cameron county/matamoros - blue - The University of Texas at ...

⇒ EDUCATION & TRAINING
INTRODUCTION: CLOSING THE GAPS
Every Texan educated to the level necessary to achieve his or her dreams;
no one is left behind, and each can pursue higher education; colleges and
universities focus on the recruitment and success of students while
defining their own paths to excellence; education is of high quality
throughout; and at all levels of education, the business community, and the
public are constant partners in recruiting and preparing students and
faculty who will meet the state’s workforce and research needs.
“Closing The Gaps”
Texas Higher Education Plan-2002
Improving the quality and availability of education is targeted by Cameron
County and Matamoros business and community leaders as the single most
important task facing the region (Section 3). This section of the report
presents data on the area’s education attainment and graduation rates that
underscores this concern. Compounding the region’s education and training
challenges are serious and growing demographic challenges that other regions in
Texas or the U.S. do not face: such as a rapidly growing binational, bicultural,
bilingual population that is undereducated, underemployed, and living in poverty
(Section 2).
Texas demographic realities require creative solutions to sort out the related
educational challenges in urban areas and along the Texas-Mexico Border
“Closing the Gaps,” Texas Higher Education Plan, 2002). By 2008, Texas will
become a minority-majority state. Hispanics will account for 40% of the state’s
population; blacks will represent 11%, Asian Americans 4%, and whites 45%.
Currently the state’s Hispanic and Black population enrollment in higher
education is well below the White population. Increasingly Texas higher
education needs to focus more on retention, graduation, and overall education
quality. The Texas Higher Education Plan (2002) emphasizes that to reach these
goals Texas must:
⇒ Close the gaps in participation
⇒ Close the gaps in success
⇒ Close the gaps in excellence
⇒ Close the gaps in research
In the Knowledge-Based Society of the 21 st Century, quality and accessible
education and training is THE CRITICAL ASSET for business success, job creation
and career development, wealth creation, and an enhanced and sustainable
quality of life. The fact that Cameron County and Matamoros community leaders
recognize education as the key to future regional success is important; however,
as the survey respondents also emphasize, providing quality education and
training at all levels is also the region’s greatest challenge.
To highlight these important issues this section of the report presents a review of
the following educational institutions and programs:
⇒ Cameron County’s public schools
⇒ Tech Prep, Rio Grande Valley
⇒ Texas State Technical College
⇒ The University of Texas at Brownsville/Texas Southmost College
SECTION 4
Sixteen percent of the
U.S. adult population has
not completed high
school. Twenty-three
percent of Texas’ adult
population has not
completed high school.
In Cameron County, 30%
of the adult population
has not completed
middle school, and
another 15% has not
completed high school…
that is 45% with less
than a high school
education.