The Texas OnCourse Educator Blog

College entrance exams such as the SAT represent a significant milestone in the college admission process. To make an informed postsecondary decision, students need to understand how they performed in comparison to their college or university's average admission scores.

Earning a four-year degree is not the only postsecondary path to starting a successful career. In this January 2021 webinar, we covered alternative options available to students. Topics included Texas certification programs, community college programs, technical school offerings, and innovative concepts like coding bootcamps that offer skills in high-need areas.

Many of your students are likely considering college as part of their postsecondary trajectory. There are a lot of different ways for your students to attend college. They could be interested in any combination of two-year, four-year, public, private, nonprofit, or for-profit institutions in either a residential or commuting experience. This article will walk you through the basics of college planning so that you’re prepared to support any student on any college pathway. We include links to additional articles, webinars, videos, and other resources. And don’t forget to refer to the ultimate source for all postsecondary planning information for professionals: the Texas OnCourse Academy.

As COVID-19 threatened to derail even the best-laid postsecondary plans this past fall, Texas school counselors and teachers said they are most worried about their students’ college readiness – more so even than their physical or mental health.

Use this handy document to review the course requirements for each of the five endorsements on the Foundation High School Program. 

We have made some significant updates to modules in the Texas OnCourse Academy! The Academy is our premiere college and career planning resource for educators. 

The COVID-19 pandemic has had far-reaching effects on all aspects of education: academic, extracurricular,  athletic, and more. With this webinar, gain valuable knowledge on how student-athletes and their families can engage with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) during this atypical time. 

On this National Day of Mourning, let’s be forthright. This has been a hard couple of weeks to try to go on with business as usual for us on staff at Texas OnCourse. We mourn with you, with the nation, and with the world over the murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and countless others who may never be named. George Floyd was raised in Houston. Maybe you knew him. Maybe you taught him. Maybe he was your neighbor, your relative, your student’s relative. Maybe you or your students knew Mike Ramos, Atatiana Jefferson, Botham Jean. Maybe this experience is dredging up past memories and traumas. We recognize that this is a difficult week for you, during a difficult year. We are deeply saddened, we are angry, we worry for the future of all our black and brown children. But we also have hope.

Five Actions Educators Can Take Right Now to Support High School Seniors’ Transition

The following five actions have been adapted from the National College Attainment Network (NCAN) Immediate Next Steps guide for supporting high school seniors’ transition to a postsecondary educational program. Take the following actions to prevent summer melt and ensure that the high school class of 2020 enrolls at their postsecondary program in the fall. 

This year, educators around the state are seeing normal PD schedules disrupted or challenged by COVID-19 restrictions. And many schools and districts are turning to remote PD for the first time.

Northwest ISD, a quickly growing district in Dallas-Fort Worth, has been using the Texas OnCourse Academy to provide virtual lessons to their college and career staff for the past couple of years. Here are some tips that they’ve utilized for implementing professional development along the way. Find more tips and tools like this in our new remote PD toolkit.