Texas’ 3rd century will require smart education strategies

As Texas looks ahead to the start of its third century, the state needs to prepare future generations to succeed. That will require improvement in three key areas, writes contributing columnist William McKenzie.

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Twenty-two-year-old Cristian Medina is the first in his family to go to college.

The Skyline High School product graduated from the University of North

Texas at Dallas in December with a business degree. Now he is pursuing an

MBA.

Krystal Deckard will receive her undergraduate degree from the same campus

in December. Like Medina before her, she served as student body president.

The Dallas ISD Judge Barefoot Sanders Law Magnet graduate plans on

applying for law school after graduation. She hopes to follow in her mother’s

footsteps and practice family law.

I’ve been thinking about the future of Texas education for a while now, having

just completed a term of service on the Texas Education Agency’s Texas

Accountability Advisory Group. To get a glimpse of that future, I met with

Medina and Deckard in UNT Dallas’ library this spring. They talked about

professors showing interest in them as people and not as a number; the

importance of representing their families; the advantage, in Medina’s case, of

transferring credits from Dallas College to UNT Dallas; their school’s

openness to students who may not come directly from high school; and the

need for opportunities in their communities, including access to the most

modern technologies. They also discussed their ambitions. Medina, who now is

an intern for a member of Congress, would like to run for office someday.

Deckard has contemplated running for a judgeship after practicing law.

Their journeys are central to understanding how those who come behind them

might progress as well, and drive our economy.

The most recent U.S. Census numbers show that we are blessed with a

booming population. Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington and Houston-Pasadena-

The Woodlands added more people in 2023 than any other U.S. metropolitan

areas. But there’s a difference between boomtown numbers and growth that

will sustain itself. As Texas heads into a third century in 2036, we need to

focus on the sustaining part as much as the growing part. To avoid a California-

like problem where our large population outstrips our resources to keep up with

that growth, we need the right strategies. That includes ones that ensure more

students like Medina and Deckard earn an industry certificate, a two-year

degree, a traditional four-year diploma or a graduate school education.

By 2036, the George W. Bush Institute and Texas 2036 report, 70% of Texas

jobs will require a post-secondary credential. Yet only 22% of Texas eighth

graders earn a post-secondary degree or credential within six years. Among

the peer states Texas 2036 tracks, we are last in postsecondary credentials for

residents ages 25 to 64. What’s more, the Census Bureau details, just 32.3% of

Texans ages 25 or older have a bachelor’s degree or higher. Among Hispanics,

which now represent Texas’ largest ethnic group, just 18.1% age 25 or older have

a bachelor’s degree or higher, according to the Texas Demographic Center.

Here’s another reality that should get our attention: People moving to Texas

from other parts of the U.S. tend to be more educated than those already here.

The Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas reports that a higher percentage of

“domestic in-migrants” possess bachelor’s degrees than does the Texas

population. We can’t just rely upon people coming from elsewhere with the skills,

knowledge and training to drive our economy. And we can’t put our Texas

youth at a disadvantage to those who already have at least some postsecondary

education. We need to graduate native Texans with the credentials that will ready

them for a successful career. That’s especially so for students who represent

underserved populations.

Here are three recommendations for state leaders, including from the

nonprofit world and private sector, to pursue better educational outcomes as

our state heads toward its third century.

Get the basics right:

First, provide the fundamentals of a quality pre-K-through-12th grade

education. Do schools have enough effective teachers with access to student

achievement data — and the know how to use the information — to keep their

students on track? Are those educators trained in interventions that redirect

students toward success? Are they adept at igniting a spark in a young learner’s

vision for their future? Do campuses have principals who know how to attract,

develop and retain skillful teachers? Do schools have trained parent liaisons

who alert mothers and fathers to their children’s academic needs? Do they

have reading instructors trained in the science of reading? Are

superintendents adept at using — and willing to embrace — test results to

guide improvements in their districts? And are school boards focused more on

educational outcomes than on culture-war issues? These fundamentals matter

immensely. They allow students to learn at the right grade level throughout their

K-12 years. And they help students move toward a postsecondary education.

Medina cites his National Academy Foundation course in information technology

at Skyline as propelling him toward a MBA. He learned there how technology

shapes successful businesses. And his teacher brought in speakers and took the

class to career fairs to help students find internships. Medina cites both the

course and the instructor, Dulani Masimini, as essential to his progress.

Expand academic counseling:

We must make sure high schools and even middle schools have enough

trained counselors and advisors. Counselors help students ferret through

academic and disciplinary issues, especially in the pivotal 7th-through-10th-

grade years. But the sheer numbers of students under their watch make it hard

to know whether the teens are on track to graduate from high school with a

foundation to earn that important postsecondary degree. Counselors’ daily

disciplinary demands may impede focusing on the academic assistance students

require.

The same is true as students move up into those pivotal junior and senior

years, where advisors help them plan for a career or a higher degree. Do

advisors have sufficient training as well as bandwidth to help students

navigate the complex world of financial aid? Do they know their students well

enough to help them understand the industry credential, associate degree or

four-year college diploma that might best suit them?

These are the questions that have driven Dallas ISD, for example, to make

difficult, belt-tightening decisions to free up $2.5 million for more counselors.

Likewise, the nonprofit Commit Partnership is seeking to raise enough

philanthropic dollars to create and sustain a centralized college-and-career

advising operation for North Texas school districts and their students.

“If you want less poverty, we need to move toward what happens to them after

high school,” said Todd Williams, founder and CEO of Commit. If North Texas

districts take advantage of this centralized service, their school

counselors may get deeper training, earn better salaries, and receive financial

incentives to help students find the right fit for them.

Deckard credits her advisor at Townview for playing a pivotal role in guiding

her toward colleges that catered to her interests in pre-law and political

science. The advisor, she says, continued to support her even after graduation

and started to navigate college enrollment at UNT Dallas.

Williams envisions counseling to soon extend into middle school, allowing

younger students to start understanding their options through early career

exploration. The latter often is lacking in those years, he said. As Williams put

it, “You cannot be what you cannot see.”

Schools that prioritize quality advising show what can happen. Uplift

Education, a North Texas charter school network, has invested in a “road to

college and career” initiative that outpaces per-person spending of most North

Texas high schools. The result is the highest percentage in the state of 25-to-

30-year-old alumni from high-poverty backgrounds to earn at least an

associate’s degree. Unfortunately, 1 in 6 high school seniors at 82 area high

schools told Commit in a survey at the beginning of this academic year that they

did not know what they will do after high school. That figure rose to 1 in 4 at

some low-income high schools. Without adequate advisors, underperforming

students, particularly in low- income schools, might get slotted into thinking only

about low-wage jobs. Or their advisors’ minimal expectations may put them onto

postsecondary paths that require little of them.

Think beyond graduation:

Texas must improve retention rates for postsecondary programs. In addition to

talking to Medina and Deckard, I met earlier this spring with Lesly Viera Juarez,

Carlos Valadez, Dalia Trejo and Ifeoluwa Kehinde at the Dallas offices of the

education nonprofit ScholarShot. Juarez, Trejo and Kehinde work as academic

managers at the organization. Valadez oversees them and all ScholarShot

academic managers.

All four are all first-generation college graduates: Juarez from Texas Woman’s

University, Trejo from UNT Dallas, Valadez from Texas A&M University and

Kehinde from the University of Texas at Austin.

They talked about COVID-19, culture shock, learning to study, student debt

and the need for advocates. This is where the ScholarShot model helps. Since

2009, the organization has worked with more than 400 scholars in identifying the

best postsecondary path for them. Students are assigned an academic manager

to assist with budgeting, course selection and personal matters. Scholars also

can receive up to $6,000 yearly in financial aid.

According to ScholarShot founder and executive director Dan Hooper, 99% of

those students have been in the first generation of their families to attend a

postsecondary school. And 90% have earned a career-oriented certificate, an

associate’s degree or a four-year diploma.

Helping students understand costs particularly can matter. “We focus a lot on

college access,” Valadez observed, “but we don’t focus enough on degree

completion.”

To be sure, numerous universities provide mentors for incoming students,

especially first-generation collegians. UNT Dallas offers an intensive initiative

in which the goal is to have one lead advisor for every 250 students.

My Bush Institute colleague Cullum Clark found in a new “Engines of

Opportunity” report that higher-education institutions that excel in student

retention often assign at-risk students multiple advisors and mentors. They

help students understand academic pathways, offer tutoring and mental

health support, provide career and academic counselors, and allow peers to

serve as mentors. And they offer check-ins more frequently than most

undergraduates receive. In short, they are effective at closing gaps.

Bob Mong, UNT Dallas’ former president, put it this way: “Harvard is not

going to close the gap. You need strong regional state universities.”

Of course, other solutions exist, but these three categories can help us prepare

the Cristian Medinas and Krystal Deckards of the future. The answers start in

our K-12 schools and continue through our postsecondary institutions.

If we get these strategies right, Texas’ third century can start strong.