An Insider's Look at Bluebonnet Math and STAAR Prep

Are you a curriculum director considering the adoption of Bluebonnet Math in your school district?

Before recommending Bluebonnet Math to your superintendent, you will want to consider:

how challenging it is to generate timely, reliable TEKS‑mastery data when using the curriculum, and
how little room is left in the academic calendar to incorporate progress monitoring testing and STAAR prep like in prior years.

Districts report that “Bluebonnet Math creates huge progress monitoring and STAAR prep headaches. Very few tests are included and they’re not like the STAAR.”

To enhance your professional knowledge and preserve your reputation, you’ll want to read on and discover what the Bluebonnet Math problems are and what products are available that address the issues.

The Role of Data and STAAR Prep In Texas

Over the last two decades, Texas ISDs have built a culture of continuous improvement through data collection, analysis, and intervention. Districts routinely employ progress monitoring systems that include TEKS mastery data tracking and STAAR preparation. These practices form the backbone of instructional decision-making in most Texas schools. Importantly, this data also provides the foundation for much of the state’s accountability system:

TEKS Mastery Tracking: Schools systematically track student progress against Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills, ensuring that learning objectives are met on time.
STAAR Preparation: Regular formative assessments that mirror STAAR formats help prepare students and provide early indicators of areas needing intervention.
STAAR Testing: Administered towards the end of the school year, STAAR tests are designed to measure what students have learned in each grade and whether or not they are ready for the next grade.
Teacher Incentive Allotment: Bonus compensation structures, such as the Teacher Incentive Allotment, are directly tied to STAAR outcomes.
Texas Academic Performance Report: Publicly available school and district grades are based heavily on STAAR scores and growth measures.

This emphasis on data means that educators rely on it to intervene early, adjust instruction in real time, and ultimately improve student achievement as evidenced by the final judge of success– the STAAR test.

To do their jobs well, Texas teachers and administrators require more than just high-quality printed instructional materials. After all, it’s 2025, not 1999. They need dynamic tools that provide real-time insights into student learning, enabling them to quickly identify gaps, adjust lessons, and ensure TEKS mastery throughout the school year.

What is Bluebonnet Math?

Bluebonnet Math is the new State of Texas math curriculum. The TEA was authorized under the provisions of HB 1605 to create cost-free HQIM curriculums for Texas schools. (TEA will release all Bluebonnet Learning materials as open educational resources (OER) for Texans.)

The Texas State Board of Education (SBOE) approved the state’s curriculum in November of 2024, also created by HB 1605. Bluebonnet Learning was part of the inaugural Instructional Materials Review and Adoption (IMRA) – Cycle 2024.

The IMRA process certifies that a curriculum meets 100% of the TEKS for each grade level. A detailed rubric with additional criteria is used by committees of professional educators to evaluate publisher materials.

Bluebonnet Math received a very high score. In addition to its TEKS coverage, the curriculum provides richly structured lessons that lead students to mastery through a progression of concepts and skills.

The curriculum is distributed for noncommercial use via digital PDF files found on the Texas Gateway site. Districts do not have to use the curriculum nor do they have to buy the printed workbooks offered for sale by Region 4 and Great Minds. However, there are important funding incentives attached to the printed version.

HB 1605 Special Funding Incentives

Under HB 1605, districts that adopt a SBOE-approved curriculum, e.g. Bluebonnet Math, are eligible for additional state funding:

$40 per student in the form of an SBOE-Approved Instructional Materials entitlement. This money can only be spent on curriculum materials that were vetted with the IMRA process and approved by the SBOE. Unused monies roll over from year to year.
$20 per student is provided in the form of a State-Developed Open Education Resource (OER) Entitlement to offset the cost of the Bluebonnet Learning printed workbooks. The funds are available in the EMAT system and are use-it-or-lose it annual monies.

These funds represent a significant financial boost that can help cover a district’s curriculum adoption costs. To get the extra $20, ISD Trustees must officially adopt the curriculum, write a Transition Plan, and purchase the printed workbooks.

If ISDs use the free OER-licensed digital PDFs on their own, the extra $20 is forfeited for that year, potentially pressuring schools to adopt the print version even though digital delivery may be more practical in today’s tech-driven classrooms.

For many grade levels, the cost of the workbooks combined with manipulative kits and any add-on products may actually cost much more than the incentives offered by the State of Texas. Yet even though districts may spend more than the incentive subsidies of $60 per student, the real out-of-pocket cost to the district for top quality Bluebonnet Math curriculum is still far less than buying any others on the State-Approved instructional materials list from Cycle 2024. High-quality instructional materials often cost $100 or more per student. The State of Texas is providing the laws, funds and materials to make the overall costs of HQIM adoption much lower for its schools.

🏵️ Bluebonnet Math - Grades 3–5 Overview

For grades 3–5, Bluebonnet Math is a State of Texas OER product licensed from Great Minds that mirrors Eureka Math. Eureka Math is highly regarded for its commitment to developing deep conceptual understanding in mathematics—a quality that sets it apart from more traditional, procedural approaches.

Print Format

3 Student Workbooks- Learn, Practice, and Succeed
Teacher Guides and Other Implementation Resources

Manipulatives Kit for each classroom

Content Structure

Modules: Each module focuses on a major mathematical concept, such as Fraction Equivalence, Ordering, and Operations.
Topics: Within each module, topics break down the concepts further—for example, a topic might address Decomposition and Fraction Equivalence.
Lessons: Designed for single-day instruction, lessons are the building blocks of topics. A typical topic will include at least three lessons, with many modules offering three or more lessons per topic.

Lesson Components

Each lesson in grades 3–5 includes:

1. Fluency Practice: Quick-paced activities to build fact fluency, such as warm-up exercises.
2. Application Problem: Real-world problem-solving tasks that encourage students to apply what they’ve learned.
3. Concept Development: The core instructional content where new skills and ideas are introduced.
4. Student Debrief: Guided reflection and discussion to help consolidate learning.
5. Exit Ticket: single problem that reflects the focus of the lesson
6. Assignment: Independent practice or homework designed to reinforce the day’s lesson.

Assessments

Assessments for Bluebonnet Math for grades 3–5 are as follows:

Mid-Module Assessments: These check student understanding halfway through a module.
End-of-Module Assessments: These are intended to evaluate overall mastery of the TEKS covered in the module.

The machine-readable versions include multiple-choice items, open-ended responses, and RDW (Read-Draw-Write) tasks. These module assessments are meant digital delivery on a platform of choice. There is a print version, too.

Add-on Products Offered By Great Minds

Great Minds developed Bluebonnet Math for K-5. According to their website, they have a digital product that “includes digital versions of teacher and student materials along with lesson-level facilitation slides and a robust library of digital STAAR-aligned assessments with detailed reporting.” The assessments are digital versions of the tests that come standard with Bluebonnet Math. They are the only materials that qualify as STAAR prep in the entire curriculum.

Zearn is an awesome digital math platform that aligns closely with Eureka Math, aka Bluebonnet Math. Zearn’s free, online program for K–5 teachers and students delivers interactive lessons and personalized practice; school districts must pay to access reporting and other premium features. The site provides stimulating, adaptive exercises that reinforce the concepts taught in Eureka Math. There is, however, no STAAR prep in Zearn.

These products come at an additional cost which will take IMTA money in 2025. While these products do offer digital components, they are not designed to fill the gaps between paper-based products, efficient progress monitoring and STAAR prep/testing.

🏵️ Bluebonnet Math - Grades 6–8 & Algebra I Overview

For grades 6–8 and Algebra I, Carnegie Learning licensed its middle school math curriculum to the State of Texas and aligned it to the TEKS. The curriculum focuses on problem-based learning that not only builds mathematical proficiency but also strengthens critical thinking and analytical skills.

Print Format

3 Student Workbooks- Volume 1, Volume 2, and Skills Practice
Teachers Guides and Other Implementation Resources

Structure

Modules: Each module addresses a major mathematical concept, such as Ratios and Proportional Relationships.
Topics: These modules are subdivided into topics that further delineate key areas of focus.
Lessons: Lessons in these grades are multi-day, with each lesson recommended to span 2–3 days to allow for deeper exploration of complex concepts.

Lesson Components

Lessons for grades 6–8 and Algebra I include:

Warm-Up: Activities that connect math to real-world scenarios and activate prior knowledge.
Interactive Learning: Hands-on, problem-based exploration of new concepts.
Guided Practice: Teacher-facilitated sessions that reinforce learning.
Independent Work: Opportunities for students to apply concepts through practice.
Closure & Reflection: Activities like exit tickets or discussion prompts that help consolidate learning.
Assignment: Homework or additional practice to reinforce the day’s learning.

Assessments

For these grades, assessments are typically provided at the end of each topic (not the module) and include:

End-of-Topic Assessments: Designed to evaluate mastery of the key concepts within each topic.
Performance Tasks: Optional project-based assessments that, while rich in detail, are time-consuming to administer and grade.
Digital End-of-Topic Assessments: Available for use on any digital delivery platform of choice.

Key Data on Grades 6–8 & Algebra I

Add-on Products Offered By Carnegie Learning

Carnegie Learning’s Mathia is the digital accompaniment to its MathBook curriculum. It is an adaptive digital learning platform that is purported to align to the TEKS for grades 6–8 and Algebra I. Mathia is designed to provide personalized support to students along with detailed analytics for teachers. While Mathia is a widely used product, it is not Texas-specific so students don’t get STAAR prep or exposure to the question types.

Feature	Great Minds Digital	Zearn Math	Mathia	TX OER Edition
Digital Version of Bluebonnet Tests	✅	❌	❌	✅
STAAR prep	❌	❌	❌	✅
Auto‑grading	✅	✅	✅	✅
Daily progress monitoring	❌	✅ (practice)	✅ (adaptive)	✅
Centralized TEKS mastery reports	❌	❌	Limited	✅
District‑level dashboards	❌	❌	Limited	✅
Tied to Bluebonnet YAG	❌	❌	Partial	✅
Prof Dev Services	✅	❌	✅	❌
Cost per student	Varies ($17+)	Varies	Varies (~$20+)	$3.99

Do Publisher Add-On Products for Bluebonnet Math Meet the Accountability Needs of Texas Schools?

Great Minds focuses on teacher internalization training.
Zearn focuses on interactive concept practice.
Mathia is a computer-adaptive practice platform.
Only Classwork.com’s Texas OER Edition is laser-focused on the needs of Texas ISDs by providing standardized, STAAR‑aligned assessments, fully automated grading, and robust reporting at scale — all at a fraction of the cost of other products.

👍 What Bluebonnet Math Does Well

The Bluebonnet Math curriculums offer many strengths and the TEA has done a great job of getting these materials licensed for the benefit of Texans:

High TEKS Alignment: Every lesson is mapped to Texas standards, ensuring comprehensive coverage of the required material.
Structured Lesson Plans: The curriculum provides teachers with a clear, day-by-day roadmap, which can be particularly useful for new educators.
Problem-Based Learning (with R-D-W in Grades K – 5): Emphasizes conceptual and critical thinking with real-world application, moving beyond rote computation.
Printed Workbooks and PDFs: Offers flexibility in how the curriculum can be delivered.
Renowned Publishers: Great Minds and Carnegie Learning are highly regarded curriculum publishers in the United States.
Consistent Pacing: The curriculum provides a detailed scope and sequence, which helps in planning instruction over the academic year.

❌ Where Bluebonnet Math Falls Short for Texas ISDs

Despite its many strengths, Bluebonnet Math has notable weaknesses that can impact day-to-day teaching and district priorities.

Insufficient Assessments:
With the number of provided assessments between 10-14 per year depending on the grade, there are far too few checkpoints to reliably monitor student progress. It is expected that teachers will hand-grade student workbooks. This means that important learning gaps may slip through the cracks.

Data Collection Relies on Teachers Hand-Grading Printed Workbooks:
It is expected that teachers will collect and hand-grade student workbooks. This is extremely time-consuming, unfair to teachers, and nonstandardized.

No Daily Standardized Progress Monitoring:
The curriculum does not provide mechanisms for teachers to track student understanding on a daily or weekly basis other than reviewing student workbooks or logging observation data. Without regular formative assessment data, teachers are forced to rely on limited and untimely summative assessment data from module tests. These may not capture transient misunderstandings within lessons or skill decay across the unit.

Little to Show Parents Teachers will find themselves empty-handed at Parent-Teacher Conferences as there will be few data points to share.

Lack of STAAR Prep:
The assessments included in Bluebonnet Math do not mirror the format or style of STAAR tests. As a result, students may not get sufficient interaction with the types of questions and problem-solving scenarios they will encounter on the STAAR.

Inconsistent Feedback:
Because teachers must develop their own grading systems for Bluebonnet student workbooks, the feedback provided to students can be highly variable. This inconsistency makes it difficult to compare progress across classrooms or even within the same class over time.

TEKS and STAAR Data Desert:
Without a centralized, standardized system for tracking TEKS progress, data collection becomes labor-intensive and error-prone. Districts end up with fragmented data collected by overworked teachers that do not offer a clear picture of student achievement or pinpoint areas requiring intervention in a reliable, actionable manner. Nor do they get any STAAR prep.

Delayed Identification of Learning Gaps:
With few assessments spaced far apart, problems in student understanding might only become clear at the end of a module—by which time, significant remediation may be required.

Administrators Will Be Flying Blind:
Because there are so few standardized data in Bluebonnet Math, curriculum, assessment, and school admin teams will have reduced visibility throughout the year. With no STAAR prep or predictive data, that’s a tough spot to be in.

💡 How Classwork.com Fills the Gaps

Recognizing these challenges, Classwork.com’s Texas OER Edition is designed to complement Bluebonnet Math by providing the missing pieces. Here’s how:

Digital Lesson Checks for Elementary and Secondary Grades:
For every lesson, Classwork.com offers digital, auto-graded quizzes featuring 6–12 STAAR-formatted questions. These frequent checks allow teachers to gauge understanding on a daily basis and adjust instruction promptly.
Digital Topic Tests for Elementary Grades:
Each topic is accompanied by comprehensive tests consisting of 12–18 questions in STAAR format. These tests are auto-graded, providing immediate feedback to both students and teachers.
Digital Mid-Module and End-of-Module Assessments for Secondary Grades:
Classwork.com delivers digital assessments with 20–40 questions covering the focus TEKS in STAAR format. With instant grading and detailed reporting, teachers receive critical insights essential for achievement and accountability measures.
STAAR Prep/STAAR-Aligned Practice All Year Long:
By incorporating assessments that mirror STAAR formats, Classwork.com ensures that students gain regular practice with the types of questions they will face on state tests. This continuous exposure builds confidence and readiness over the course of the school year. Because Bluebonnet Math is a packed curriculum, progress monitoring and STAAR prep practices of the past may no longer fit into the school calendar. You need a better way.

Observation Forms for Student Work and Teachers:
As students engage with manipulatives, work in groups to solve problems, and talk about their strategies with each other, you can use these digital rubric-based observation forms to capture performance for the entire class with just a few clicks. Tied to the TEKS Process Skills for each Bluebonnet lesson, the observational data helps to paint portraits of each learner.

Centralized Data Reporting:
The platform aggregates data at multiple levels—student, class, teacher, grade, school, and district—ensuring that administrators have access to actionable insights. This centralization makes it easier to spot trends, identify areas of concern, and allocate resources effectively.

Actionable Insights and Remediation:
Detailed reporting tools help teachers quickly identify learning gaps and provide targeted interventions. With immediate feedback on student performance, instructional adjustments can be made in real time—ensuring that every student receives the support they need.

🚀 Classwork.com = Actionable DATA All Year Long

While Bluebonnet Math offers an excellent instructional framework, its limitations in progress monitoring and assessment create a gap in day-to-day classroom management. Classwork.com’s Texas OER Edition bridges this gap by transforming data collection from a manual, inconsistent process into an automated, reliable system. Teachers can focus on instruction and personalized support, confident that the platform is providing comprehensive insights into student learning.

By pairing Bluebonnet Math’s rigorous, TEKS‑aligned curriculum with Classwork.com’s STAAR‑formatted, auto‑graded assessments, Texas districts get a single solution that delivers both high‑quality instruction and continuous, actionable data at a fantastic price. Teachers gain real‑time visibility into student understanding, enabling them to close learning gaps immediately and adjust instruction before small misunderstandings become major obstacles.

Conclusion

Ultimately, Bluebonnet Math offers a solid foundation for TEKS mastery, but its limitations in assessment and progress monitoring leave significant gaps that can undermine student success and district accountability. Classwork.com’s Texas OER Edition solves these issues by providing daily progress monitoring, STAAR-formatted assessments for ongoing STAAR prep, and automated grading — all tied directly to Bluebonnet Math’s scope and sequence. This combination empowers teachers to adjust instruction in real time, close learning gaps before they grow, and ensure students are fully STAAR prepped and ready for success. For just $3.99 per student, Classwork.com transforms Bluebonnet Math from a strong curriculum into a data-driven powerhouse — helping districts improve outcomes and giving curriculum directors the tools to drive real, measurable success.

Legal Disclaimer

Classwork.com is a digital platform provider that facilitates the interactive delivery, approval, and reporting of instructional materials, including state-adopted High-Quality Instructional Materials (HQIM) such as the Bluebonnet Learning (BBL) curriculum.

Classwork.com does not own, modify, or sell the Bluebonnet Learning curriculum or any other State of Texas Open Educational Resource (OER) materials. All BBL content remains under the State of Texas OER license, and its use within the Classwork.com platform is subject to district compliance with applicable licensing requirements.

(More specific legal language to cite the State of Texas OER materials has been requested from TEA’s Legal Department with no response as of this writing.)

Intellectual Property & Proprietary Rights

Classwork.com’s software, interactive overlays, AI and auto-scoring technology, approval workflows, and reporting tools are proprietary intellectual property, protected under U.S. copyright law (17 U.S.C. § 102), trade secret protections, and the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA, 17 U.S.C. § 512). The use of these features within the Classwork.com platform is governed by our Terms of Service, and no aspect of our proprietary technology may be copied, distributed, or reverse-engineered without explicit authorization.

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By using Classwork.com, users acknowledge that:

– All instructional materials remain under the control of the respective copyright or OER license holders.

– Classwork.com’s role is to provide a technology infrastructure for digital instructional material delivery, not to modify or resell curriculum content.

– Districts are responsible for ensuring their use of OER materials complies with Texas Education Agency (TEA) guidelines and licensing terms.

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