2025 CCRSM Partners Connect

TEA staff will present conceptual analysis for a college credit opportunities report that features deeper contextual insight to the patterns of CCRSM college credit experience, including applicability of courses taken to core requirements. Participants will be able to provide feedback on the future direction of report development.

Participants will gain an understanding of the CCRSM network, and the vital role of Institutions of Higher Education layered in the CCRSM Benchmarks, Design Elements, and Outcome Based Measures. This session will help guide participants in understanding Texas CCRSM and the role of IHE partners. This session is recommended for IHE liaisons, faculty, advisors and other support staff working with ECHS and/or P-TECH models.

Learning Outcomes: How to achieve a 100% high school student graduation rate and 100% college degree attainment.

We will discuss the importance of building a sustainable partnership with your IHE partner, and how maximizing relationships incorporated with structured systems can help increase your student success outcomes. We will share progress monitoring systems and best practices for early student intervention, which will help with student retention data.

More fun (and learning) than we should have in one workshop! Enjoy working with your colleagues to solve problems and re-discover the joys and struggles necessary in the learning process. You will battle through some problem-solving scenarios, learn about the Theory of Holes and the U-Learning Curve, and create a personalized checklist of the "Purple Bricks" that will help you make your students and your fellow educators more successful. This is an active workshop: dress comfortably, bring your friends (and maybe some water), and come prepared to participate! I look forward to seeing you!

The ACD CCMR Toolkit consists of several artifacts that we use at the district level to support our college high school programs teams and ISD’s that are developing ECHS/PTECH’s. We base our fundamental pillars on the DEEP Research framework and create tools with “equity” in mind.
This session will focus on the “why” of our efforts and provide real world applications to artifacts created to discuss the “how”. This work has proven to be transformational in our region and can certainly support others as they work toward building strong CCMR models across their colleges.

Representatives from La Vega High School and McLennan Community College (MCC) will share how they collaborate to build systems and processes to ensure implementation of the CCRSM Blueprint with fidelity. These institutions have worked together to share data; equip their students with resources to be successful in a college environment; coordinate advising and counseling; create opportunities for experiential learning; staying true to a student-centered approach. 

The semiconductor industry is currently witnessing unprecedented growth, driven by a national effort to bring manufacturing back home for national defense purposes and to gain greater control over the chip supply chain. This expansion is predicted to create nearly 115,000 jobs nationwide by 2030, with 39% of those positions requiring technicians equipped with a certificate or a two-year AAS degree. To address the anticipated technician workforce gap in North Texas, the North Texas Semiconductor Workforce Development Consortium (NTxS-WDC) was established by the Department of Education grant P116Z23026. This coalition of local semiconductor companies, community colleges, universities, and a non-profit organization is working to increase the pipeline of skilled workers. This presentation will highlight our mission, focusing on partnerships with the CCMR community and local ISDs to raise awareness of the industry and develop advanced manufacturing certifications at the high school level.

Our Theory of Change has identified three key strategies for growing the technician workforce. First, we aim to increase enrollment at community colleges for training for advanced manufacturing degrees. Within our community college partners, how this is accomplished varies based on their capacity and students served, with some needing to expand lab space and hire instructors and others increasing recruitment and scholarships. The second strategy is to promote advanced manufacturing related certifications at the high school level, which is essential for scaling the workforce, as community college capacity will ultimately be limited. The third strategy involves increasing awareness of the semiconductor industry and sparking interest in STEM careers. Despite semiconductor chips being the backbone of nearly all modern electronics, the industry remains largely unknown to today’s youth. Therefore, efforts to increase awareness of this critical sector must go hand in hand with expanding training programs.

The consortium has adopted a multi-faceted approach to generate interest in the semiconductor field. Some community colleges have hosted summer camps to introduce students to electronics and robotics, while one college has equipped a mobile mechatronics trailer to bring technology outreach directly to rural students. Additionally, the consortium sponsored projects such as gamifying the semiconductor industry through a Minecraft modification and creating digital media to highlight the industry’s impact, educational pathways, and career opportunities. At the request of our educator partners, the consortium also developed a four-hour field trip that offers more in-depth exposure than a typical career fair. We further established a week-long professional development program for teachers and a one-day event for counselors to familiarize them with the field. Many of these programs have thrived thanks to the valuable partnerships formed within the education ecosystem.

To equip students graduating from high school with certifications that would allow them to work directly as technicians, the semiconductor industry promoted a new regional program of study in electronics technology within the manufacturing career cluster. Currently approved in ESC Regions 6, 10, 11, 12, and 13, the program provides students with a fundamental understanding of electrical systems needed for this career path. This program has been successfully integrated by two of the consortium partners: Dallas College and Grayson College. The presentation will review the unique approach that each took, the challenges faced with implementation, and the importance of strong partnerships across the ecosystem.

More fun (and learning) than we should have in one workshop! Enjoy working with your colleagues to solve problems and re-discover the joys and struggles necessary in the learning process. You will battle through some problem-solving scenarios, learn about the Theory of Holes and the U-Learning Curve, and create a personalized checklist of the "Purple Bricks" that will help you make your students and your fellow educators more successful. This is an active workshop: dress comfortably, bring your friends (and maybe some water), and come prepared to participate! I look forward to seeing you!

This session will provide participants with an overview of CCRSM IHE Partnerships, Benchmark 2: Partnerships, and key elements for supporting and building partnerships. During this session, participants will learn best practices that will aid them in building strong relationships with their IHE partner, while also engaging with other attendees through collaborative facilitation. In addition, this session will allow attendees the opportunity to discuss shared challenges and successes.

In this session, participants will gain an insight into the many intricacies surrounding the high school experience through the lens of administrators, educators, and pupils. Students and teachers were asked two simple questions, yet their responses were profound and may cause your eyes to sweat while you assess your vision and overall eye health.

Discover how combining Early College High School (ECHS) and Career Technical Education (CTE) programs can unlock powerful opportunities for students. In this session, we'll explore planning and implementation strategies for a successful program, building meaningful partnerships that bridge academic learning with hands-on career training. Learn how this integrated approach can boost student engagement, expand career pathways, and equip learners with the skills and credentials they need to thrive in college, career, and beyond.  

This session will focus on:

1. Supporting IHE leaders in understanding their role in designing crosswalks to align high school programs of study with college degree plans.
2. Assisting IHE leaders in deepening their knowledge about how the Four-Year Crosswalk connects and aligns to a four-year high school diploma plan course and associate degrees, level 1 and level 2 certificates, or industry-based certifications and beyond?
3. Planning and collaborating in the design of the crosswalk using the TEA PEIMS Code C022 table and the THECB Academic Course Guide Manual (ACGM) and Workforce Education Course Manual (WECM).
4. Ensuring that planning campus leaders can create and sustain a crosswalk that meets all Blueprint Benchmark Design Elements.
5. Creating crosswalks that maximize Outcome Based Measures

Fill up your cup and get ready to sip on some fresh ideas. We’re excited to share the latest strategies from Tarrant County College District that are serving up success for our dual enrollment faculty. Adjunct faculty teaching at our partner high schools, and high school faculty serving as embedded instructors are crucial to the success and growth of our dual enrollment programs, yet each group requires a unique blend of support to thrive. We will discuss our Embedded Faculty Liaison structure, embedded faculty training event, and our faculty safety resources. These well-received tools have been key to enhancing our faculty training and engagement. We’ll share our methods, then open the floor for a solutions-based discussion on your faculty support concerns. Like a well- crafted latte, there are many layers to dual enrollment faculty support, so let get our ideas percolating and brew up some solutions together.

Student success is a multi-faceted team effort! We will present innovative ways of supporting students together as secondary and higher education partners. Learn what we do to provide effective academic and social/emotional support and how we expand the roles of students, teachers, and academic advisors to equip students with 21st century skills.

This session will provide an overview of the new Designated - Needs Improvement status, which will be a designated status beginning in the 2025 – 2026 SY. Attendees will learn about the purpose of the Needs Improvement status, criteria for entering and exiting the Needs Improvement status, and the role of the IHE for Designated – Needs Improvement campuses. The session will also offer a space for attendees to ask questions regarding Designation and the Needs Improvement process.

This session highlights professional development opportunities for faculty, focused on strategic instructional practices to improve student outcomes and achievement in the dual credit classroom. While the relationship between academic skills and content knowledge is fundamental to student success, explicitly teaching both skills and content in the classroom can be challenging, especially at the college level. In-class instruction often focuses content while academic skill development is generally reserved for wraparound support services. However, teaching practices designed with cognitive complexity in mind allow dual credit faculty to embed academic skill development in their content lessons, providing essential learning support for all students during instruction. This presentation will introduce participants to the concept of cognitive complexity, describe how it directly benefits dual credit teaching and learning, and identify concrete strategies that instructors from a variety of academic content areas can implement in their courses. Resources for these strategies, as well as information on continuing professional development, will also be provided.