House Bill 4545 establishes new requirements for accelerated instruction for students who do not pass the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness (STAAR®). At a high level, the legislation includes:

• Elimination of grade retention and retesting requirements in grades 5 and 8

• For any student who does not pass the STAAR test in grade 3, 5, or 8 in math or reading, a new LEA requirement to establish an accelerated learning committee to develop an individual educational plan for the student and monitor progress

• For any student who does not pass the STAAR test in grades 3–8 or STAAR (EOC) end-of-course assessments, clarification of prior accelerated instruction requirements, specifying that it must include either:

  • Being assigned a classroom teacher who is a certified master, exemplary, or recognized teacher or

  • Receiving supplemental instruction (tutoring) before or after school, or embedded in the school day

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 administration  

• Increasing student to tutor ratio from 3:1 to 4:1 ratio for tutoring group size  

• Clarifying that students who take STAAR-Alt 2, are retained, or take substitute high school assessments aren't subject to requirements 

• 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 spring 2024) 

• Clarifying that parents may modify or remove supplemental instruction requirements with a letter to campus administrator 

• Clarifying that parents must be notified of student failure to perform on applicable tests