About
Texas Education Agency Tri-Agency Workforce Priorities (TTWP), Texas
Lynn Mellor, PhD, a principal researcher at AIR, serves as the senior advisor for the Texas Education Agency Tri-Agency Workforce Priorities (TTWP) partnership. Mellor’s expertise includes a 30-year track record of successfully designing, planning, and leading evaluation and research studies. She serves as the principal investigator of two IES-funded research grants: a partnership grant with the Texas Education Agency to evaluate the Foundation High School Graduation Program in Texas and an exploratory grant to examine the implementation and outcomes associated with Texas’s enactment of a statewide high school graduation requirement that students complete a financial aid application. Previously, Mellor served as the deputy director of the 2017–2022 REL Southwest contract, where she provided leadership and quality assurance for 18 applied research studies; more than 40 training, coaching, and technical support projects; and more than 60 staff. Mellor earned her doctorate in quantitative methods and statistics from the University of Texas at Austin.
Associated IES Content
Grant
Evaluation of the Texas House Bill 3 Financial Aid Application Requirement for High School Graduation
This mixed-methods study will examine implementation and outcomes associated with enactment of a statewide policy requiring financial aid application completion as a high school graduation requirement. The specific goals of the project are to (1) examine how the financial aid application graduation requirement is being implemented in public school districts across Texas; (2) examine whether different implementation approaches are associated with higher financial aid application completion ra...
Federal funding program:
Award number:
R305A210271
Single-Session Panels FY2024
FY2024 Single-Session Peer Review Panel
About REL Southwest
About REL Southwest
Blog
Celebrating five years of using research and data to support teaching and learning across the Southwest
Over the past five years, REL Southwest has partnered with states, districts, and schools to improve teaching and learning across our five-state region. Read on for highlights of our accomplishments.
Date published:
Dec 21, 2022
Blog
Aligning high school career and technical education programs with top career pathways
REL Southwest partnered with a Central Texas district to examine its career and technical education program offerings, their alignment with the local labor market, and how well they are preparing graduates for high-wage, in-demand careers or postsecondary education.
Date published:
Feb 17, 2021
report
Descriptive Study
Alternative Career Readiness Measures and Rural Districts in Texas
Texas House Bill 3 established a college, career, and military readiness (CCMR) outcomes bonus, which provides extra funding to districts for each annual graduate demonstrating CCMR under the state accountability system. Some small district and rural district leaders expressed concern about the ability of their graduates to meet the career readiness component of the CCMR accountability standards due to a lack of career and technical education (CTE) program or course resources. In response to ...
Feb 01, 2021
resource
Other Resource
Informing Improvements to Career and Technical Education Programs: Analytic and Applied Research Strategies for State and District Staff
Time: 3:00-4:30 PM EST Location: Virtual Description: This webinar will focus on the potential benefits of examining program and participant data to support the creation of exceptional career and technical education (CTE) programs that prepare students for high-demand careers. Presenters will share real-world examples from three Regional Educational Laboratory (REL) studies that used participant data to inform CTE program improvements that align with the needs of the 21st century workforc...
Dec 01, 2020
report
Descriptive Study
Examining High School Career and Technical Education Programs and the Postsecondary Outcomes of Career and Technical Education Students in the Round Rock Independent School District
This study investigated the percentage of Round Rock Independent School District (ISD) graduates from 2012/13 through 2017/18 who completed one or more career and technical education (CTE) programs of study and attained outcomes after high school graduation including college enrollment, degree or certificate attainment, and employment. The study also examined the alignment of CTE programs of study in Round Rock ISD and 41 other Central Texas districts with high-wage, in-demand career pathways...
Oct 01, 2020
FY2020
FY2020 Single-Session Peer Review Panel
report
Impact Study
Impact of Providing Information to Parents in Texas About the Role of Algebra II in College Admission
This study examines the impact of providing parents with an informational brochure about the role of algebra II in college access on students' grade 11 algebra II completion rates in Texas. One hundred nine schools, covering all 20 Educational Service Center regions in Texas, participated in the study. Parents in the 54 treatment schools were mailed brochures containing information about the role of algebra II in college access and success, as well as information about the new high school gra...
Mar 01, 2018
report
Descriptive Study
Trends in Algebra II Completion and Failure Rates for Students Entering Texas Public High Schools
This study examines Algebra II completion and failure rates for students entering Texas public high schools from 2007/08 through 2014/15. This period spans the time when Texas students, beginning with the 2007/08 grade 9 cohort, were required to take four courses each in English, math (including Algebra II), science, and social studies (called the 4x4) and the time when, beginning with the 2014/15 cohort, the state moved to the new Foundation High School Program, which eliminated Algebra II a...
Feb 01, 2018
Grant
An Evaluation of the New Graduation Requirements in Texas
This project is a partnership between the American Institutes of Research (AIR) and the Texas Education Agency (TEA) to investigate the impact of 2013 Texas House Bill 5 (HB 5) on student outcomes. With the enactment of HB 5, the state's previous high school graduation requirements, which included a requirement that all students complete Algebra II, were replaced with were replaced with the Foundation High School Program (FHSP), which gives students who want to go directly into career and t...
Federal funding program:
Award number:
R305H170006
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