GISD approves STEMscopes instructional material purchase

The Gonzales ISD school board met for their regularly scheduled monthly meeting Monday, June 12 at the GISD Administration building.

One of the big agenda items was the purchase of STEMscopes’ math and science kindergarten through eighth grade instructional material for the 2023-2024 school year.

GISD Elementary education director Brandi Bell spoke to the board about the material.

“These resources provide teachers with scripted engaging lessons that are set up in the ‘five E’ model supporting students as they engage in the curriculum, explore the concepts of learning, elaborate and explain their thinking and evaluate their understanding of the content.” Bell said.

Principals, curriculum and instruction, instructional coaches and teachers met together in two long meetings to “vertically align our district with this resource to support the rigorous math and science standards that our students are tackling every year.” Bell said.

This comes when the district is struggling in math and science, and Bell said the program is very scripted for the teachers to use.

“They provide students, starting at the concrete level, looking at pictorial level and then finally to the abstract level. It teaches them what manipulative to use and it gives them the proper resources and it gives them something tangible in their hands,” Bell said.

With Gonzales dealing with the statewide teacher shortage, Bell said with the new program, it allows new teachers to “soar to success” with steady lesson plans.

“One of the hardest things for a new teacher — and they created so much turnover —is they're having to pull from everywhere. And it's hard, it's hard to plan the lesson. And this gives them a lesson to where they can be successful with their students and be prepared,” Bell said.

The program will align the district with academic vocabulary and with the standards of what is being taught, Bell added.
“So when our students move from grade level to grade level, they have the same pattern that they're going to see in one math class versus the other,” Bell said.

School board member Ashley Molina asked Bell what was the success rate of the program, and Bell responded that the district had use the program “in pieces” at North Avenue and later in the second semester at the GPA campus, and the teacher fell in love with the program.

“This was not a request that came from administration; it was a request that actually came from our teachers. They wanted a continuation of the program; they wanted it in full development, because we could only afford that piece of it online, so they were having to print so much in the lesson. And they were having to print a lot of the student resources that came out of it,” Bell said.

The board approved to purchase the instructional material unanimous, 7-0.

In other business, the board approved the following agenda items:

--approved the FFA traveling to the National Convention in Indianapolis November 1-4, 2023.

--approved the Interlocal Agreement between The University of Texas at Austin and Gonzales Independent School District for the 2023-2024 OnRamps Program.

--approved the TASB Board Policy Update 121, affecting GISD local policies.

--approved to Enter into a Professional Services Agreement with Leon Alcala, PLLC for Chapter 313 Agreement Reporting and Maintenance of Existing Value Limitation Agreements under Chapter 313 of the Property Tax Code.

--approved a Purchase and Budget Amendment for Playground Equipment for Gonzales Elementary.