The Texas Education Agency says the 619 school districts that used its state-written Bluebonnet Learning lessons last school year posted bigger gains in reading and math than districts that did not. The agency’s first-year results release, issued Sept. 30, does not say how big the gains were, and it does not describe whether the agency accounted for the fact that each district chose for itself whether to adopt.
The comparison matters to parents and teachers because Bluebonnet is the state’s own set of classroom materials, offered to districts at no charge, and TEA wants more of them to take it up. TEA measured the share of students who met grade level on the spring 2026 STAAR, the state’s annual standardized test, in the grades where a district used Bluebonnet. It compared that share to the spring 2025 result, then set the change against the same year-over-year change in districts that did not use Bluebonnet. The agency said adopters came out ahead “on average” in just the first year.
The agency also pointed to school ratings. Of the districts using at least one Bluebonnet program, 72 earned an A rating for 2025-26, and 26 of those had been rated below an A the year before. The release does not give the share of A-rated districts among those that did not use Bluebonnet, so the 72 cannot be weighed against anything.
When the curriculum was being rolled out, its leaders explained why Texas school and students would make gains like these on the Dispatch’s Texas Talks podcast. Commissioner Mike Morath said the lessons had been piloted for years, and that “pretty significant results” had already been seen where districts used them with fidelity.
He said districts that adopted them could expect “significant jumps in literacy among students” and in math within a year. He also attached a condition: “The curriculum doesn’t teach itself. We have to support teachers that use it.” TEA’s release does not report whether the 619 districts trained and supported teachers in the way he described.
Donna Bahorich, a former State Board of Education chair who said she had reviewed the English materials as an advisory board member, said she had “high hopes” that “from the results that we’ve seen already from the pilots,” the lessons’ content-rich approach would “result in better student outcomes.”
Dr. Ben Carson, who served on the agency’s open education resource advisory board, spoke less about test scores than about what the lessons offer students. He called Bluebonnet “a lifesaver for some of the kids,” describing it as a way to fill in values and knowledge children may not be getting. The release offers no data on that kind of benefit.
The first-year direction matches what Morath and Bahorich predicted. What it does not yet show is how large the gains are, whether they hold once adopting districts are compared with similar districts, or whether the pilot-era results Morath described carried over to all 619 districts. TEA’s release describes the comparison only in general terms and links no district-level table.
According to TEA, 619 districts adopted at least one of the three Bluebonnet programs district-wide in 2025-26. Bluebonnet is offered as 39 sets of elementary and secondary materials, with about 2,300 teacher guides, student activity books, novels, worksheets and other pieces. TEA said every unit includes a take-home letter for parents and that all content can be viewed at its Bluebonnet website.
TEA also made a cost argument. Over four years, it said, Bluebonnet’s Grade 2 math materials cost $1,350.88 less per classroom than the next comparable set approved by the State Board of Education, and Grade 2 reading cost $498.48 less. Districts can download and print the lessons for free.
District leaders using the curriculum credit it. South San Antonio ISD Superintendent Saul Hinojosa, asked by KSAT whether his district’s progress was linked to Bluebonnet, said: “Absolutely. I mean, your curriculum is a driving force.”
The curriculum has also drawn criticism. First Amendment advocates have said some reading selections risk blurring the line between teaching about religious texts and promoting a particular faith, KSAT reported, and South San ISD removed or changed several religion-focused readings before using the lessons.
The results follow the commissioner’s earlier public backing of the curriculum, which the Dispatch covered in an October 2025 interview with Commissioner Mike Morath. In the release, Morath said, “With insights from year one, we will continue our investments in rigorous curriculum to make Texas number one in public education.” TEA said it will work with high-performing and developing districts to identify effective practices and expand adoption statewide.