The formalized practice of having more experienced teachers coach those newer in the profession has the potential to help with a major challenge facing Texas public schools — teacher shortages. It also benefits everyone involved, from the experienced teachers acting as mentors who now have a chance to learn new skills, to the newer teachers they are supporting, and to the students who now have confident, calm educators in the classroom.
Hear from current and former teachers Mario Piña, Regional Advocacy Director – Central Texas at Raise Your Hand Texas, Jennifer Cook, 7th Grade English Language Arts Teacher at Livingston ISD, and Jerome Johnson, 8th Grade English Language Arts Teacher at Channelview ISD in this episode. They will share how mentoring teachers can create higher-quality classrooms across Texas, and why Texas lawmakers need to take the framework of what’s already a good program and expand it so that more teachers — whether veteran or new in the classroom — can benefit from teacher mentoring for generations to come.
Read the podcast transcript here.
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With just a few weeks left in the 88th Legislative Session, lawmakers are deciding how to spend a record-breaking $33 billion surplus, with tens of billions more in estimated growth in revenue over the next two years. And, as the hours creep closer and closer to the last day of the 2023 legislative session, they […]
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We’re taking on a topic that has become a marquee fight of the 88th Legislature: private school vouchers, which are also known as education savings accounts (ESAs). On one side, we have our state’s two most powerful elected officials, Governor Greg Abbott and Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick, who say every parent should get the freedom […]
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What is the amount of money Texas pays to educate a student in public schools? What’s known as the basic allotment is the per-student sum the state uses as the foundational building block to determine how much money it will pay to educate a student. Learn why it should be increased in the 88th […]
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Listen to the episode 15 podcast about advocacy and the 2021 legislative session.
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Deep in West Texas is the tiny town of Presidio – a remote community that is 90 miles away from the nearest McDonald’s and more than 150 miles away from the nearest Walmart. So what does a remote city like Presidio have in common with more urban areas hundreds of miles away in the Rio […]
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From students using restaurants’ WIFI to parents spending hundreds of dollars a month on hotspots for their children’s schoolwork, our state’s public education system has been changed forever by the pandemic. In this podcast episode of Intersect Ed (part 1 of 2), we focus on the digital divide — what it is, who is affected […]
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The COVID-19 pandemic has drastically changed what schooling has looked like over the past year. It has entirely upended instructional models and brought about a myriad of new issues regarding the equity and accessibility of online instruction. For some students and families, pandemic schooling has been unimaginably difficult. Other students, however, may have thrived off […]
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In the 86th legislative session, Texas lawmakers committed to increase funding for public schools by passing House Bill 3. That unity led to teachers getting raises, school districts getting funds to offer or expand full-day pre-K programs to eligible 4-year-olds, and taxpayers getting property tax relief. This year, the pandemic presents major budget challenges for […]
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Educators are telling us it will take teachers – lots of skilled, well-trained teachers – to close the learning gaps sustained during the last year. But will those teachers be there when the districts start to hire? The pandemic didn’t create the challenges facing the teacher pipeline in Texas, but it has certainly made addressing […]
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Our latest episode of Intersect Ed examines the misconceptions around students who are “missing” from their public school. Critics often place blame on educators saying they are not doing enough to find their students. What we know is the exact opposite: educators are going above and beyond to stay connected to their students. As conversations […]
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