouTube)
• Slide Deck (PDF)

Scheduling

• Webinar (YouTube)
• Slide Deck (PDF)
• Examples and Resources (PDF) 

Tutoring and Scheduling

• Webinar (YouTube)
• Slide Deck (PDF) 

Additional Resources

District Examples

Master Schedule Examples

• Austwell-Tivoli ISD (Rural) — Elementary Schedule
• Corpus Christi ISD (Large City) — Elementary Schedule
• Corpus Christi ISD (Large City) — Middle School Schedule
• Corrigan Camden ISD (Rural) — Middle School Schedule
• Poteet ISD (Town) — Middle School Schedule

Other District Examples

• Accelerated Instruction Tracker Aligned With Summer PEIMS Submission — Taylor ISD (Non-Metropolitan)

School Year Staffing

• Use of Retirees

Questions

Please submit any questions to the Texas Tutoring Supports Help Desk.