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Top Stories       Printer Friendly Saturday, May 25, 2013

Dr. Maldonado Offers Input On Education Impact
[Wednesday, June 20, 2012]


Pharr-San Juan-Alamo Superintendent Dr. Danny King, left, and TSTC Harlingen President Dr. Cesar Maldonado listen to discussion at a regional education meeting.LOS FRESNOS – A panel of Rio Grande Valley educators, including Texas State Technical College Harlingen (TSTC) President Dr. Cesar Maldonado, refined the goals of a far-reaching initiative designed to improve education outcomes and economic development at its meeting June 19.

The 17 representatives from public schools, colleges and universities at the Rio Grande Valley Collective Impact (RGVCI) advisory meeting gathered at the Los Fresnos United campus. The goal of the RGVCI is to generate students better prepared for post-secondary education and place more college and university graduates in rewarding careers with sustained success.

“A lot of this RGV Collective Impact is building off of what you’re already doing,” Chris Coxon, chief program officer for Educate Texas, told the group. “There is a moral imperative to make a difference for our students, their families and the communities. We have a very high calling.”

Dr. Wynn Rosser, president and CEO of the Greater Texas Foundation, said that the RGVCI will set precedents through its cooperative efforts. “We’re going to need a lot of pushing toward the same goals at the same time, and there are going to have to be results. The rest of the country is looking at what you’re doing and they want to learn from you.”

New course delivery plans at TSTC are reducing the time and tuition required for graduation while simultaneously meeting modern workforce demands, Dr. Maldonado said. The college also is developing an enhanced data system to assist school districts with tracking the achievement levels of high school students in college courses and high school graduates who enroll at TSTC.

“This collective impact will build an alignment of careers and students’ desires and dreams from kindergarten through college. The mission is to accomplish this on a large scale Valley-wide through close collaboration between school districts, colleges, universities, businesses and industry,” Dr. Maldonado said. “We’ve been working on this project for a couple of years and we still have much to do. However, we have seen much progress since the initial meeting of the RGVCI. We expect exciting outcomes within the next year.”

The RGVCI discussed successful practices by its members such as study sessions for high school students in Advanced Placement courses, public awareness about education benefits, incentives for instructors to earn master’s degrees, training to connect college instructors with school teachers, and obtaining funding for programs.

The advisory panel asked FSG for more statistics to better reflect the most recent test scores, retention rates and graduation numbers. The group is working on strategies to tackle two academic hurdles: the transition from eighth grade to ninth grade and the transition from high school to college, the two time periods when students are at a higher risk to drop out.

Educate Texas began in 2004 as the Texas High School Project (THSP) and it set out to make a positive impact on the futures of low-income students, under-served students and low-performing schools. It works to establish a network of partners to support education such as businesses, philanthropic organizations and government policy makers. It has opened or redesigned more than 240 schools that serve more than 140,000 Texas students. For information online about Educate Texas go online to www.edtx.org.