Pride Points

• Augmenting support and services to school districts in the San Antonio region through innovative programming including the nationally recognized Dual Language Partnership with the San Antonio ISD, with which we engage collaboratively in prioritizing research-driven pedagogy, instruction, and practices for dual language settings. In accordance with UTSA’s legacy as a community-serving institution, this partnership strives for authenticity, engagement, and reciprocity, capitalizing on the collective assets brought by school district personnel, UTSA faculty/staff, parents, and community stakeholders. 

• South Bexar Urban School Leaders Collaborative (USLC) Cohort – donor-funded program aimed at preparing equity-conscious principals for historically underserved settings (e.g., SAISD, Edgewood ISD).

• Streamlining teacher preparation degree programs (Equity and Education degree) which create options for students to choose either a bilingual or ESL track and reorganize/consolidate curriculum to reduce degree credit requirements (now 120 credit hours). We anticipate that this will address critical skill needs and the teacher labor market. 

• Working with City Ed Partners and US Prep to facilitate a more rigorous and meaningful clinical teacher experience that includes impactful mentoring and compensated, yearlong residencies. 

• Collaboration with CAST Teach High School in Northside ISD where HS students earn college credit and take educator preparation courses at UTSA.

• The Signature Teacher Residency: We are working with several school districts (Edgewood ISD, Harlandale ISD, Northside ISD, Northeast ISD, San Antonio ISD,  Somerset ISD, and East Central ISD) to implement paid residencies for our clinical teachers. These partnerships require that we address teacher preparedness and shortages through shared governance. 

• UTSA’s Dual Credit Teacher Pathway initiatives. We are working with three school districts (MacUp, North East ISD, Brackenridge, SAISD, and CASTTEACH, Northside ISD) to implement a dual credit pathway for high school students to enter into teacher education programs. At the moment we’re trying to strengthen these partnerships so that we can maximize the number of high school students who complete the program and actually enter into our teacher education program.