What We Believe

1. Students First: Students are the future of Texas. We strive to support them in all that we do.

2. High Expectations & Equitable Opportunities for All: Every student in our state can and deserves to reach their full potential. Young Texans’ futures should not be determined by zip code, race, or income status.

3. Effective Educators in Every Classroom: Teachers are the most important in-school factor on student success. Great schools and successful students cannot exist without effective educators.

4. Strategic Investments that Incentivize Academic Milestones: Investing in evidence-based strategies for core academic skills can focus adult behavior toward improving student outcomes.

5. Local Innovation & Autonomy: Texas is large and diverse; a one-size-fits-all approach does not work here. Local stakeholders and school districts must lead the effort to build effective schools via quality policy implementation.

6. Decision Makers Empowered with Actionable Data: Appropriate access to timely education data allows Texans to maintain high expectations, evaluate progress toward shared goals, and provide targeted support when we aren’t meeting the bar.

In line with our central tenets, InvestEd TX supports

1. Equitable School Funding: Sustaining and continuously improving House Bill 3’s strategic program investments and targeted student funding to incentivize, resource, and scale data-driven practices is critical for the further improvement of student academic achievement and the success of our state.

2. Effective Educators: Teachers remain the greatest in-school factor affecting student achievement. As school districts face high teacher attrition rates and increasingly rely on uncertified and underprepared teachers, we must incentivize our best educators to stay in the classroom and set future teachers on a path toward successful careers in the field. High-quality preparation and support for current educators will secure the diverse, effective teacher workforce our state needs to improve student outcomes.

3. Assessments & Accountability: In addition to formative academic snapshots, valid, reliable, annual, and comparable summative assessments aligned to state grade-level standards in core subjects enable decision makers (parents, school leaders, and policymakers) to identify opportunities and herald bright spots. Meaningful, fair, and transparent accountability systems (including reporting, ratings, and consequences) define excellence and spur continuous improvement. Both accountability and the assessment system within it must focus on core academic skills and evidence-based college, career, and military readiness indicators that research shows are critical to post-graduation success.

4. Strong Academic Foundations: High-quality instruction and data-backed supports are needed to ensure that all Texas students reach and maintain grade level proficiency. Centering additional policies in this way will allow the state to identify opportunities in our education system, scale best practices with proven track records of success, and ultimately drive improvements in student outcomes across the state. 

5. Postsecondary Readiness and Success: Texas’ PK-12 school systems are critical in the development of a highly educated and skilled workforce. A student’s academic experience should be structured to intentionally support them on a trajectory that results in a successful transition into and completion of high-quality college, career, and life opportunities. Strengthening alignment and integration across systems, broadening opportunities for students to progress through coherent coursework, credentials, and degrees in high school, and more meaningfully incentivizing data-driven achievements linked to future postsecondary success are all essential in enabling more Texas students to lead productive, successful lives.