Listening session held for West Texas Rural Education Partnership

WICHITA FALLS, Texas (KAUZ) - Representatives of the College of Education at Texas Tech University have launched a series of listening sessions, one of which took place Thursday at Region Nine.

This was hosted to best listen and connect to the communities they serve with the West Texas Rural Education Partnership. Anyone impacted by rural education issues was invited to this listening session.

The goal of these is to gain feedback from every rural Texas school district west of Interstate 35. WTREP seeks to hear from a wide cross-section of the population to answer the key question “What do you need to better serve your students?” Jesse Perez Mendez, the dean of the College of Education at Texas Tech, said so far they have found a number of information from these sessions.

“What we are learning is that there is a huge need for quality teachers, staff members, and administrators in these rural communities. Adequate housing for these new teachers staff members and administrators is also an issue,” Mendez said.

The WTREP seeks to address the shortage of qualified teachers across West Texas by preparing more than 200 new teachers annually through inter-organizational systems consisting of three universities, nine community colleges, and 45 rural districts. All focused on addressing the teacher-talent needs of rural schools in this region.

The next listening session will be held in Abilene on November 29.

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