Texas’ youngest learners are behind in math and reading. A pair of bills aims to get them back on track.

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Texas lawmakers want to help young learners who are lagging behind in math and reading, an early setback that threatens to derail their path to high school graduation.

More than half of third graders in the state are not at grade level in reading or math, meaning they lack the key foundational skills they need to thrive as learners.

Students who are behind in third grade rarely catch up, which can lead to serious consequences later in life. Research shows students who struggle to read by third grade are more likely to drop out of high school. Math proficiency is tied to economic mobility as an adult.

The Texas House gave final approval Wednesday to House Bill 123, which aims to provide struggling students extra learning support as early as kindergarten, before learning gaps compound.

“The whole bill presupposes…there's nothing wrong with these children, but there was simply something wrong with what we were giving them,” state Rep. Harold Dutton, D-Houston, said from the House floor on Tuesday.

Last month, the Senate passed a similar bill, Senate Bill 2252. Members from both chambers are now expected to reconcile differences in their proposals in a closed-door conference committee.

The legislation would require districts to use literacy and numeracy screeners to identify students who are struggling early on. The screeners would assess students three times a year between pre-K and 3rd grade on skills like phonics, vocabulary and spelling. Those who are furthest behind would get extra tutoring in small group settings.

The Texas Education Agency would develop a screener that districts could use for free, though districts would be allowed to continue using their own screening methods.

Students are assessed on school readiness when they first enter kindergarten. After that, the state has limited visibility into literacy development until the third-grade STAAR test, with two dyslexia screenings currently acting as the only formal checkpoints.

"We simply cannot afford to wait past third grade to intervene,” said Amber Shields with the education policy nonprofit Commit Partnership, in testimony before lawmakers last month.

Both the House and Senate bills would require schools to share the screening results with parents. Advocates say the information could improve parent engagement and encourage them to help build their children’s skills after school.

Gabe Grantham, an education policy adviser for the think tank Texas 2036, said the information from the screenings could bridge discrepancies between how students are performing in school and how their parents think they are performing.

The legislation would also expand educators’ access to math and reading instructional materials. Teachers often work unpaid hours to complete training known as math and reading academies, which give them the tools to help build students’ skills in those subjects. HB 123 would give districts funding to pay teachers who take those courses after their regular workday.

The efforts to reduce financial barriers for teachers to take this training come at a time when lawmakers are also trying to limit uncertified teachers from leading classes in foundational skills like math and reading. School districts around the state have increasingly leaned on uncertified teachers to lead classrooms as they’ve struggled to hire and retain trained instructors.

The Texas legislation mimics literacy interventions in Louisiana and Mississippi, states that have made significant leaps in student achievement in recent years. Mississippi fourth-grade reading scores soared — a phenomenon referred to as the Mississippi Miracle — after the state implemented regular literacy screening and provided intensive literacy training to K-3 teachers.

Meanwhile, Texas’ fourth-grade reading scores ranked 37th in the nation, even as students have started to rebound from learning disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Disclosure: Commit Partnership and Texas 2036 have been financial supporters of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune's journalism. Find a complete list of them here.

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