Greater Texas Foundation Commits to United for College Success Project

A grant in theamount of $15,000 to fund the United for College Success project. The purpose of the United for College Success project is to discover, document, and share “best practices” of high quality Charter Management Organizations (CMOs) in Texas related to college access and success for underserved students, and from there explore partnerships among the seven CMOs for ongoing alumni support. This project will bring college access/success representatives from KIPP, YES Prep Public Schools, UPLIFT Education and IDEA Public Schools together for four meetings during 2012, and result in a final report and formal panel presentation that summarize the group’s findings. … Continue Reading

A New Measure of Educational Success in Texas

Texas needs a consistent and reliable measure to track its students and measure how well our state’s educational systems are preparing our young people.  To that end, the National Center for Higher Education Management Systems was recently commissioned (funded by Houston Endowment, endorsed by GTF and many others) to analyze how many of the nearly 300,000 eighth-grade students enrolled each year in Texas public schools go on to complete any sort of postsecondary credential within six years of their normal high school graduation date.

For the 883,000 Texas students starting 8th grade in 1996-98, the percentage getting any degree or certificate was only 21.9%. Among Texas’s important African American and Latino populations, it was less than 13%. This news is hard to swallow, but there is hope. For a copy of the full report text, see here.

GTF Funds aggieTEACH Program Expansion and Improvement Project

A grant in the amount of $150,000 over three years to fund the aggieTEACH program expansion and improvement project. aggieTEACH is an undergraduate secondary teacher preparation program designed for students majoring in STEM fields. Students in the aggieTEACH program obtain both their STEM degree and their secondary math or science teaching certification in the traditional four-year,120 hour undergraduate bachelor’s degree. … Continue Reading

GREATER TEXAS FOUNDATION ESTABLISHES STATE’S FIRST ECHS SCHOLARSHIP FUND

BRYAN, TX – Greater Texas Foundation (GTF) today announced a financial commitment of more than $3 million to establish the state’s first scholarship program designed specifically for the growing number of early college high school (ECHS) graduates in Texas. Working with five state universities, the GTF Scholars: Early College High School Transfer Scholarship and Retention Program is expected to provide financial assistance to more than 700 students over the next six years from the more than 40 early college high schools statewide.  … Continue Reading

GTF commits $500,000 over three years to 100kin10 STEM education initiative

In August, GTF committed $500,000 to support 100kin10, a coalition of dozens of organizations led by Carnegie Corporation of New York to increase the number of qualified teachers (100,000 in 10 years), retain top performing teachers, and build a movement to improve STEM education in the U.S.

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GTF awards $150,000 to Valley Initiative for Development and Advancement (VIDA)

In July, Greater Texas Foundation awarded $150,000 to Valley Initiative for Development and Advancement (VIDA) for 20 low-income residents of the Rio Grande Valley to receiving training and education in high demand occupations. VIDA combines financial assistance with wrap around support services — including an intensive single-semester developmental education sequence in partnership with South Texas College — for the underserved adults who are motivated to attend college. With the funds received from the GTF, VIDA participants will receive need-based financial support including tuition, fees, books, childcare, transportation and emergency assistance. … Continue Reading

New GTF Building: LEED Gold Certified

In 2010, Greater Texas Foundation set out to do something no one else had done – design and build the first LEED Gold Certified facility in Bryan, Texas. The building is now complete and is also one of the first LEED buildings constructed in the Brazos Valley. “LEED” is an acronym which stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design.

LEED is an internationally-recognized green building certification system. Developed by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) in March 2000, LEED provides building owners and operators with a framework for identifying and implementing practical and measurable green building design, construction, operations and maintenance solutions. … Continue Reading

Foundation Takes a South Texas Learning Tour

Greater Texas Foundation recently completed a six-month planning process in which the foundation examined current and projected educational needs in Texas and how the foundation’s efforts might be best aligned to address them.  Through this process, we learned a great deal about the challenges Texas students face on the road to post-secondary completion and how we can focus our efforts to best help students.

To enhance our learning, over the course of four days in April 2010, a group of Greater Texas Foundation staff and directors traveled 1075 miles by van to learn about the educational needs and challenges in South Texas and meet the individuals confronting these challenges. Our learning agenda included questions such as: Who are South Texas students? What are the largest unmet educational needs in the region? What are the largest barriers to post-secondary preparation, access, persistence and completion? … Continue Reading