Prentice Farrar Brown & Alline Ford Brown Foundation reinvests in the El Paso region to grow teacher training, recruitment, and development programs and launch new school counselor initiative
El Paso, TX – Today, the Council on Regional Economic Expansion and Educational Development (CREEED) and the El Paso Community Foundation announced a new investment from the Prentice Farrar Brown & Alline Ford Brown Foundation (Bank of America, N.A. Trustee) to support their efforts as part of the El Paso Educator Community of Practice. The $1 million grant is the third consecutive investment from the Brown Foundation. It highlights the success of the initial grant to strengthen El Paso’s educator workforce by training and supporting aspiring teachers to enter the profession and mentoring new teachers to support and retain them within El Paso.
The new grant will support and sustain existing programs, including the UTEP Miner Residency Program and Miner Teacher Mentorship Program, as well as establish a new initiative focused on increasing the number of high school counselors in the El Paso region, the El Paso Pathways into Teacher program. Investments in these areas are critical in inspiring new educators to the profession, ensuring they have the opportunities to pursue a pathway to the classroom, and providing high-quality support and coaching within their first five years as an educator.
“The first two investments from the Brown Foundation were the catalyst that we needed to truly reimagine, innovate and transform the way we train, recruit and retain teachers in the El Paso region,” said Eddie Rodriguez, Executive Director for CREEED. “The majority of teachers in El Paso come from and are trained here locally, so we have a real opportunity by working with UTEP, El Paso Community College, and our local school districts to strengthen and transform our educator workforce to be best in class and filled with strong teachers.”
Since 2019, UTEP’s Miner Teacher Residency program has supported teacher candidates attending UTEP’s College of Education with a year-long residency program that places them within local schools and gives them hands-on training and support from experienced teachers so they can be ready to lead a classroom on their first day of teaching. A total of 182 teacher candidates have graduated from the residency program.
“We have reached a critical milestone in the growth and expansion of the Miner Residency Program as now 7 of 9 school districts in the region – El Paso, Ysleta, Socorro, Fabens, Tornillo, Canutillo, and Clint Independent School Districts – are partners in this effort,” said Stephanie Otero, Vice President of Operations at EPCF. “Our initial goal was to engage all school districts in the region in the residency program to give aspiring and new teachers the support and skills they need to enter the classroom and be effective educators; we have made tremendous progress towards this goal.”
Another area of expansion made possible through this grant is the Miner Teacher Mentorship Program, led by UTEP and the New Teacher Center. The mentorship program pairs new teachers, within their first three years of teaching, with a highly-trained, experienced educator or coach to provide hands-on guidance and support in the classroom. 170 new teachers within Fabens, Tornillo, and Canutillo Independent School Districts have participated in the mentorship program since its inception. “The first five years of teaching are the most critical for new educators, and their experience during those early years influences whether they stay or exit the profession,” said Clifton Tanabe, Ph.D., Dean of the College of Education at UTEP. “This program ensures teachers feel supported and valued during these critical years so our region can retain more of them.”
While the new $1 Million investment will sustain previous programming, it will also help launch a new initiative focused on increasing the number of school counselors in the El Paso region. The counselor-to-student ratio in Texas is currently 1,000-to-1, which is more than triple the national recommended ratio of 250-to-1; this leaves too many students and families without the adequate support and resources they need to prepare for college, apply for financial aid, and pursue a higher education. The El Paso Educator Community of Practice will explore best practices in terms of preparing and recruiting school counselors and will work with local school districts to increase the number of school counselors serving students across the El Paso region.
“Our goal is not only to ensure that every classroom across El Paso has a strong teacher that is preparing students for college, but also that all students have access to the support they need to actually pursue a college education, and that includes having access to a school counselor,” added Rodriguez. More information about the grant and CREEED and the El Paso Community Foundation’s efforts to raise educational attainment in the El Paso region can be found at www.creeed.org and https://epcf.org/.
For media inquiries, please contact Laura Rodriguez at (915) 209-2230 or media@creeed.org.
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About CREEED:
The Council on Regional Economic Expansion and Educational Development (CREEED) is a notfor-profit organization focused on increasing the number of high-performing seats in El Paso’s public education system. This is accomplished by investing in initiatives that are creating measurable outcomes to close the achievement gap for El Paso students. CREEED supports organizations, initiatives, and policies that prepare students to succeed in college and in our future workforce. CREEED’s efforts are focused on increasing the quality of education that students receive in El Paso. Our efforts fall into three categories: Increasing Student Attainment; Increasing Teacher Talent & Leadership Development; and Increasing Parent and Community Engagement. Each of which contributes to the formation and sustainability of a quality workforce with quality career paths and opportunities.