MS CLASS

MS CLASS is a one-year project that integrates evidence-based teacher professional learning and mentoring activities to improve outcomes for Emergent Bilingual students in grades 6-8.

All teachers on the campus will participate in at least 24 weekly Collaborative Learning Communities (CLCs) with guided modules on integrating evidence-based literacy strategies into the classroom, collaborating with peers, and reflecting on new learning;
Teachers with 0-2 years of experience will receive additional support through weekly mentoring activities; and
Classroom teachers with at least 3 years of experience will have the opportunity to develop and refine their leadership skills as well as earn a stipend for taking on additional roles.

MS CLASS is designed to increase learning opportunities for Emergent Bilingual strategies, increase teacher efficacy and effectiveness in implementing these strategies, and improve linguistic and academic outcomes for students. Early findings from American Institutes for Research’s (AIR) study on a similar project in elementary schools show positive teacher perceptions:

Teachers and teacher leaders felt CLCs allowed them to be more intentional in their teaching and valued the collaboration with colleagues to review student work, share ideas, and discuss successes and challenges.
Mentor Teachers identified opportunities to observe and provide feedback to their mentees and reviewing student data with their mentees to lesson plan as key facilitators.
Most teachers felt the professional learning strategies facilitated students’ language and/or literacy development, regardless of their language background.

As a part of MS CLASS, AIR will conduct a rigorous evaluation using a randomized control trial:

To randomize participation, AIR will conduct a lottery to determine which campuses will start implementing MS CLASS in the 2025-26 SY or wait until the 2026-27 SY. The second cohort will begin in either the 2026-27 SY or 2027-28 SY.
While all grade 6-8 teachers participate in MS CLASS, only English Language Arts and Math teachers will participate in data collection (i.e., surveys, focus groups).
Districts will be asked to provide administrative data such as teacher demographics and retention.

TxCEE

www.txcee.org

Since 2006 TxCEE has received three Teacher Incentive Fund Grants; two Teacher and School Leader Incentive Grants; two Education, Innovation, and Research Grants; and a National Professional Development Grant from the U.S. Department of Education. Additionally, TxCEE was recently awarded the TIA Regional Grant and TIA Data Hub Grant. Along with grants, our district and higher education partnerships support TxCEE's mission of equipping educators to improve student achievement and growth by aligning district resources and increasing educator effectiveness through educator training, coaching, and instructional support.

TxCEE staff consists of Texas educators with decades of experience as teachers, teacher leaders, campus and district administrators, and statewide leaders. Our team is passionate about helping Texas school districts develop and implement systems that support teachers and principals.

MS CLASS

Region 18 TxCEE