Build Student Mastery
Support Teacher Success
Impactful lessons for social studies success in Texas middle schools.
The Right Program for Students, Teachers, and Leaders
Texas educators asked for a program that empowers teachers, engages students, and supports leaders—and Navigate Texas delivers. Grounded in research and shaped by Texas educators, it covers 100% of TEKS while providing a clear, flexible path that ensures consistency, reduces prep, and builds teacher confidence. For students, it sparks curiosity, develops critical thinking, and makes social studies meaningful and memorable, while leaders gain a trusted framework that drives growth across campuses and districts.
The Framework That Drives Student Mastery
Navigate Texas is built on a clear instructional framework that provides the right amount of structure and flexibility. The framework is more than lesson counts—it’s a cycle designed for real classrooms, built to support teachers at every stage and keep students engaged in meaningful learning:
It’s All About the Lesson: Engage, Deliver, Assess, and Close
Tier 1
Navigate Texas includes 72 Tier 1 Lessons that deliver initial, research-based instruction and cover 100% of the TEKS for each grade.
Review & Reteach
It also provides 36 Review and Reteach Lessons to help students revisit key content and skills, making them ideal for small groups, tutorials, or review sessions.
Active Learning
In addition, there are 36 Active Learning Lessons that extend learning through critical thinking, discussion, investigation, and creation, helping students build essential 21st-century skills.
Assess for Student Success
Students Show What They Know
Students show what they know in every lesson through authentic, collaborative assignments. Each course includes an assessment bank of 500+ TEKS-aligned items, ranging from traditional multiple-choice questions to technology-enhanced formats that mirror STAAR.
Authentic assessments built into every lesson.
Over 500 TEKS-aligned items per grade.
STAAR prep tests mirror test rigor and format.
Students Own Their Learning
With just enough rigor, students wrestle with a decision-making question throughout each unit, helping them apply knowledge, weigh evidence, and make meaningful choices.
Move from passive observers to active participants in history, geography, economics, and civics.
Investigate multiple perspectives and connect past to present.
Collaborate to propose solutions or defend positions.
Practice reading, writing, listening, and speaking like historians.
Build confidence, curiosity, and critical thinking skills that last beyond middle school.
Confidence, Mastery, and STAAR Success
Navigate Texas provides a consistent unit structure across grades 6–8, ensuring teachers and students know what to expect. Each unit blends Tier 1 instruction, built-in review and reteach opportunities, and active learning projects—all anchored in the TEKS. The result? A system where every teacher has the tools, every student gets the support, and everyone advances.
Students are the STAARs in Navigate Texas
Our 10-Day STAAR Review Course helps students revisit and master the most essential content and skills in preparation for the exam.
Authentic assessments in every lesson mirror STAAR rigor.
500+ TEKS-aligned items, including technology-enhanced formats.
Research-based review strategies emphasize retrieval, relevance, and emotion.
Teachers save time with ready-to-use review lessons.
Students build confidence and enter STAAR ready for success.
Teachers Thrive, Leaders Gain Confidence
Navigate Texas was built to do more than cover content—it was designed to support teachers and campuses as a whole. Teachers save hours of prep with lessons that are ready to teach, not just ready to read, while leaders gain confidence knowing every classroom follows a consistent framework that still leaves room for teacher flexibility.
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Teachers save time with clear, built-out lessons.
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Leaders see consistency and alignment across grades 6–8.
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Professional learning and consultative support ensure successful implementation.
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The framework builds teacher capacity and confidence year after year.
Navigate Texas FAQs
The consumable Student Resource Book is essential because it gives students an interactive, hands-on way to engage with lessons. Activities are tied directly to the structured lesson cycle, and students are prompted to wait for teacher guidance before beginning, ensuring instruction drives the experience. By writing directly in the book, students take greater ownership of their learning and actively participate in lessons. Research consistently shows that handwriting increases memory retention and deepens learning compared to typing. Studies using high-density EEG scans demonstrate that handwriting engages more widespread and interconnected brain networks, particularly those tied to memory and sensory processing. Large-scale meta-analyses confirm that handwritten note-takers consistently outperform typists across both immediate and delayed assessments. In short, writing by hand supports deeper processing, strengthens literacy skills, and makes learning “stick” in ways typing does not.
Yes—teacher support is at the core of Navigate Texas. The program’s design ensures that Tier I, Review and Reteach, and Active Learning lessons are fully developed with all necessary resources, allowing teachers to focus on lesson internalization and classroom delivery rather than extensive prep work. Teacher-facing content videos provide quick access to background knowledge and refreshers on key topics, strengthening teacher confidence and expertise. Additionally, the Partnerships and Instruction Team offers professional learning opportunities tailored for both teachers and school leaders, ensuring that educators feel supported every step of the way.
Navigate Texas is aligned to 100% of the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS), with lessons written to meet the depth and complexity of the standards. Each course includes an assessment bank with over 500 TEKS-aligned items ranging from traditional multiple-choice questions to technology-enhanced formats that mirror STAAR. To reinforce content mastery, every course features 36 Review and Reteach lessons that revisit key vocabulary, skills, and content. In addition, the program provides “Skill Builders” that strengthen critical skills like text and image analysis, geographic literacy, and argumentative writing. For eighth grade, a 10-day STAAR review course helps students revisit and master the most essential content and skills in preparation for the exam.
Implementation support is provided by the Social Studies School Service Curriculum Specialists, who offer a one-hour product orientation to get educators started with confidence. Beyond that, the Partnerships and Instruction Team collaborates directly with district stakeholders to customize ongoing implementation support, ensuring the program is successfully integrated and sustainable across schools.
Each grade comes with a Student Resource Book (consumable), a Teacher License (digital), and a class set of 30 desk maps.
Grade 6: Contemporary World Cultures
Students examine the people, places, and societies of today’s world. They explore the geographic, economic, social, and political characteristics of global regions while building literacy and critical thinking skills.
Units cover Physical & Human Geography, Government and Economic Systems, the United States & Canada, Latin America, Europe, Russia & Eurasia, Southwest Asia & North Africa, Sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia, East & Southeast Asia, and Australia & Oceania.
Grade 7: Texas History
Students dive into Texas history from the natural environment to contemporary times, learning how geography, economics, politics, and culture shaped the state.
Units include Natural Texas, Exploration & Colonization, the Mexican National Era, the Texas Revolution, The Republic & Early Statehood, Civil War & Reconstruction, Texas Government, Cotton & Cattle, the Age of Oil, the Great Depression & WWII, Civil Rights & Conservatism, and Contemporary Texas.
Grade 8: U.S. History to 1877
Students study the foundations of the United States from the Colonial Era through Reconstruction, developing historical thinking skills and connecting past events to present-day issues.
Units span The Meeting of Cultures, The Colonies, The Revolutionary Era, Establishing a New Government, The Constitution & Bill of Rights, The Early Republic, the Age of Jackson, Westward Expansion & Industrialization, A Changing Society, The Road to War, The Civil War, and Reconstruction.
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