Prior to 2010, E3 Alliance research indicated that almost half of Central Texas children were entering Kindergarten unprepared, setting them up to fall behind, and in many cases, drop out as their education journey unfolded. With their success at risk, and the economic cost to our community in jeopardy, E3 Alliance led the creation of Ready, Set, K!, the first student-centered, multi-competency standard for school readiness in Texas. Ready, Set, K! provides training and an online tool to help teachers better determine whether their students are on track for school success. Results have shown that Ready, Set, K! is highly predictive of later success: children rated “Kindergarten Ready” with this assessment are nearly four times more likely to pass the 3rd grade STAAR Reading and Math assessments in third grade than compared to their peers who are not rated Kindergarten Ready. The tool empowers teachers to gather more accurate student data through authentic assessment, group children for differentiated instruction, and align their teaching with the Pre-K Guidelines. Ready, Set, K! has helped close the school readiness gap, while shaping legislation and guiding budget decision to support young learners.
E3 Alliance hosted the inaugural Central Texas Attendance Summit in October 2017 with great success. More than 20 school districts and community partners learned about local attendance research, data, regional bright spots, and continuous improvement tools. Participating teams each received their school’s chronic absence data, completed a needs assessment, and used their data to create a targeted action plan for their school. Now an annual event, the Attendance Summit continues to help Kindergarten through 12th grade school teams design a strategic plan to address chronic absences on their campus. Sign up for the 2019 Attendance Summit today!
Leveraging the momentum of the Attendance Summit, E3 Alliance in partnership with Attendance Works launched an Attendance Peer Learning Network of nine schools. Participating schools receive the opportunity to increase student attendance – and consequently, academic outcomes – through the use of disaggregated data, peer-to-peer learning, coaching, and technical assistance using evidence-based prevention and intervention strategies and continuous improvement tools. Teams chose one student outcome (e.g., reading, math, high school graduation, or college readiness) to focus on based on local needs and drivers. All school teams in the Attendance Peer Learning Network used a common strategy (attendance) to improve student outcomes. Schools are chosen through an application process.
E3 Alliance serves as the data partner for the regional My Brother’s Keeper (MBK) initiative. E3 provides in-depth data analysis and community facilitation to support the Greater Austin Area My Brother’s Keeper effort to eliminate equity gaps for our young men of color. In addition, E3 designed and supports the MBK Scholars College Challenge to help many more low-income young men of color access and succeed in higher education. Four area high schools have been linked with service providers to improve college success in 2018-19, and the initiative will expand to more schools starting in 2019-20.
Since 2011, E3 Alliance’s Missing School Matters campaign has promoted a culture of student attendance in our region. The campaign focuses on a “triple bottom line:” 1) students need to be in the classroom to learn, 2) teachers need consistency of attendance to effectively teach, and 3) school districts need state funding (which in Texas is based on attendance) to provide precious resources and services to all students. Missing School Matters has provided outreach and materials to build community support for improved attendance across the region, and is now leveraging the Attendance Peer Learning Network to share campus-based practices that are improving student attendance. Since 2011, $37.5 million dollars has been returned to school districts in our region in state reimbursement due to decreased student absences despite rapidly increasing student enrollment. For more information, click here.
