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Sharing Responsibility for College Success: A Model Partnership Moves Students to Diplomas and Degrees

May 30, 2018

At a Glance

Through this brief, learn how the Pharr-San Juan-Alamo Independent School District has continued to advance an early college-for-all strategy—a mission with significant community impact.

Contributors
Joel Vargas Vice President
Topics

In order to prepare the large number of postsecondary-educated youth our economy demands, high schools and higher education must break through the boundaries that have traditionally separated them and assume joint responsibility for student success. This brief describes an unusual school district partnership with colleges that has achieved impressive results doing just that. By redefining the roles and responsibilities of secondary and postsecondary partners, educators in one of the nation’s most impoverished areas have substantially increased college completion and career readiness for the region’s young people. The strategies developed in the Pharr-San Juan-Alamo Independent School District in South Texas offer exciting lessons for states and other communities about how—and why—to rethink the age-old systems that support the transition from high school to college completion. This brief describes how the district’s sustained attention to advancing an early college-for-all strategy in partnership with South Texas College and other partners is having a significant impact on the community.