In 2019, the 86th Texas Legislature passed House Bill 3 (HB 3). A sweeping and comprehensive piece of school finance reform legislation, HB 3 promised billions in new funding for Texas public schools, an increase in teacher compensation, and tax relief for local property owners. 

Inside HB 3 were other things, too: Texas made it law that any educators and school principals providing core instruction to kindergarten through third grade participate in and complete state-sponsored “HB 3 Reading Academies.” 

According to the Texas Education Agency (TEA), educators must complete “… year-long, intensive, job-embedded trainings and coaching fellowships aligned to the science of teaching reading” before the 2022-23 school year. Per changes to the law made during the 87th Texas Legislature, educators now have until the end of their first year of placement to complete the requirement.  

As outlined by HB 3, the reading academies initiative is composed of two parts that take place before and after an educator’s placement. The first component is the Science of Teaching Reading (STR) Certification exam, which, per TEA, “… demonstrates a teacher’s proficiency in the science of teaching reading.” It’s required of all teacher candidates who teach grades pre-K through six. The second component, the HB 3 Reading Academies, is meant to reinforce educators’ knowledge of reading instruction. School districts have some flexibility in how they implement the trainings on their calendar and in choosing the providers.

The requirement is broad enough to include educators who have been teaching students to read for decades, teachers who are entering their first classroom, and nearly every teacher in between. It also mandates that school principals, special education teachers, literacy specialists, and librarians, among others, complete the trainings if they are deemed by their districts to provide “core instruction” to students. That’s roughly 120,000 educators.  

Reading academies aren’t exactly a new development. As Monty Exter, ATPE’s senior lobbyist, explains: Texas has previously adopted similar tactics when state reading scores were trending downward, and the reading academies of the past have helped.  

Those reading academies—or literacy academies—sometimes took the shape of a year-long fellowship that included a five-day summer workshop, three two-day professional development sessions, a three-day workshop after the school year ended, and continual embedded coaching throughout the school year. Some were less involved.    

“Our net reading scores would then go up for a number of years as teachers took these professional development trainings and put those methods into place in their own classroom,” Exter says. “The test scores would then positively reflect those efforts.”  

Once any lagging scores improved, he added, Texas’ priorities—and funding— tended to shift to other areas, and the improved scores would then plateau or start trending downward again.  

That’s what happened leading up to HB 3. In 2017, Texas students ranked 46th in the U.S. for fourth grade reading proficiency. TEA announced that reading scores for the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness (STAAR) had fallen for students in nearly every grade level. Later that year, Gov. Greg Abbott and TEA launched a precursor of sorts to the reading academies push known as the Texas Readers Initiative, which provided professional development opportunities and created a public awareness campaign focusing on the importance of children’s literacy.    

In 2018, the Texas Commission on Public School Finance reported that only four in 10 students met the state’s reading standards. The 2018 STAAR test scores revealed that approximately 58% of Texas third graders were not reading at their expected levels.  

“The phrase that got bandied about during the initial meetings proposing a new literacy achievement policy was, ‘up to grade three, you’re learning to read, and after grade three, you’re reading to learn,’” Exter says. “There was a strong belief out of the school finance commission at the time that student success past the third grade was extremely dependent upon a student’s ability to read.”  

They weren’t wrong to think so, either. In a study published in 2010 by the Annie E. Casey Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated to children’s well-being, researchers found that reading proficiency at the end of third grade is a pivotal marker of students’ educational development. According to the study, incoming fourth graders, especially low-income fourth graders, who were not proficient in reading literacy were several times more likely to drop out of school.  

This was the reality in which TEA and state legislators found themselves while crafting one of the most sweeping education funding bills in recent memory, and that’s more or less why educators are being asked to attend this new and more forceful iteration of the reading academies.  

IMPLEMENTING THE ACADEMIES  

TEA Deputy Commissioner for School Programs Lily Laux spoke about the HB 3 Reading Academies in a February 2021 article by the Longview News-Journal. (TEA did not return our request for an interview in time for publication.) In the article, Laux said that across the state, reading scores not being where TEA wanted them was the impetus for the adoption of these curricula and programming. She added that she believed all early learning teachers could potentially benefit from taking a reading academy.  

That said, it’s mostly been left to school districts to enroll and schedule educators in the HB 3 Reading Academies. It is also their responsibility to inform educators when their jobs could be affected, when they will have the opportunity to enroll, what their testing and retesting times will be, and what a suitable passing score for their comprehension check will be. Many educators have already taken the course, or they soon will through their regional Education Service Center (ESC), school district, or another of TEA’s approved providers.  

The cost to enroll an educator in an HB 3 Reading Academy can be anywhere from $400 per educator for a fully online course to $3,000 per educator for the comprehensive course, which includes online modules and in-person learning. School districts are expected to shoulder the cost of enrollment. Once enrolled, educators choose one of three learning paths: general and special education, bilingual general and special education, and administrator.  

TEA says the HB 3 Reading Academies are meant to be completed over the course of 11 months to a year, amounting to no more than 10 full days of work. As far as can be ascertained, it is a one-time certification that will then transfer across school districts in perpetuity once completed.  

Tonja Gray is a literacy coach and cohort leader for the ESC Region 14 Texas Reading Academy based out of Abilene, and, in 2018, she was on the committee that created the framework for the Texas STR exam. Cohort leaders provide participants with material and coaching throughout a reading academy.  

“The reading academies are steeped in material that is evidence-based and comes from years of research,” says Gray, who also served as the 2019-20 ATPE state president. “Thanks to the material I know that, even as a presenter, I have grown as an educator because of what I have been learning about the science of reading over the past few years.”  

Gray believes that there are several misconceptions about the HB 3 Reading Academies and the science of reading, in general, which she has been working to help educators overcome.  

“One prominent misconception that I have heard many times is that this is just another pendulum swing and will go away with the next swing,” Gray says. “I realize many of us who have been teaching for a while have seen that happen before. I have heard many people say they aren’t going to take this seriously [because of that]. The thing is: The science behind what we are teaching and the skills we are developing have always been there. It has just gotten pushed aside.”  

HOW DO EDUCATORS FEEL?  

As a staff attorney in the ATPE Member Legal Services Department, Jennifer Gordon has been helping ATPE members navigate the new legal requirement and their school districts’ implementation of it.  

“We’re hearing from educators who’ve already been informed by their district what they have to do, and we’re hearing from people who are in the midst of it who are very burdened by the time commitment,” Gordon says. “These are people who are debating whether they want to raise challenges about the commitment and the compensation, or lack thereof, and whether it’s fair to them.”  

Gordon notes that while educators’ contracts often include stipulations that allow districts to request educators work additional time outside of their contracted hours, it has to be, as Gordon puts it, “reasonable.”  

Some educators, like Heather Bratton Chapman, would argue it isn’t.  

“No other profession is micromanaged in this way,” says Chapman, who has taught primary grades for 20 years and previously attended a reading academy offered by her school district. “I understand and do not deny the need for continued professional development. [However,] the requirements of the HB 3 Reading Academy are grossly excessive.”  

ATPE spoke with several educators about their experiences with the HB 3 Reading Academies. Some expressed concerns about the time commitment. Others wondered if it was worth the cost—especially since there is no guarantee they will be paid for their time. Currently there aren’t any state funds earmarked specifically to compensate educators who take part in the academies, and, while there is no guidance preventing school districts from paying educators for their time, there isn’t currently any guidance telling them they should, either.  

“We have seen that money was put into place by the Texas Legislature to develop the curricula and programs, but there wasn’t any money put into providing teachers with compensation for participating,” Exter says.  

This leaves educators like Mandy Estrada feeling like her time isn’t being respected.  

“I think it’s unfair to ask teachers to give even more of their time than they already do—uncompensated at that,” Estrada says. “Since this is a requirement by the state, teachers need to be provided with substitutes so we can complete the requirements within our contracted time. If teachers work on the academy outside of our contacted time, those hours should be logged and compensated for.”  

She adds: “Teachers are already attending numerous professional development sessions throughout the year. I agree that professional growth and development are critical, but once we have fulfilled our required hours, we should be paid for our time. Of course, we love our kids, and we want to be our best for them. But our time and well-being are valuable, too.”  

Shelley Lum is a veteran educator of 28 years. She completed her HB 3 Reading Academy in May 2021, after beginning the program in July 2020. Lum believes it took every one of the required hours to complete the academy and more.  

“The curriculum contained some valuable information, but I felt it could have been delivered in less time and through a different format,” Lum says. “It was a slap in the face to be ‘required’ to take such a time-consuming class on top of schoolwork, planning, and regular professional development hours. To receive no compensation from the state whatsoever was the final blow.”  

Cristina C. Gonzáles took the bilingual literacy learning path with a reading academy held by her region’s ESC. Gonzáles says the course left much to be desired.  

“Our district only hired a reading cohort leader for the English reading academy, not a biliteracy cohort leader,” Gonzáles states. “We had to go through our region center. Our cohort leader isn’t even [bilingual]. I had to do everything online on my own with basically no guidance [whereas] other teachers got help. They got to do some of the trainings face-to-face with help from the other cohort leader and each other. Bilingual teachers were again left as an afterthought.”  

Some educators have also questioned why previous, non-HB 3 reading academies or certifications don’t allow them to test out of the new requirement. The answer is complicated.  

Jennifer Bowland will start her reading academy beginning fall 2021 with an expected completion date next summer. She has a master’s degree with a reading concentration and previously took part in a non-HB 3 reading academy at the beginning of her career. She has taught primary grades, served as a reading specialist, and is now a dyslexia specialist at her school. In many ways, she has been training to teach reading and writing her entire career.  

“I think [reading academies] will be great for people who might be more novice in the areas of reading and writing,” Bowland says. “However, I think if you meet certain criteria, you should be exempt.”  

Very few prior trainings are being recognized for exemption credit, however, and it is unlikely that educators will be able to simply “test out.” 

Although she acknowledges that some educators may have valid concerns, Gray believes there has been some misrepresentation about the HB 3 Reading Academies and what they are meant to accomplish.  

“I have had many teachers inform me that they have already done a reading academy in the past, and that it should count,” Gray says. “It does not. Why? The previous academies were not based in the science of reading and only lasted three to five days. The HB 3 Reading Academy lasts longer and covers the material at a broader and deeper level. It works on the application in your classroom and spends time specifically looking at how the material looks with students of differing abilities.”  

Even charter schools are being told they must comply with the state law, something rare for Texas. It is something that must be completed by any educator who wishes to teach grades K-3 moving forward.  

When asked why a math, science, or social studies teacher should be required to attend a reading academy, Gray says it’s simple: “All teachers are reading teachers.”  

Beyond that, Gray says she’s seen firsthand how beneficial the courses have been for select educators, even for those who had trepidations going into it.  

“The teachers who went through the reading academy sessions with me this past year and who took the material seriously, using it with their students and in their classrooms, saw growth and change,” Gray says. “Not just in their students but in themselves as educators.”  

READING ACADEMIES GOING FORWARD  

Attending an HB 3 Reading Academy is, for now, the law of the land. If you teach K-3, or hope to one day, be prepared to spend extra time attending a reading academy.  

But once an educator has completed an academy, their name is placed on a state list, and according to Gray, once completed, educators do not have to take an academy again, even when moving districts or changing grade levels.  

Proponents, like Gray, believe the HB 3 Reading Academies are necessary for growth in both educators and student success.  

“If I ever felt that I knew all there was to know about teaching, it would be time to get out of the profession,” Gray says. “The end goal is truly trying to do what is best for every student sitting in our schools so they can grow and achieve as a learner and person.”  

However, as the results of this new experiment still wait to bear out, is that a good enough reason for the educators who are sacrificing their personal time to complete this process?  

“For now, educators are really just hoping that school districts in time will recognize that they don’t have the right to ask teachers to put in the extra time for free,” Gordon says.