The El Paso Community Foundation, along with the Council on Regional Economic Expansion and Educational Development, will use a three-year, $3.4 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to implement and train teachers on high-quality instructional material (HQIM), El Paso Matters reports.

HQIM, which follows Texas curriculum standards, are designed to help teachers implement research-based lessons into reading/language arts, math, science, and social studies classes. Starting in the 2024-25 school year, the grant will enable the University of Texas at El Paso to embed HQIM into its teaching curriculum and Miner Teacher Residency program, which allows college seniors seeking a degree in education to work in a real classroom, alongside a trained mentor teacher. In addition, a portion of the grant will be distributed to the Clint Independent School District to hire teacher residents and implement the teaching methods in the classroom, as well as enable the district to work with US Prep, which provides technical assistance and consultation to help schools successfully use HQIM.

“When you have high-quality instruction material, you’re ensuring that the question to ask and the activities that you’re implementing are truly helping the student to understand that concept,” said Clint ISD assistant superintendent of secondary curriculum and instruction James Littlejohn. “This is just making sure that the level of the material is at the pace and rigor needed to build college readiness through all grade levels.”

(Photo credit: Getty Images/Drazen Zigic)