Educator Preparation Program Improvement Communities

Raising Texas Teachers

Educator Preparation Program Improvement Communities

Texas universities strengthen teacher preparation together

2026, Charles Butt Foundation, EPPIC Spring Convening, East Texas A&M University, Hyatt, Hyatt Regency Hill Country Resort and Villas, Our Lady of the Lake University, Philanthropy Advocates, Prairie View A&M University, Rice University, Sam Houston State University, Southern Methodist University, Tarleton State.Texas A&M Texarkana, Texas A&M Central Texas, Texas A&M College Station, Texas A&M College Station Special Education Program, Texas A&M Corpus Christi, Texas A&M International, Texas A&M San Antonio, Texas State University, Texas Tech University, Trinity University, U.T. Austin College of Education, U.T. Austin UTeach Natural Sciences, U.T. Dallas, U.T. El Paso, U.T. Rio Grande Valley, U.T. San Antonio, University Partners, University of Houston, University of North Texas-Dallas, University of the Incarnate Word, West Texas A&M University

Vision

Elevate teaching as a profession by preparing classroom-ready teachers through collaborative university improvement efforts.

The Charles Butt Foundation’s Raising Texas Teachers initiative aims to strengthen the teacher workforce in Texas by elevating the status of the teaching profession and recruiting a talented and diverse pool of future teachers through the Charles Butt Scholarship for Aspiring Teachers, and partnering with university-based teacher preparation programs to improve the overall quality of teacher preparation across the state through continuous improvement. Together, these efforts are intended to increase teacher recruitment and retention over time.

Through this work, 27 university-based teacher preparation programs (TPPs) have worked together over the past two years to identify common challenges in teacher preparation and collaborate on improvements in these areas.

Methodology

The Foundation worked to build TPP capacity to engage in continuous improvement using improvement science, a rigorous methodology for understanding and improving educational systems through disciplined inquiry and data collection. The process places particular emphasis on understanding the experiences of the people working within and being served by the system. Teams use this understanding to identify potential changes, test them, collect data on the results, and determine whether to adopt the change, modify and test it again, or discontinue it.

The work began with a discovery process through which faculty teams from all 27 TPPs identified the most important areas for improvement. Each team then selected a focus area and joined a cross-university group of programs working on similar issues, known as an Educator Preparation Program Improvement Community (EPPIC).

The EPPICs tackled the following issues:

Mentor Teacher Support: Ensuring all aspiring teachers have high-quality, consistent support from mentor teachers by providing high-quality, consistent support structures for mentor teachers.
Certification Examination Preparation: Ensuring the success of teacher candidates by providing high-quality, responsive support to help them pass required certification exams.
Data Systems: Advancing continuous improvement efforts at teacher preparation programs by developing efficient systems to collect and use data.
Curriculum Alignment: Ensuring they are preparing teacher candidates for today’s classrooms by aligning their curriculum to K -12 teacher needs.
Student Mental Health & Well-Being: Ensuring teacher candidates are successful in their preparation by providing them support in addressing their challenges and supporting their overall mental health

The EPPICs began their work by building relationships and learning from the people closest to the issues. Mentor teachers were surveyed and interviewed directly about what support they needed and wanted. Teacher candidates and cooperating teachers were asked to reflect not just on what they knew but also on how prepared they felt to apply that knowledge in real classrooms. Field supervisors and principals provided insight into areas where new teachers struggled most. The EPPICs also identified relevant data already available in their systems and developed new protocols to collect additional information where needed.

With a deep understanding of those closest to the issues, supported by direct conversations and data, the EPPICs identified changes they could test and measure on their campus. These activities didn’t always look the same across campuses. What might work at one university might be less impactful at another.

We need to enter any space with an open mind, with ‘I don’t know everything’ — and it’s okay that you don’t know everything.

SPEAKER 2, CLOSING ADVICE — 12:28

The importance of collaboration

The EPPIC members benefited from learning from one another. They shared and vetted protocols, brainstormed interventions and benefited from one another’s research and the opportunity not to have to work on these issues alone.

It became very exciting to do this kind of work. To realize we weren’t alone, and that so many other educator preparation programs were experiencing the same things and similar problems. It felt good to be able to network with others.

SPEAKER

The Raising Texas Teachers Partner TPPs are a diverse group of programs. They represent both private and public universities, serve both rural and urban communities, and hold Historically Black College and University (HBCU), Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI), and Minority Serving Institution (MSI) designations. Through their work in the EPPICs, they build deep cross-university partnerships that can inform and improve teacher preparation across the state.