At the Charles Butt Foundation, our vision is that every student, in every classroom across Texas, has an effective teacher every year. To help us achieve this vision, we are excited to announce five new partner universities of the Raising Texas Teachers program, which now serves 21 university-based teacher preparation programs across the state.

The following are the newest partner universities:

• Tarleton State University
• Texas A&M University – Commerce
• Texas A&M University – Texarkana
• The University of Texas – Dallas UTeach
• University of the Incarnate Word

Raising Texas Teachers, a 10-year, $50 million teacher workforce program began work in 2017. This initiative is designed to achieve three primary goals:

1. Diversify and deepen the pool of teachers entering the field through the Charles Butt Scholarship for Aspiring Teachers; 
2. Raise the overall quality of teacher preparation in the state by promoting continuous improvement in the field through deep collaborative partnerships with university-based teacher preparation programs; and 
3. Elevate the status of the teaching profession through our partnership with #TeachersCan

Over the past four years, the newly added programs have scaled evidence-based clinical practices, improved coursework and training to include practice-based pedagogies, developed strong district partnerships, and advanced the teaching profession by sharing lessons learned.  These teacher preparation programs demonstrate a commitment to high-quality programming and have established a strong foundation in continuous improvement with support from community partners, technical assistance providers, and the Charles Butt Foundation. The new partner universities represent five different regions across Texas, expanding the reach of Raising Texas Teachers.

The other partner programs of the Raising Texas Teachers program include: Our Lady of the Lake University, Rice University, Sam Houston State University, Southern Methodist University, Texas A&M College Station Special Education Program, Texas State University, Texas Tech University, Trinity University, The University of Houston, The University of North Texas at Dallas, The University of Texas at Austin College of Education, The University of Texas at Austin UTeach Natural Sciences, The University of Texas at San Antonio, The University of Texas – El Paso, and The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley.

All partner teacher preparation programs collaborate to address persistent challenges in teacher preparation and are eligible to recommend their teacher candidates to receive the Charles Butt Scholarship for Aspiring Teachers, an $8,000 per year scholarship that can cover expenses up to the cost of attendance for up to four years. To date, the Foundation has awarded $12,812,503 to over 800 scholarship recipients, of which  318 are currently pursuing their degree and 483 are currently teaching. 

Recipients of the Charles Butt Scholarship for Aspiring Teachers are committed to teaching in the Texas public school system in either a title 1 school (more than 50% of students are eligible for free or reduced lunch) or in a shortage subject area (specifically math, science, bilingual, or special education).