Strategic Educational Partnerships Face Bold Challenges

UTSA Early Birds on the Rise

Under the leadership of the College of Education and Human Development, the Instructional Outreach Program is dedicated to offering pathways to success for pre-college students. The program, led by Abel Gonzales, Ph.D., director, and Jillian Woolard, program manager combines first class academics, exceptional student support measures, as well as an innovative collaborative approach to refocus and reframe the dual credit discussion in the San Antonio community in regards to ‘grow your own’ dual credit models.

“Grow your own models aim to cultivate high performing undergraduates who enter full time studies with the academic and social skills necessary for success in their respective academic areas of interest,” Gonzales said. “By curating immersive dual credit experiences, students feel supported both academically and socially as part of the Roadrunner family.”

Early exposure to research activities and networking events within their academic areas of interest provide confidence in their degree track choices. The program also provides targeted college preparatory services to assist in the transition from high school to college, including immersive dual credit orientations, undergraduate application, scholarship, and FAFSA assistance, monthly college preparatory workshops, as well as academic writing and research tutorials.

In 2016, UTSA offered a single dual credit course with one local private school. At that time there were a total of 16 students participating in the UTSA Early Birds Dual Credit Program. This past year, UTSA increased participation into 10 San Antonio high schools. In the fall 2021 semester, the program is projecting an enrollment of over 400 students. UTSA continues to develop innovative programs that engage students in our community and prepare them for the transition from high school to college. Over the course of the previous decade, college experience programs within COEHD have grown dramatically. As a longtime K-12 partner, our local school districts have turned to UTSA’s Early Birds Dual Credit Program to develop instructional pathways that integrate rigorous university coursework with high school endorsement pathways.

“Programs like UTSA’s Early Birds Dual Credit Program are providing students with the opportunity to earn significant college credit prior to high school graduation,” Jillian Woolard, programs manager, of the Instructional Outreach Program said.

Participating high school students also receive critical support from both the high school and university faculty and staff throughout their participation. As part of their participation, students are provided comprehensive immersive activities to prepare them for their future degree pathways. These programs are increasing access for students from our surrounding community to university coursework, while developing their academic and social readiness that will be critical in their college persistence.

“The demand for such programs has grown across the State of Texas as local school districts have focused on retooling instructional pathways that integrate more rigorous academic coursework options for students,” Gonzales said. “In addition, these dual credit courses allow students to earn college credit at no cost to the student while establishing a strong foundation for future academic success.”

CAST School Partnerships

Since 2017, UTSA has provided its top-tier expertise in education to support the career-themed schools known collectively as CAST (Centers for Applied Science and Technology).

UTSA’s involvement in the CAST Schools began with the CAST Tech Early College Academy, the first of its kind in San Antonio. The UTSA Early Birds Dual Credit Program, and its partners, have collaborated to build innovative university level dual credit pathways for high school students interested in business, computer engineering, computer science, and information systems related careers.

This program allows students to satisfy many of the core course requirements of their future degree plans while simultaneously enrolling in major specific exploratory coursework. Participants attending CAST Tech High School, within San Antonio ISD, have the opportunity to earn up to sixty university level dual credit hours, significantly lowering the cost of, and time to, undergraduate degree completion.

This spring, CAST Tech High School graduated its first cohort of dual credit participants. Forty-five CAST Tech graduating seniors have been admitted to UTSA as freshman for fall 2021, and twenty-three selected UTSA as their university of choice. This represents an over 50% retention rate among admitted dual credit students.

UTSA’s partnership with the CAST Schools is expanding with the inception of CAST Teach opening in August 2022.

CAST Teach will be an innovative high school of choice for future educators, in partnership with Northside ISD, COEHD and CAST Schools. CAST Teach will serve as a university lab school supporting research along with innovative curriculum and future teacher preparation. CAST Teach is a grow-your-own teachers’ approach, and high school students are expected to earn up to 42 Dual Credit Hours that can be applied to a bachelor’s degree in education. Upon high school graduation, CAST Teach students will have the opportunity to enroll in the COEHD-NISD Teacher Residency program. The school presents a unique opportunity to develop and empower its high school students, so that they in turn, as future educators, have a bigger impact on generations to come.

Summer Bridging Institute

by Christopher Reichert and Libby Castillo

In its 18th year the Summer Bridging Institute (SBI) hosted by the Academy for Teacher Excellence (ATE) continues to provide teachers with personal and professional development opportunities. Originally intended for teacher candidates set to begin their first year of teaching, the SBI helps bridge the gap between student-teacher and teacher. Over time, it has expanded, now serving as a full professional development institute for teachers of all experience levels.

While some sessions are specifically for teacher candidates, focusing on topics such as certification exams and classroom management, others are intended to be useful for teachers with varied experience. As ATE Research Center coordinator Emily Young explains, “we saw value in blending the professional development for those practicing teachers with the teacher candidates, having that opportunity to learn alongside what they’re going to become – teachers.”

Though the Institute looked different the last two years, having switched to a virtual setting due to the pandemic, the move had unexpected results, particularly in terms of attendance.

“We have teachers participating from all over the nation, since we’re virtual,” Young said. In fact, last year’s SBI was attended by roughly 400 teachers, nearly four times as many as the Institute typically sees. While Young hopes next year’s Institute will be in person, coordinators are already exploring how to combine live and virtual elements to achieve the best of both worlds.

Though designed to offer professional development opportunities for both current and future educators, the SBI is so much more. It offers attendees the opportunity to create connections and build a community of educators and experts in the field. Shared passions for self-development, education and community is the glue that binds attendees and has made the SBI a success for 18 years.

Building on the strength of the SBI, beginning in fall of 2021, UTSA will begin recruiting and engaging future teachers from the Alamo Colleges District (ACD) into the Teacher Academy for Future Teachers (TAFT) program. Ultimately TAFT teacher candidates will have the opportunity for a seamless transfer to UTSA. Through the TAFT program, students who begin their academic careers with ACD can co-enroll at both institutions and take classes from UTSA faculty while attending their ACD school. Benefits of the partnership include: qualified students are guaranteed admission to COEHD, participants will be placed in cohorts, will have access to COEHD student support resources and participate in the Academy for Teacher Excellence’s Summer Bridging Institute, and access to services both at UTSA and ACD.

UTSA Child Development Center

by Libby Castillo and Valerie Bustamante

After closing its doors in March 2020 due to the pandemic, UTSA’s Child Development Center faced the difficult challenge of keeping up with quickly-changing protocols, continuing communication to parents of students, and ensuring a safe return for staff, faculty and students. Under the direction of newly appointed director, Pamela E. Ray, Ph.D., the center remained steadfast and re-opened its doors on January 5, 2021.

The center was not only successful in safely re-opening its doors, in fall of 2020, the center received a Child Care Access Means Parents in School (CCAMPIS) grant of $315,000 from the U.S. Department of Education to support its new initiative, the Aim High Childcare Project.

The Center’s first goal is to recruit, select and enroll children of student parents who are working to complete their education at UTSA. The initiative also aims to provide extended services to student parents, such as extended child care hours during the week before finals. The grant will allow the center to provide a subsidized portion of the child care tuition to full-time undergraduate and graduate students who maintain a specified GPA and meet income eligibility guidelines. “We want to be able to provide this service to help them out while they are taking classes to graduate,” Ray said. “This is the ultimate benefit of having a child development center at an institution of higher education because the campus is preparing the whole family from cradle to career.” In addition, the center will embark on a partnership with Education Service Center, using a grant from the Children’s Learning Institute, to work with the teachers in the preschool classrooms to enhance quality but also help the teachers prepare the children for school. Ray added that she looks forward to seeing the center maintain accreditation, retain its quality teachers and support the university’s strategic goal to expand quality child development services with a center at the Downtown Campus, and in the future, a new building for the Main Campus center.

“We further envision a close teaching and learning connection with students and faculty researching early childhood education in the college. These are COEHD’s bold dreams for the future of the Child Development Center,” said Juliet Langman, interim dean of COEHD.

“PREP’s adaptability and quick transition showcases the inclusive community we’ve built. While major changes and challenges happened this past year, PREP remained true to its mission and centered on student impact and success,” said Dr. Krystal Peralez, Executive Director of PREP.

During this past year, bright spots have also emerged within PREP, specifically around funding and research. In June 2021, UTSA announced that the Senate Bill 1 (SB1) passed, which included Special Items funding once again for PREP. This funding supports the efforts of all those involved with PREP and will be impactful for the students it serves.

Success with the program was also found through emerging research. Conducted by former UTSA professor Dr. Guan Saw, PREP published two reports highlighting the program’s impact, student success, and program satisfaction. While this past year was a challenge for all, PREP managed to turn lemons into lemonade - just in time for summer.

Prefreshman Engineering Program

by Monica Hernandez

This past year upended our way of living, working, and socializing. As stay-at-home orders for COVID-19 were set in place, schools across the country closed and sent students home, turning learning from a brickand mortar environment into a virtual world. The Prefreshman Engineering Program (PREP) was no stranger to adaptability, having been in place for over 40 years. However, the pandemic caused PREP a myriad of challenges, beginning with transitioning from an in-person program to a 100% virtual model. We planned, implemented, and executed the first virtual PREP in the summer of 2021.

Given Zoom fatigue for future teachers and PREP participants, many previous PREP participants wanted to spend their summer doing outside activities, as opposed to a virtual program. While this caused a delay in recruiting and hiring, PREP’s first ever virtual summer kicked off without a hitch in mid-June 2021 with over 500+ students and all staff in place.