Contact: Anthony de Bruyn, (512) 322-3727

Date: October 5, 2004

UT System News Release

UT System Creates Institute for Public School Initiatives to Assist Public Education in Texas

AUSTIN – The University of Texas System announced today (Oct. 5) the creation of the Institute for Public School Initiatives whose mission will be to improve public education in Texas. The institute will address important challenges facing educators today, including student performance, high school graduation rates, reading proficiency, and college-going rates. It will draw upon the outstanding research being conducted at UT System institutions to provide services directly to students and teachers throughout the state. In addition to direct services, the institute will launch pilot programs that will be implemented, measured and evaluated for best practices.

The institute's goal is to engage local community colleges and school districts in partnership with UT System institutions to improve student performance from preschool through high school. Such shared research and knowledge will help universities train the best teachers for Texas schools, as well as produce innovative educational research about curriculum and classroom practices.

"The institute will lead the UT System's ongoing commitment to improving student performance in P-12 education by providing cutting-edge education research and best practices for schools," Chancellor Mark G. Yudof said.

Funding for the institute has been made possible through the generosity of several private foundations and public agencies not affiliated with the UT System and does not include appropriated funds from the state. To date, a total of $13 million has been raised and will fund programs such as:

• TRACK – In cooperation with the Texas Education Agency and with funding support from Houston Endowment and the Meadows Foundation, the UT System in February launched a free online diagnostic and assistance program for the exit-level TAKS test that high school students must pass in order to graduate. The program – called TRACK (TAKS Readiness and Core Knowledge) – is hosted by the UT System TeleCampus and has received more than 5 million hits to the website. Close to 60,000 students have logged on to take the TAKS-like practice tests in math, science, English language arts, and social studies, and about 50,000 have utilized the online learning materials to assist them in their review of the TAKS subject areas where they need the most assistance.

• Online Professional Development for Teachers – The UT System received funding to develop and provide free, enhanced professional development modules and 24/7 instructional support to enable high school teachers, especially teachers teaching out-of-field, to have stronger content knowledge in the subject areas tested on the TAKS exit level examination. TEA and Houston Endowment provided additional funding to develop training modules for teachers seeking to improve their skills in the core subject areas tested on the 11th grade TAKS exam.

• Texas Reading First Initiative (TRFI) – This program coordinates research conducted by UT System institutions with teacher training in Texas. TRFI University Research Centers develop critical training products, while the UT System infrastructure is responsible for the majority of direct deployment of training to funded Local Education Agencies (LEA) and campuses. The UT System has hired over 60 reading specialists to assist approximately 200 funded LEAs and 700 schools around the state in meeting their district and campus reading improvement goals.

• Early College High Schools – UT San Antonio established three Early College High Schools in partnership with local school districts. Early College High Schools blend high school and college into one coherent program that allows students to achieve two years of college credit while they earn a high school diploma. Additional Early College High Schools will be created by UT Brownsville and UT Pan American over the next two years.

• UT Charter Elementary School – The first university sponsored charter school in Texas. Sponsored and operated by UT Austin, the UT Elementary School uses instructional methods that are research based and engages in innovative teaching methods that will add to the research.

• Assessment of Teacher Preparation Study – In partnership with the UT System, the National Center for Educational Accountability at UT Austin examines the effectiveness of teacher preparation programs at UT System institutions. The three-year project will evaluate preparation programs based on the classroom teaching performance of recent graduates as measured by the academic growth of students being taught by those teachers.

Yudof also announced the appointment of Kelly Raley, associate professor of sociology at UT Austin, as the institute's interim executive director. The appointment is effective immediately.

“Kelly's experience and research in the area of family trends and education will contribute greatly to UT System's efforts to better align preschool through secondary education with higher education at our institutions,” Chancellor Yudof said in announcing the appointment. “She is recognized in the area of social influences on academic achievement in high schools and understands the importance of collaborating with school districts across the state. I am delighted that she will join the UT System Administration in this new role and know that she will be a tremendous asset to our institutions and to our P-12 initiatives.”

Raley earned a bachelor's degree in sociology from UT Austin and a doctoral degree in sociology from the University of Wisconsin, a top-ranked sociology program in the nation. From 1994 to 1997 she was affiliated with the Carolina Population Center at the University of North Carolina as a Postdoctoral Trainee and Research Associate, where she continued her doctoral research on family trends and race-ethnic variation in family formation. In 1997 she returned to Austin to join the sociology department faculty at UT Austin. She will serve in her new interim role in addition to continuing her teaching responsibilities at UT Austin.

The UT System has 15 campuses, including nine academic and six health institutions, and an annual operating budget of $8.5 billion (FY 2005). Student enrollment is projected to exceed 185,000 students in the 2004 academic year. The UT System confers one-third of the state's undergraduate degrees and educates three-fourths of the state's health care professionals annually. With more than 87,000 employees, the UT System is one of the largest employers in the state.

UT System ESA office homepage

UT System Academic Affairs homepage

UT System Telecampus