RGV Focus: Valley students doing better than statewide average in 9 out of 12 indicators

MCALLEN, Texas – RGV Focus is a collective impact initiative that was started by Educate Texas in 2012.

The nonprofit works with public and higher education institutions, workforce boards, and community groups. It would like to have greater buy-in from industry. It has offices in Harlingen and Mission.

“Collective impact really means that we work across sectors to improve educational outcomes,” said RGV Focus Director Rebeca Lopez.

On its website, RGV Focus says its mission is to “transform college readiness, access, and success in the four counties of the Rio Grande Valley: Cameron, Hidalgo, Starr and Willacy,” says the group.

The website says its vision is for “all RGV learners to achieve a degree or credential that leads to a meaningful career.”

Each year RGV Focus produces an annual report card comprising 12 different measurements on how Rio Grande Valley students are doing. Over the past several years the RGV has been doing better than the statewide average in nine of those 12 indicators. The newly unveiled 2023 report card is no different.

The Rio Grande Guardian recently sat down with Lopez for an in-depth podcast that focused on the work of the group and what’s in the new report card.

Asked how the Valley is doing, based on the findings within the report card, Lopez said:

“We’re doing really great. When the work started (in 2012) we were significantly underperforming the state in many of these measurements. And this year, I’m happy to announce that we are, again, matching or outperforming the state in nine of our 12 educational indicators, which again is fabulous for this region.”

That said, there is still a long way to go, Lopez was quick to point out.

“I want to underscore that there’s still so much work to do. I mean, we see these numbers… we’ve historically held at nine out of 12 for about three or four years now, which is great, but I think we want to see progress. We want to see 10, 11, right? We’d love to match or exceed in all 12 of those indicators.”

Asked in which of the 12 metrics the Valley is lacking, Lopez said:

“Where we see a need for improvement is in our early ed, so we’re not matching or outperforming the state in Kinder-ready or in STAAR Third Grade Reading. And then, we’re also – and historically this has been the case – we’re not match matching or outperforming the state in public higher education graduation rates for four-year institutions. And that for this region is our UTRGV system primarily.”

That last metric is based on a six-year graduation target, Lopez explained.

“So, it is students who are enrolled in a four-year (college) and are graduating within six years. So, we’re at 35% for 2023 and the states is at 45%. So, we need to make significant moves there.”

Lopez said the good news is the RGV is “catching up” with STAAR Third Grade Reading.

“We’re at 47 percent for 2023 and the state is at 48 percent. And we’re also catching up for Kinder-ready. We’re at 42 percent and the state is at 49 (percent). But again, lots to do there.”

Improving UTRGV’s graduation rates

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Given that the RGV lags in the time it takes students to graduate from university, as compared to the state as a whole, Lopez was asked what measures UTRGV has put in place to improve the numbers.

“That’s a great question,” Lopez responded. “We actually have a Higher Education Completion and Persistence Action Network, which aims to bring together our higher education institutions and talk just about those issues.

“So, one of the things is making sure that we’re providing sufficient wraparound services for our students. We know that there’s not one reason that students go to college or stop out or drop out of college, right? Life happens. They (students) need either to support their families or they have their own families. We’ve seen a lot more students going the non-traditional route where they go into the workforce and then come back into a higher ed program.

“So, we know they need support, we know they need more than just the tutor on campus, per se. And so, we want to make sure that we identify those supports and make sure that they’re accessible to students across different systems across different institutions.”

Lopez said the Higher Education Completion and Persistence Action Network has seen the need for an identification of opportunities for reverse transfer students.

“So, (that means that) when students complete a two-year degree or work towards a two-year degree and then move to a four-year institution… making sure that they’re getting their certificate or their associates retroactively, once they complete those credits at the four-year (institutions).”

Lopez then pointed to another factor that she believes is less talked about,

“Something that we need to make sure that we equip students with is understanding pathways. So, specifically, my mind goes (back) to stackable credentials. So, giving students smaller, more reasonable, more achievable steps that they can sort of incrementally work towards, instead of giving them, okay, this is the four-year path… saying, you know, in 18 months you can get this credential (and) in another ten months you can get this credential.

“It’s about giving them opportunities to get bankable credential that they can use in the workforce so that they can sustain their own families and sustain themselves while they continue pursuing additional degrees or credentials.”

Lopez said the director for Student Success at UTRGV is the chair of RGV Focus’ Higher Education Completion and Persistence Action Network.

“So, they (UTRGV) have done a lot of work around equity, identifying some of those resources on campus. And the goal of the action network is to create a sort of a collective forum where we can talk about these needs, talk about what we’re doing as a region, not just as individual institutions, to make sure that those barriers are removed for students in a systemic way, with a regional lens, so that we have more success across the board.”

On the podcast, Lopez also spoke about additional funding for public schools. She cited House Bill 3, passed during the last legislative session, which allows school districts to draw down funding from the state.

“So, we have 17 districts in the RGV who pulled down $16 million in 2023. So that’s fantastic news. And then through HB 3 and the CCMR, or College, Career, Military Readiness outcomes bonus funding,” Lopez said.

“We also have districts who are able to draw down funds for getting students CCMR-ready as it pertains to HB 3. And so, in the Fall, we will see approximately $28.5 million go to our Valley school districts for students who met those metrics. So, again, super exciting news, and that’s just a piece of the work that we’re working towards.”

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