Houston (April 22) – Lone Star College and Texas State University have signed an agreement establishing a program-to-program partnership for elementary teacher education. This collaboration will help address the shortage of elementary teachers in the greater Houston area.
“This new initiative streamlines the process for future elementary teachers who begin their education at Lone Star College to complete their degree at Texas State University,” said Stephen C. Head, Ph.D., LSC chancellor. “The partnership ensures the coursework Lone Star College students take in their teacher preparation track will seamlessly transfer to Texas State University.”
Burning Glass Technologies: Labor Insight™ reports there were more than 25,000 job postings for elementary school teachers in the Houston-Galveston metro area, ranking it 10th in the number of postings in the nation and 30% higher than the national average of demand.
“With a streamlined plan like this, Lone Star College students should arrive more on-point with the courses they need that we can place into the degree,” said Michael O’Malley, Texas State University dean of the College of Education. “That should enhance time to degree completion and keep them on track for graduation at the same rate as the students who started at Texas State University as freshmen.”
The cooperation goes beyond course transfer credit. The faculties from the two institutions are working together to align the curriculum, giving TXST faculty insight into how the LSC faculty is preparing future teachers, and vice versa. That improved understanding between the two institutions will result in a vision for teacher preparation that is more shared, aligned and collaborative.
Visit LoneStar.edu/Programs-of-Study/Associate-of-Arts-Teaching to learn more about how LSC can teach you the knowledge and skills to become an elementary teacher.
This partnership was launched at a celebratory Virtual Signing Ceremony held Thursday, April 22. LSC is the first to join the partnership with Texas State University with more community colleges across the state anticipated to participate in the future.
Lone Star College offers high-quality, low-cost academic transfer and career training education to 93,000+ students each semester. LSC is training tomorrow’s workforce today and redefining the community college experience to support student success. Stephen C. Head, Ph.D., serves as chancellor of LSC, the largest institution of higher education in the Houston area with an annual economic impact of nearly $3 billion. Lone Star College consists of seven colleges, eight centers, eight Workforce Centers of Excellence, Lone Star Corporate College and LSC-Online. To learn more, visit LoneStar.edu.