Foster Care & Student Success - State Efforts

Texas is engaged in cross-system and coordinated efforts to improve the education outcomes of students in foster care. See below for a description of these important state-led initiatives.

Blueprint Implementation Task Force

TEA is currently involved in the Texas Blueprint Implementation Task Force addressing school stability, training and resources, and data. The task force comprises three multi-disciplinary teams working collaboratively to implement recommendations and strategies from the Texas Blue Print.

Texas Blue Print

The Texas Blue Print is a collaborative initiative resulting in a road map that transforms education outcomes for children and youth in foster care. In 2010, the Supreme Court of Texas issued an Order Establishing the Education Committee of the Permanent Judicial Commission for Children, Youth and Families (Children’s Commission). The Education Committee, a high-level group of court, education, and child welfare decision-makers, created a collaborative initiative designed to improve educational outcomes of children and youth in the Texas foster care system. The order resulted in over 100 court, education and child welfare stakeholders coming together over an 18-month period to listen and learn from each other, discuss and debate about the issues, and ultimately develop recommendations to improve educational outcomes of children and youth in foster care.

The core focus areas were:

• School Readiness,
• School Stability and Transitions,
• School Experience,
• and Post Secondary Education.

The Education Committee reached consensus on many recommendations, which ranged from changes to daily practices, modifications to education and child welfare policy, and amendments to Texas’ legal framework. The recommendations, as implemented, will impact education, child welfare, and judicial practices, and will spur multi-disciplinary training, cross-agency data exchange, child-specific information sharing, and cross-system collaborations.

The Texas Blueprint was submitted to the Supreme Court of Texas on May 3, 2012. The recommendations are included in the Final Report of the Education Committee, The Texas Blueprint:  Transforming Education Outcomes for Children & Youth in Foster Care (outside source PDF).

Visit the Blueprint website (outside source) for more information and helpful foster care and education resources.

Texas Trio: Strengthening Court, Child Welfare and Education Connections for Youth

As a result of collaborative work led by the Children’s Commission Education Committee, Texas was one of ten sites awarded a 17-month federal Children’s Bureau demonstration grant, Child Welfare – Education System Collaboration to Increase Educational Stability.

The grant assisted the Texas Education Agency in building capacity and collaboration with the Children’s Commission and Department of Family and Protective Services (DFPS) to address improving the education outcomes of students in foster care.