Huntsville ISD reports students made partial progress toward House Bill 3 K–3 growth targets

At the July Huntsville Independent School District board meeting, curriculum staff provided an update on the district’s progress toward House Bill 3 early childhood literacy and mathematics goals for kindergarten through third grade.

Amy Turner told trustees the district used end-of-year I-Ready diagnostic assessments across four elementary campuses to measure student growth against HB 3 expectations. "Overall, students achieved 48% of their reading growth target and 45% of their math growth target," Turner said, describing the measure as "progress to typical annual growth," which shows how close a student is to meeting or exceeding expected year-long scale-score increases.

Turner said growth was occurring across multiple student groups, including African American, Hispanic, economically disadvantaged, emergent bilingual and special education students, and that the district remains on track toward the goals set by the board last September. At the same time, she cautioned that special education students require particular attention during the district’s transition to a new curriculum and that targeted supports will be needed to sustain accelerated growth.

To support instruction this year, Turner said the district will fully implement Bluebonnet learning materials for reading and mathematics, and will use frequent classroom walkthroughs, timely observation and feedback cycles, and ongoing monitoring of instructional expectations to promote consistent instruction across classrooms.

Trustees thanked staff for the report and asked them to continue monitoring performance and refining supports as the year begins.