Gladewater ISD students, parents, educators, administrators and community members participate in the Texas Education Agency’s mobile STEM lab activities Dec. 13.
Gladewater ISD isn’t looking for a new resolution for 2026 – the district adopted a new resolve many months ahead of the New Year.
“We’re going to be looking forward to continuing to implement our new curriculum,” GISD Superintendent Rae Ann Patty says, “working with coaching teachers and coaching students on how to get better.”
Fall’s first semester implementation of the Bluebonnet Curriculum was “great,” she underscored in mid-December, and administrators are continuing to monitor the school’s rising data.
It’s been an effort, and the district’s faculty have risen to the challenge.
“I can’t say enough about our teachers. The teachers have really deepened their knowledge really quickly of this new curriculum and the presentation for instructional purposes. It’s taken a lot of change, and they’re making some really great strides in student success and achievement.”
The district officially adopted the curriculum in Spring 2025 and launched implementation weeks later.
“We started focusing on all the training for it this past summer,” Patty confirmed, encompassing reading and math from the foundational grades through Fifth.
The most recent ‘D’ for Gladewater Primary School and Weldon stung, especially with multiple efforts already underway for improvements.
“We have worked very, very hard,” Patty told attendees at the Mayor’s Town Hall in October. “When you see these teachers, please tell them ‘Thank you.’ You have no idea what they’ve gone through.”
In addition to implementing a new curriculum and all that entails, the district is emphasizing a coaching model, top to bottom, from the superintendent’s office to the early grades.
“I want to help every teacher become better at their craft each and every year and help them become better in their class with their students,” Patty said. “We’re trying to change the whole culture to a growth mindset.
“We’re going back to every kid, every classroom, every day. We are increasing our data collection and implementing a data disaggregation process. We’re going to make incremental steps along the way.”
Her philosophy: With great instruction in the classroom on an aligned curriculum, testing will take care of itself.
“That’s what we’re shooting for,” Patty said. “We’re really trying to focus on getting classroom instruction and curriculum aligned to the standards Texas tells us we have to teach then we’re going to let the testing take care of itself.”
In the Town Hall, Patty highlighted the district’s gains in ESL – “They’re learning English, they’re learning how to pass their exams, and they’re doing such a good job.” – while simultaneously praising GISD’s sports programs and other extracurriculars, spotlighting activites like the Honey Bears, Band, FFA and Ag.
“We want to continue being successful in our extracurricular activities,” she said. It’s what attracts students to a district. “We want to continue seeing that success. It’s been good for us this year both academically and extracurricular-wise.”
