Belton ISD in Texas Improves Understanding of TEKS to Scaffold Instruction
Belton Independent School District supports over 11,000 students, across 13 campuses, grades Pre-K through 12. In the 2017–2018 school year, Belton ISD was looking for a way to improve IEP quality by supporting educators with understanding grade-level Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS), which are the state standards for Texas public schools.
Standards-Aligned Resources and Embedded PD
The Belton Special Education Department saw their teachers struggling to scaffold grade-level TEKS for all learners and ability levels. Looking to solve this challenge, Belton ISD began a partnership with Goalbook. The goal: provide special educators with a shared and rigorous resource, across all campuses, to plan impactful instruction aligned to the TEKS.
Jennifer Ramirez, special education director at Belton ISD, stated, “Goalbook inadvertently provided teachers with embedded professional development around scaffolding the TEKS.”
“When we look across the board at teachers that are planning ahead and meeting the students’ needs through their IEP goals, those folks are using Goalbook regularly.”
All special education teachers were given access to Goalbook Toolkit as a part of the partnership. Referring to Belton’s special educators, “The ability to understand the TEKS is better,” said Jennifer, “and the growth has even impacted STAAR scores.”
She also shared that a team that regularly reviews data within the district noticed student academic gains for educators who consistently used Goalbook to plan instruction.
It is a challenge to support educators with scaffolding instruction while maintaining the integrity of a TEKS standard at a student’s grade level. Goalbook Toolkit has been valuable in providing clarity in daily, short-term instructional planning and delivery. Additionally, the district has found Goalbook to be helpful when scaffolding instruction for students in functional academic and life skills.
“What the teachers love about Goalbook is that the goals are broken down and scaffolded by ability level.”
What started as a partnership aimed at supporting teachers with improving the quality of IEPs turned into Belton ISD teachers receiving job-embedded coaching in understanding the TEKS and grade-level expectations. Now in its third year, Belton ISD isn’t slowing down. Goalbook looks forward to a continued partnership for years to come as we work together to support teachers in transforming instruction so that ALL students can succeed.
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