After a long standing relationship with districts and higher education partners in El Paso, Educate Texas engaged a cross-sector of leaders in education, business, non-profit and philanthropy in an effort to accelerate and align promising practices in the community. The initiation of the Collective Impact work was catalyzed by the 60x30TX higher education strategic plan - to ensure that by 2030, at least 60 percent of young adults ages 25-34 will have a certificate or degree. The Collective Impact work aims to ensure a high quality education and quality of life are a reality for all current and future El Paso students.

The Investing in Innovation grant funded the Early College Expansion Partnership, a five year initiative which began in 2012 with two goals: 1) to scale up designs of early college programs through systemwide secondary school improvement and college readiness strategies for all students, and 2) to position early college designs to continue and expand after the funding period ended.

As one of the state’s major economic regions, Midland relies on a population of skilled, credentialed workers and strong educational institutions to remain competitive. Educate Texas brought together leaders in education, non-profit, business and philanthropy to leverage the strengths of cross-sector stakeholders to explore and refine strategies to achieve common goals in the cradle-to-career pipeline. Additionally, Educate Texas supported the establishment of the backbone organization to sustain the Midland collective impact initiative, Educate Midland.

The Texas Pathways to Prosperity network is a partnership of agencies and organizations that seeks to ensure that more youth complete high school and attain college degrees or credentials for high-demand occupations throughout the state of Texas. The initiative focuses on creating coherent programs of activities from grades 9-14+ leading to post-secondary credentials or degrees by leveraging the existing structures, requirement, and resources of key partners.

Across the state, schools facing poor or stagnant test scores and student performance gaps are realizing that one size does not fit all when it comes to instructional strategies. Educate Texas is investing in multiple efforts to understand the impact of “blended learning” — an approach that combines face-to-face teaching methods with engaging online learning components that allow instructors and students to personalize the pace and path of instruction. By funding five Raising Blended Learners demonstration sites throughout the state, Educate Texas is helping our partners at Raise Your Hand Texas to provide a more personalized learning experience in school districts with achievement challenges.

With Texas facing a projected shortfall of 1 million science, technology, engineering and math (STEM)-related workers by 2018, Educate Texas partnered with like-minded foundations and corporations to create the Texas Regional STEM Degree Accelerator program (STEM Accelerator). This program operated in five regions across the state to increase the number of students who will earn STEM credentials that align to high-demand local industry workforce needs within those regions.