September Updates
from Texas College Bridge
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We hope the new school year – our fourth with Texas College Bridge! -- is off to a terrific start, and your students are all looking forward to an exciting year ahead.
This month, following our virtual kick off meeting in August, we have more great news to share with you as well as tips and resources to help you get the most out of our program and help more of your students get college ready, especially those who may struggle with traditional SAT/ACT testing.
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State-wide Evaluation Shows TCB Increases Student Success
In 2022, TEA initiated a multi-phase evaluation to assess the impact of Texas College Bridge on student success – specifically, how well the program prepares academically at-risk students for entry-level college courses and if these students persist in their studies.
An updated independent analysis of data from 17 participating colleges and universities continues to show that the program is having a positive, statistically significant impact on measure student success outcomes:
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TCB students were overall more likely to persist into their second year of higher education than non-TCB peers.
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TCB students were overall more likely to persist into the second semester of higher education than non-TCB peers.
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TCB students passed their first semester, entry-level college liberal arts and math courses at rates equivalent to their non-TCB peers, adjusting for demographic and other differences in the two groups of students.
These latest results are good news for our partners and for academically at-risk students who otherwise might not be able to attend college or university. For more information and details, a one-page Summary as well as the full Evaluation Report are available on our website.
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Texas College Bridge Participation
Exceeds Expectations in 2022-2023
Now that the books are closed on the 2022-2023 school year, here’s a final update on program participation and a look forward to the coming year.
Last school year, there were 460 school districts with active students, representing 38% of LEAs, and an increase of 46% over the previous year. Student participation in the program included 146,757 active student courses (70,086 English and 76,671 math), resulting in a total of 102,175 certificates of completion earned (47,574 English and 54,601 math) - a 48% increase over the previous year. To all of our participating districts, staff and teacher facilitators, on behalf of our team, and thousands of students, thank you!
Looking forward to 2023-2024, more than 700 school districts across the state have signed up to participate. And, we have more than 90 higher ed partners, including 94% of the state’s community colleges, accepting Texas College Bridge as an indicator of college readiness. Let’s make it another great year!
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Reminders and Tips for District Partners
To help you ensure a successful start to the school year, here’s a list of reminders and tips for program implementation, with links for more information:
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Texas College Bridge is ONLY intended for students that have not met college readiness according to the TEC 28.014.
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Assigning sections/categories and limiting student view in EdReady: When you are setting up your accounts, remember that the category values assigned to staff accounts limits that staff member to only see students with a matching value. For example, if you assign a teacher the "2024" value for the Graduation Year, they will only see students with that Graduation Year,... even if other students are in their assigned school and section(s). This help center page provides guidance on assigning categories.
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Staff supporting multiple subjects: If you have staff who are teaching both math and English, follow the help center guidance here to ensure they will see all of their students.
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Accommodations for students: If you have students who require accessibility support in Edready, this help center article provides a comprehensive review of the supports available in the platform.
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Upcoming Reporting Guidance and PLC Sessions
We are continuing to host webinars for district coordinators and teachers over the coming months, providing an opportunity to ask questions and share best practices for TCB implementation. The schedule includes special sessions on Monitoring and Reporting, during which we will show how you can dig deep in the reports to identify students working through the program without learning the objectives.
Monitoring Student Completion and Reporting Guidance
Teacher and District Contacts PLC
The full schedule of District Training Sessions and PLC opportunities, plus links to watch recordings from past sessions, can be found in our help center here.
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Looking for other resources or have a question?
In addition to our online help center, the Resources page of our website contains links to key documentation and information for our community, district leaders, teachers and students.
Office Help Hours and 1:1 Personalized Help
In addition to our regular office help hours each Thursday from 3:30-4:30 pm, we are continuing to offer personalized 1:1 help sessions to assist both our ISD and IHE partners with their questions about the program.
If you’re interested in scheduling a 1:1 help session to plan for implementation, click here and for a 1:1 help session for technical assistance, click here.
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