Rice selected as partner in Raise Your Hand Texas Foundation’s Raising Texas Teachers program

Goal of $50 million program is to elevate teaching profession

Rice University’s Teacher Education program, part of the university’s Susanne M. Glasscock School of Continuing Studies, has been selected as a partner university in the Raise Your Hand Texas Foundation’s Raising Texas Teachers program.

2017 graduates of the Glasscock School’s Master of Arts in Teaching program.

The program will provide $50 million over the next 10 years in scholarship funding for students committed to a career in teaching and technical support for premier Texas teacher preparation programs. The investment is part of H-E-B Chairman and CEO Charles Butt’s philanthropic commitment to public education in Texas.

Rice is one of 10 partner universities chosen from 33 applicants as exemplary in high-quality teacher preparation in Texas.

As a partner, the program will have access to the foundation’s new Charles Butt Scholarship for Aspiring Teachers, which provides $8,000 annual scholarships to teacher candidates. In addition, the program will receive up to $10,000 or 15 percent of the total annual scholarship award amount to fulfill the grant’s student support requirements.

Rice will also work with partner universities to identify and address common challenges and evaluate the program’s competency-based clinical preparation.

“Teachers are our greatest hope for the future of this country,” said Judy Radigan, director of the Teacher Education program, which celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2014. “Teachers who work in our public schools with the changing demographics of our children and the challenging needs of these students deserve our well-informed attention. We look forward to working with our nine partner universities collaboratively to grow strong teacher-preparation programs.”

Radigan participated in a media event to announce the program at the Glasscock’s partner school, Heights High School, July 10.

The Anderson-Clarke Center, home of the Glasscock School.

“Research consistently shows that the strength of the teacher makes the biggest difference in influencing a student’s success,” Butt said in a news release announcing the program. “To improve academic achievement, it is critical that Texas elevate the status of the teaching profession, strengthen the existing pool of aspiring teachers and inspire our most talented high school graduates to consider a career in teaching.”

The nine other partner universities are University of Texas at Austin, Trinity University, Our Lady of the Lake University, University of Houston, Southern Methodist University, University of North Texas at Dallas, Texas A&M University, Texas Tech University and University of Texas Rio Grande Valley.

For information about the Glasscock School’s Teacher Education program and its Master of Arts in Teaching programs, principal and teacher certifications, go to http://teach.rice.edu.

The Glasscock School is the leading university continuing education program in Houston. Its mission is to advance Rice’s commitment to educational outreach by providing lifelong personal and professional development opportunities to the larger community. Established in 1967, the school welcomes more than 20,000 enrollments into its programs each year. For more information, go to http://glasscock.rice.edu.