Ensure students receive the supports necessary to succeed at all stages of their educations and in their transitions to the workforce. 

GOAL: By August 2024, strengthen and expand coordination within the state’s mixed-delivery early childhood education system to facilitate increased access to high-quality education for young children to support kindergarten readiness. Specific goals include:

• 70% of children enrolled in TWC’s child-care services will be enrolled in high quality programs.
• 12% increase in prekindergarten enrollment for three-year-olds and 7% increase in PreK enrollment for four-year-olds (from the 2021-2022 school year to the 2022-2023 school year).
• 15% increase in LEAs meeting all high-quality prekindergarten indicators (from the 2021-2022 school year to the 2022-2023 school year).
• 500 new prekindergarten partnership classrooms established.

GOAL: Increase percentages of students meeting achievement benchmarks as follows:

• Increase 3rd-grade reading and math outcomes for all students while closing achievement gaps;
• Increase student academic growth rates for all students while closing achievement gaps; and
• Increase percentages of students graduating and ready for college, career, and military while closing achievement gaps.

GOAL: 550,000 students will complete postsecondary credentials of value each year.

• Postsecondary credentials of value are defined based on graduates’ typical earnings and net costs, compared to typical earnings of high school graduates.
• 95% of graduates have either no undergraduate student loan debt at all or manageable levels of debt† in relation to their potential earnings.

Ensure students and families have the support, tools, and resources needed to achieve education and career success by:

• Supporting early childhood education, foundational literacy pedagogy, and high school and postsecondary readiness in middle school; and
• Designing effective family engagement strategies.

Strengthen and expand prekindergarten, including within the state’s early childhood mixed delivery system, through the development of additional prekindergarten partnership classrooms.

TEA will set measurable targets for each key student goal late fall 2022, as strategic plan will be finalized with the most recent student data.

Expand access to effective college and career advising by:

• Developing a shared framework for high-quality advising throughout the education and workforce continuum;
• Streamlining and modernizing advising offerings and services for students to support informed decision-making about postsecondary education and careers; and
• Offering professional development to educators, advisers, and school counselors.

Reduce financial barriers in education by:

• Strengthening the Texas financial aid system, especially to increase predictability and transparency of financial aid awards and facilitate students’ being able to complete undergraduate credentials with no or manageable debt; and
• Bolstering financial literacy education, including improved education for students and training for educators about financial aid opportunities, student debt management, and opportunities for students to pursue credentials of value.

Promote and support high-quality teaching and learning by:

• Recruiting, supporting and retaining a pipeline of skilled teachers, including providing financial supports to Texans who pursue careers in teaching;

• Improving instructional models;

• Strengthening professional development to promote the use of effective instructional models and the effective use of technology in teaching and learning; and

• Supporting bilingual education and dual language immersion strategies.