TEXAS COLLEGE AND CAREER READINESS SCHOOL MODELS
To establish and run a T-STEM, ECHS or P-TECH campus, public school districts must apply to obtain designation from the Texas Education Agency (TEA). Once designated, each ECHS, P-TECH and T-STEM campus must reapply each year to maintain its designation.
Visit https://texasccrsmdesignation.org/ to learn how to apply for designation for these models.
No. The grant process and the designation process are entirely separate. Should grant funds become available, designated campuses will be encouraged to apply.
No. ECHS, P-TECH and T-STEM are not magnet programs. ECHS, P-TECH and T-STEM campuses should serve all students with a special emphasis on underrepresented populations (economically disadvantaged, at-risk, ELL, and first-generation college goers).
Benefits of designation include recognition as an approved ECHS; membership in the ECHS and College and Career Readiness School Models Network; invitations to convenings (special events hosted by TEA and Educate Texas); access to professional development, technical assistance, and research-based best practices.
ECHSs are innovative high schools that provide students least likely to attend college with an opportunity to earn a high school diploma and up to 60 college credit hours. ECHSs provide dual credit at no cost to students; offer rigorous instruction and accelerated courses; provide academic and social support services to help students succeed; increase college readiness; and reduce barriers to college access.
The ECHS Blueprint is intended to serve as a road map for implementation that provides benchmarks, design elements and outcomes-based measures to facilitate ECHS growth.
Texas Education Code 29.908 says that Texas ECHS programs, "must include articulation agreements with colleges, universities, and technical schools in this state to provide a participating student access to postsecondary education and training opportunities." The Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) serves as this articulation agreement. MOUs help maximize an ECHS’s chance of success by formalizing the school district-IHE partnership in the following areas:
General operating procedures: defines the roles, responsibilities and financial obligations of each partner.
Use of facilities: in Texas, an ECHS campus can be in a new or existing building, by itself, or as a campus within a campus. ECHS students also need permission to access partner IHE campuses. The MOU outlines how space is allocated and shared.
Course articulation: establishes policies for matching and transferring coursework between the partners, as well as ongoing procedures for reviewing courses that may be counted for dual credit.
TEA's downloadable "Guidance for Early College High Schools: Memorandum of Understanding" is an essential resource for ECHS planning teams.
Benefits of designation include recognition as an approved P-TECH campus; membership in the P-TECH and CCRSM networks; invitations to convenings (special events hosted by TEA and Educate Texas); and access to professional development, technical assistance and research-based best practices.
Schools that are designated P-TECH provide students a seamless path from high school to postsecondary education to employment. In the P-TECH program, students earn a high school diploma and work credentials, including industry-based certificates and licenses, as well as education credentials, including Level 1 and Level 2 postsecondary certificates and associate degrees. Students at every grade level engage in work-based experiential learning, including internships, apprenticeships and other innovative job-training programs.
P-TECH campuses choose their pathways in collaboration with their industry and higher education partners. These pathways are aligned with regional and state workforce and economic development needs and informed by local and regional labor market data. P-TECH campuses can establish one or more pathways. It is recommended to start with a targeted approach in the planning year and to expand pathway offerings over time. The P-TECH blueprint gives more information on this topic.
A school can make the request to TEA to transition from one CCRSM model to another. A planning year may be required to enable the stakeholders of the school to understand the differences of the models as well as the OBMs of each blueprint and to ensure implementation of the new model with fidelity. Once TEA approves the formal designation as a P-TECH or T-STEM model, the new cohort of students will follow the new model’s curriculum while the ECHS students continue on the ECHS track through graduation.
Between 2017 and 2027, STEM jobs in Texas are expected to increase by 20%, with careers in computing, engineering, and advanced manufacturing leading the way (Emsi, 2017). However, only about 26% of Texans were awarded certificates and degrees in STEM fields (US Department of Education). In order to meet the current and growing statewide demand for STEM knowledge and skills as well as address widening gaps in equity and access to STEM education, the state is approaching STEM education as an integrated approach to instruction. Our goal is to teach all students STEM fluency skills to better equip them as problem solvers. We have defined STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) education as a method of hands-on teaching and learning where students learn to apply academic content by creatively solving real-world problems with innovative design-based thinking.
The T-STEM Academy Blueprint is intended to serve as a road map for implementation that provides benchmarks, design elements and outcomes-based measures to facilitate individual STEM Academy growth.
A Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) is an agreement between your campus and a business or an institute of higher education (IHE). It is a contract that describes the terms and services provided and/or exchanged by both parties for a specific period of time. MOUs can be with an IHE, and address a dual-credit agreement and/or college supports and experiences. Or, it can be with a business partner that provides student internships or other work-based learning experiences. In order to be valid, all MOUs must be signed by both parties and cover the school year for which the applicant wishes to be designated.
Benefits of designation include recognition as an approved T-STEM Academy; membership in the T-STEM and College and Career Readiness School Models Network; invitations to convenings (special events hosted by TEA and Educate Texas); access to professional development, technical assistance, and research-based best practices.