Tarrant County’s education leaders are solving challenges in our education system together at the scale of 750,000 students. It takes all of us to achieve regional success for students, and as the 2023-2024 school year concludes, the Rev Partnership took a moment to pause and applaud our district and community partners for another year of progress.
The Rev Partnership recently hosted its annual End of Year State of Progress and Celebration at Crowley ISD. This celebration brought together district leaders from 15 ISDs in Tarrant County and community stakeholders representing 20 regional organizations to reflect on the collective progress achieved through strategic priorities co-developed by Tarrant County education leaders.
Dr. Jennifer Cowley, President of the University of Texas at Arlington, provided a keynote address about UTA’s vision for the future and the university’s commitment to furthering our shared goal of growing a quality educator pipeline here in Tarrant County. UTA is dedicated to growing the next generation of educators to help students achieve in the classroom.
By working differently, together, and collectively, we are tackling challenges to achieve the gains we all aspire for our students. Tarrant County leaders are celebrating the strides made in 2023-2024 and are inspired to strive for more. We look to academic metrics along the pipeline from early learning to high school success to identify, share, and accelerate bright spots that are impacting students each day. From increased Pre-K enrollment to improvements in 3rd grade reading and math, our regional academic data illustrated success and resilience in the face of challenges faced by our public schools.
Our ISD and community partners took the stage to share their areas of work. Dr. Felicia Donaldson, Superintendent of Everman ISD, joined Director of Recruitment and Substitute Services, Dr. Angie Smith, and Chief Academic Officer, Dr. Steven Wurtz, both of Arlington ISD, to discuss initiatives co-developed by 11 ISDs across Tarrant County to build a quality, regional educator pipeline in partnership with local institutes of higher education. The speakers emphasized the importance of nurturing local talent to meet the region’s educator vacancy needs. Dr. Wurtz shed light on an opportunity for an IHE-backed Alternative Certification program, providing aspiring educators with a high-quality training pathway.
The Tarrant County Future Educators initiative, presented by Dr. Smith, highlighted a collaborative effort to support the 3,500 current high school students in the Education and Training CTE pathway to become teachers. Dr. Donaldson discussed Strategic Planning and Staffing Retention with the Teacher Incentive Allotment (TIA), showcasing how culture and compensation can play vital roles in retaining educators.
CTE directors, Dr. Dana Eldredge from Eagle Mountain-Saginaw ISD and Dr. LeighAnn Tamplen from Mansfield ISD, presented the value of CTE for students’ success beyond high school. They introduced a CTE teacher induction framework, co-developed by 13 Tarrant County ISDs, and focused on the importance of effective support for new CTE teachers who join the education workforce after a career in industry.
Dr. Chad Gee, Superintendent of Kennedale ISD joined Dr. Jackeline Orsini, Early Childhood Director at Arlington ISD, and Alycia Winton, Early Childhood Learning Specialist at Everman ISD, to present the Partnership’s early learning efforts and the Go Early Go Forward campaign. The Go Early Go Forward campaign, developed by 10 Tarrant County ISDs, takes a peer-to-peer, storytelling approach to sharing the value of early learning settings to parents and primary caregivers, so they are aware of the opportunities to enroll their children in Pre-K 3 and Pre-K 4 classrooms across our public ISDs, and community based infant and toddler programs.
Loretta Burns, Executive Director of AB Christian Learning Center and Eric Lopez, District Superintendent at the City of Fort Worth Parks & Rec, presented accomplishments of the Extended Learning Collaborative. Based on 2023 data, 95 percent of students either improved or maintained their literacy skills, with first grade students showing the most significant progress. Members of the Extended Learning Collaborative all have diverse missions and purposes for their programs – but all share a commitment to aligning out-of-school literacy instruction with classroom instruction to provide students with high-quality learning opportunities.
Legislative conversations, and the impact of ESSER funding, were also key topics of discussion, showcasing collaborative efforts across Tarrant County.
Rev Partnership’s End of Year Celebration and State of Progress was not just a celebration of district achievements, but a reaffirmation of the commitment of ongoing collaboration and excellence in Tarrant County. As we wrap up the 2023-2024 school year, we pause to celebrate success but recognize that there is more to accomplish on the horizon. We are making progress for students, and we are not stopping here.
Rev Partnership
Rev Partnership is Tarrant County’s first education backbone. Rev is committed to the best public education system for our region’s students, schools, and community by fostering relationships between our public education system, business ecosystem, and social support infrastructure for our region’s 750,000 students to thrive. Rev achieves this vision through creating forums for collaboration amongst regional education leaders to share robust data insights and identify effective regional solutions that drive system-level impact across the scale and scope of Texas’ third largest county.
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