Texas College Bridge (TCB) Information

• Texas College Bridge is a resource that provides free online college preparatory courses in English and math for high school juniors and seniors.
• Texas College Bridge is funded by the Texas Education Agency (TEA) and is free to school districts through June 2024.
• The online Texas College Bridge program was introduced in the summer of 2020 as part of TEA’s Texas Home Learning program and is a part of Texas COVID Learning Acceleration Supports (TCLAS).
• More than 700 school districts have signed up to offer Texas College Bridge courses, and more than 90 colleges and universities across Texas have signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to provide a TSI exemption to students who successfully complete Texas College Bridge courses.

• Texas College Bridge was developed to help students strengthen their English and math skills prior to enrolling in college — helping them get college ready and set up for postsecondary success.
• Our most vulnerable high school students and their families require our collective support. With postsecondary enrollment numbers in decline across the state, it’s important to help guide students toward a postsecondary program aligned to high demand jobs. Texas College Bridge serves as a support to the graduating seniors and high school juniors who need help with a pathway to a postsecondary credential.

• Texas College Bridge is intended for high school juniors and seniors who have not demonstrated college readiness in English Language Arts (ELAR) and/or math on the ACT, SAT or TSIA.

• Texas College Bridge courses are individualized, self-paced and teacher facilitated — allowing students to focus on the skills they need to build and skip those they have already mastered, with teacher support along the way.
• Once successfully completed, at the time of high school graduation, students can earn a TSI exemption at more than 90 partnering colleges and universities across the state.
  • Once enrolled, students can be ready for college level English and math and not have to take developmental courses, which cost money and take time.

• Texas College Bridge has been proven to increase student success.
• A recent state-wide evaluation analyzed data to see how students who completed Texas College Bridge courses performed in comparison with students who had demonstrated college readiness through standardized testing or other means.
• The data analysis shows that, overall, the Texas College Bridge program is having a positive, statistically significant impact on measured student success outcomes:
  • Texas College Bridge students were overall more likely to persist into their second year of higher education than non-Texas College Bridge peers.
  • Texas College Bridge students were overall more likely to persist into their second semester of higher education than non-Texas College Bridge peers.
  • Texas College Bridge students passed their first semester, entry-level college English and math course at rates equivalent to their non-Texas College Bridge peers, adjusting for demographic and other differences in the two groups of students.

• To register, students need to obtain a registration link from their teacher.
• After registration, students take a diagnostic self-assessment to determine their level of entry into the selected course. Each student then gets a personalized study path, which allows them to skip content they have already mastered and focus only on the skills that they need to complete the course.
• The courses are self-paced, so students can take as much or as little time as they need to learn each concept before moving on to the next section.
• Each student has a teacher facilitator to help guide and support them as they move through the assignments.
• The student, and their teacher facilitator, have access to a dashboard which gives them an overview of the course material and the progress being made towards mastering the required college-readiness skills that the student needs to strengthen.
• Upon completion, students receive a certificate of completion, which is added to their GreenLight locker, and, with the click of a button, they can electronically send it to their college of choice to show proof of completion.

• Through Texas College Bridge, students can access College & Career Support that will help guide them through the college application process and help them enroll in the college or degree program of their choice. Students can also find information and resources on everything from financial aid to resume support.
  New for 2023: College & Career Support is now available to Texas College Bridge students through the EdReady platform, so that teachers as well as students can track their progress on the modules.
• The program also includes advising support for teachers and educators, plus training for districts and teachers. Our new pre-recorded, on demand video tutorials for districts and teachers can be found alongside many other resources on our Resources page at http://texascollegebridge.org/resources.

• Texas College Bridge offers a rolling start date, allowing districts to add student users and sections at any time.

Texas College Bridge, part of TEA's Texas Home Learning program and COVID Learning Acceleration Supports (TLCAS), is a resource that provides free online college preparatory courses in English and math. With Texas College Bridge, high school juniors and seniors can take online courses that are individualized to their specific needs, at their own pace, with teacher support along the way.

Our most vulnerable high school students and their families require our collective support. With postsecondary enrollment numbers in decline, it’s important to help guide students toward a postsecondary program aligned to high demand jobs. Texas College Bridge serves as a support to the graduating seniors and high school juniors who need help with a pathway to a postsecondary credential.

Texas College Bridge helps students strengthen their English and math skills prior to enrolling in college, helping them get ready for college and set up for postsecondary success.

• Once successfully completed, at the time of high school graduation, students can earn a TSI exemption at more than 90 partnering colleges and universities across the state.
• Once enrolled, students can be ready for college level English and math and not have to take developmental courses, which cost money and take time.

No.

The courses work through a series of five stages:

• Knowledge Inventory. Students begin by taking an initial pre-assessment diagnostic that reveals if they are ready for postsecondary English and math courses. The resulting report flags knowledge gaps. Unlike conventional placement examinations, this knowledge inventory is only the start of the student experience. It shows what students are ready for right now.
• Personalized study path. Students address their knowledge gaps and can use their personalized study path to improve readiness for credit-bearing math and English courses.
• Learning interventions. Students progress through their study paths with the help of high-quality, multimedia educational resources that support different learning styles and preferences.
• Knowledge checks. Once students feel they understand a topic, they can test their knowledge. As their mastery expands, their score improves.
• Reporting. Easy-to-use reporting dashboards provide actionable data, including real-time student progress information.

The time it takes to complete Texas College Bridge courses depends on each student’s level of entry, the number of concepts and skills they need to master, and their pace of learning. While this varies, based on data from last year, the majority of students took an average of 4-5 months to work through both stages of each course, with math taking more time on average than English.

Texas College Bridge uses a personalized learning system, so cheating can be detected in the system-use pattern of the student. How? We record all student interactions with the system, including what topic material is studied and for how long, progress though frequent quizzing, and more. Basically, when a student uses the system, they create a characteristic pattern of use, like a fingerprint. If a student cheats by using test answers supplied by another person, there is a divergence from the normal use pattern that is visible to an instructor, allowing the instructor to intervene and take appropriate action.

Texas College Bridge offers a rolling start date, allowing districts to add student users and sections at any time.

Texas College Bridge has been proven to increase student success. A recent state-wide evaluation analyzed data to see how students who completed Texas College Bridge courses performed in comparison with students who had demonstrated college readiness through standardized testing or other means. The analysis shows that Texas College Bridge students performed as well in entry level college courses and that they were overall more likely to persist in their studies from their first to second semester and from their first to second year of higher education.

Juniors who are looking to graduate early would benefit from taking Texas College Bridge courses, as they could get their TSI exemption and be ready to enroll in college earlier than normal. For other students, it may be better to wait until their senior year, to reduce potential learning loss going into college, and when the program’s College & Career Support would be more relevant.

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