Ector County Schools Partner with Teach to One

As a leading oil producer, the West Texas Ector County has historically experienced the ebb and flow of the oil industry. Oil-based booms have boosted the local economy with increased spending power and a great influx of new residents who flocked to the thriving community. Conversely, during fallout in the oil industry, the county has felt the opposite effect as families relocated and the local economy floundered. While these naturally occurring fluctuations have become a typical part of the bigger picture for Ector County, the constant movement has manifested lasting effects on other important sectors.

In the Ector County Independent School District, this cyclical migration has greatly impacted the fluctuation of the student population. The continued relocation of students has resulted in disruptions in education, gaps in school attendance, and an inability to maintain a consistent educational growth trajectory for many students. In addition to being relocated, many students began to follow their parents into the oil business, seeking employment opportunities rather than completing their education. Recognizing the growing need to combat these shifts in the local culture of education, the school district began to look for ways to implement a proven educational curriculum that would capture the attention of students, and allow them to flourish within their own bespoke circumstances.

Inspired by the success of other school districts, the Ector County Independent School District became the first district in Texas to implement the innovative Teach to One: Math program within its middle school system. Since its inception, Teach to One has been focused on providing a comprehensive, tech-driven, personalized experience that provides each student with a customized learning experience to help them reach their full potential. The program features individual computer-based learning, group work based on learning levels, and teacher-based instruction of small groups with similar skill sets. Teach to One combines the most effective aspects of traditional learning with technology aimed at providing customized learning modules to maximize each lesson.

To ensure that students fully comprehend each day’s lessons, they complete a short “exit interview.” As math is a vastly cumulative subject, a student who lacks comprehension of a single concept would be unable to follow any subsequent modules successfully. Teach to One’s lesson plans help to ensure students possess full comprehension of a mathematical concept before moving forward, with lessons repeated as necessary, presented in a different method of delivery for re-instruction. In a highly intuitive fashion, Teach to One’s tech determines success rates and “learns” to present students with information in a manner most conducive to their unique learning styles, maximizing the information absorbed through each lesson.

In recent years, the Ector County Independent School District, which is part of Texas’ “Districts of Innovation,” has worked tirelessly to spearhead forward-thinking change within schools. The district has recognized the need to address the success of traditional instructional methods and tweak them to maximize learning success year over year for every student. The district recognized that each student’s level of knowledge within a grade level differs vastly and that each student learns in their own unique way, and created a program tailored specifically to the individual learning model.

Jason Osborne, the District’s Chief Innovation Officer, and Dr. Scott Muri—along with the entire department—have been working to increase student retention and comprehension, and provide an overall positive student experience. Within this partnership with Teach to One, Dr. Muri has identified not only the program’s extensive ability to teach students, but also the benefits of increasing their confidence, interest in education, and motivation toward self-improvement.

As a result of the implementation of Teach to One within the Ector County Independent School District, over 1,200 students can now engage in customized math education. Discussing this partnership and its initial effects, Muri has expressed that “it’s interesting to see that they know what they need to do to be successful. They are really taking ownership of their own growth.”

For many students, this success has fueled their passion for gaining the necessary skills to succeed in future professional endeavors. Additionally, Teach to One’s ability to engage students in learning modules that are tailored to their current comprehension, ensuring that they do not fall behind. The district is putting education first in a region that suffers from so many family relocations due to the ebb and flow of the oil industry.

As the industry continues to evolve, the students of the Ector County Independent School District are undoubtedly benefitting from the innovative partnership with Teach to One: Math. Through a personalized and innovative approach to customized education, these students are gaining a meaningful understanding of math topics and are confidently taking charge of their future.