An unprecedented partnership between the Fort Stockton Independent School District and the Texas Tech University K-12 online academic program became official on Dec. 1 at the district’s special school board meeting.

The Fort Stockton ISD school board unanimously approved the partnership, which is scheduled to begin next semester.

The partnership is the first of its kind in the state of Texas according to TTU K-12 Interim Superintendent Dr. Justin Louder.

“TTU K-12 has worked with the public in different ways. This is the first time that we have done a formalized partnership with a school district where their teachers will work with our staff and work with our curriculum, but with their students,” he said. “It is the first (partnership) of what we hope will be a model for additional partnerships that we can do with other school districts around the state. We really think this is very innovative for Fort Stockton and what they put together.”

Louder explained that TTU K-12 is the only K-12 provider offered by a system of higher educations in Texas. There are currently 11,000-12,000 part-time students and 2,500 full-time students taking courses with TTU K-12 – an award-winning online academic program developed by the State of Texas in 1993.

For Fort Stockton ISD, TTU K-12 will initially be utilized to accelerate the learning of students and provide an exemplary remote learning option for those who qualify.

The Fort Stockton ISD is currently working on gathering data from simulated tests/assessments to determine students that would be an appropriate fit for the asynchronous learning program.

Student test results fall into four categories according to the state – Failing, Approaches, Meets, Masters. The district will use the same model to categorize students and make recommendations accordingly.

“If the kid fails and the data shows they are failing, they’re a very good candidate and one that I would most likely have a conversation with their parents to see if this is something we can use to accelerate them,” FSISD Superintendent Dr. Gabriel Zamora said.

According to the most recent testing data provided last year, the largest grouping of students within the district are in the Approaches category.

The hope and one of the main reasons behind the TTU K-12 partnership is to elevate students’ abilities and test scores across the board explained Zamora.

“I want to get all of the kids to get to the Meets grade level and it’d be fantastic to get them to Masters.”

One of the preliminary steps to put the partnership in motion is the selection process of teachers. The district is currently gauging interest of Fort Stockton ISD teachers who are willing to teach courses for the TTU K-12.

Once selected, teachers will be trained by staff at TTU K-12. Teachers will receive an additional $2,300 in compensation by the university for becoming a teacher with TTU K-12.

The district will give additional stipend compensation to teachers depending on how many students they teach for TTU K-12 in a school year.

In the future, Zamora said at Wednesday’s meeting that the district will open availability to students at other districts if there are spots available.

“They’re (TTU K-12) leaving it to us to be the ones that select kids to enroll and we have an agreement that states we can assist other districts as well. We are going to look at serving our kids first and then if there are remaining seats, we are going to open it up to other districts,” he said. “We can contract with them to pay us the fee that we are going to charge them. That money is not applicable when it comes to being recaptured by the state. That’s a different revenue source. So, that’s the best of both worlds for everybody.”