THECB Asks CTN to Offer Co-requisite Training

"In the long history of humankind (and animal kind, too) those who learned to collaborate and improvise most effectively have prevailed. It is not the most intellectual of the species that survives; it is not the strongest that survives; but the species that survives is the one that is able to adapt to and to adjust best to the changing environment in which it finds itself.”-Charles Darwin

House Bill 2223 has changed the “environment” of developmental education in higher education and to survive, institutions must make adaptations and adjustments. As the Commissioner of Higher Education, Raymund Paredes, has stated, “We will not reach our goals by doing business as usual.”   The Higher Education Coordinating Board believes CTN offers a highly successful program model with methodology and structure that would work well with the co-requisite requirement and asked CTN to make it available to institutions in the state. CTN chose to do this through its transformative teaching track seminar, which is tailored to meet the needs of faculty who the state hopes will play a leadership role in the implementation of House Bill 2223 and the 60x30 campaign on their campuses.

The Transformative Teaching Track Seminar, a two-part, two-day experiential and intensive training in classroom strategies, co-curricular design and team building with an emphasis on culturally responsive practice, was recently offered in Austin to participants from across the state. The THECB asked for colleges to send to the seminar teams of two (including one INRW faculty member and one credit-level faculty member from a reading-intensive discipline) who are working together or may work together in the implementation of co-requisite courses in the fall and spring. Faculty who attended the seminar included INRW instructors and instructors from multiple disciplines such as math, history, government, psychology, and philosophy.

The training offered innovative and engaging lessons, team building activities, planning time, culturally relevant curricula, connections to practitioners from across the state from CTN’s Ascender Program for Student and Institutional Advancement (part of the sessions were concurrent), research opportunities, individual and team coaching, and access to a national network of experts. Additionally, attendees were able to earn one graduate credit at UT-Austin through the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy for their participation in this training in the fall and will also be able to receive one graduate credit in the spring.

CTN’s Transformative Teaching Track is not just a seminar. We believe that transformation is about “continually building capacity to achieve equitable student outcomes.” According to the Frontier Set, a network of high-performing, high-potential colleges and universities and university systems working with the Gates Foundation, transformation occurs by focusing on five areas: 1) student-centered mission; 2) data-informed decision-making; 3) collaborative, empowered environment; 4) commitment to continual improvement; and 5) goals and accountability  to better serve today’s students. 

CTN’s Transformative Teaching Track is our way to navigate the new policy landscape with a community of practice committed to bridging the gap between policy and practice. As Helen Keller said, "Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much." (to read more about the Transformative Teaching Track seminar, go to the Catch the Next News tab.)