The three most important ways that colleges can help students transition into and through higher education involve financial assistance, academic support programs and mental health services, according to the  of graduating high school seniors.

Officials at the University of Texas at El Paso, El Paso Community College and Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center El Paso hope to build on last year鈥檚 numbers when they enrolled more than 49,000 students, and believe that they can accommodate those needs.

For some El Pasoans who are part of the 2023-24 freshman class, affordability is the main concern.

Alan Garcia decided to attend EPCC this fall mainly due to the financial aid package he received: His Free Application for Federal Student Aid, or FAFSA, earned him a full scholarship for tuition and fees.

Garcia, a 2023 Chapin High School graduate, added that other deciding factors included his interest in the college鈥檚 biology courses and labs, and his trust in his college advisers.

鈥淭hey will tell me how to do things the right way and, if I get lost (academically), they will lead me back to the correct path,鈥� said Garcia, a nursing major.

Financial aid

Students are encouraged to submit their FAFSA, and also can request additional funds from the institutions due to dire hardship or emergencies. The schools have other pools of money to assist students.

Carlos Amaya, vice president of student and enrollment services at EPCC, said the state鈥檚 new funding model for community colleges will create some changes that could affect financial aid. He said it was too early to discuss the effect of those changes.

Amaya said that EPCC students earned more than $19 million in Pell grants during the last academic year, a $2 million increase over the previous year.

At the state level, Amaya said the legislature passed a bill that would funnel more money into student grant programs such as the Texas Educational Opportunity Grant and the Texas Public Educational Grant. He added that the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board would conduct simulations to see how the new funding rules and disbursement would work for the state鈥檚 50 community college districts.

Gary Edens, who recently stepped down as vice president for Student Affairs at UTEP, said students from families with incomes of $75,000 or less can apply for the Paydirt Promise program, which allows them to attend the university and not pay tuition or mandatory fees. Seven out of 10 university students receive financial aid, according to a UTEP webpage.

Civil engineering major Loeila Casas, a 2023 Burges High School graduate, said she chose UTEP because of the financial aid 鈥� including a Pell grant and an institutional grant 鈥� as well as its engineering programs.

Edens also noted that the university鈥檚 tuition is one of the lowest among the nation鈥檚 top research universities. Annual tuition and mandatory fees for a full-time student start at about $7,300, UTEP鈥檚 Student Business Services webpage shows. 

鈥淚 don鈥檛 think anyone鈥檚 more committed in Texas for sure, and probably across the country, as far as cost of an education, and we鈥檙e going to maintain that commitment,鈥� Edens said.

Mental health and academic services

Representatives from the institutions said they plan to launch new centers, committees and resources this fall that will enhance mental health and support services for students who are dealing with academic issues as well as stress, food and housing insecurity, child care or family issues, or emotional emergencies such as suicidal thoughts. Situations that cannot be resolved by campus personnel will be referred to an off-site agency.

Hilda Alarcon, interim senior director in the TTUHSCEP Office of Student Services and Student Engagement, said her office will add an Academic Support Center on Sept. 1. The new center will offer more advanced tips on how to study and prepare for exams as well as different approaches to understand material.

Alarcon said campus leaders decided to launch this center because many of their students are used to being academically successful and the rigorous dental, nursing, medical or biomedical science curricula could be difficult for some of them.

The Academic Support Center will join the existing centers that focus on wellness, mental health support and services for people with disabilities. The office, which has three clinicians, will have another full-time and a part-time clinician also starting Sept. 1. The resources are available from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays on the second floor of the Medical Sciences Building II.

However, the office also oversees the CARE team that includes administrators and staff from all TTUHSCEP schools as well as law enforcement. They will follow-up after hours with students who may be dealing with serious mental health concerns that go beyond the workday.

Steven E. Smith, vice president of Instruction and Workforce Education at EPCC, said that the college has used grant funds to enhance child care, tutoring, supplemental classroom instruction, and other support services. Where possible, EPCC has expanded its services virtually to increase access for students who work.

EPCC expects to open social services/mental health centers at its Northwest, Valle Verde and Mission del Paso campuses during the middle to late part of the fall semester. It will be staffed by a social worker and a licensed professional counselor. College leaders are settling on procedures, but some counselors already are seeing students for initial assessments. If necessary, those students are being referred to community resources.

Meanwhile, academic counselors at each EPCC campus can provide students with emergency mental health and crisis management support to include referrals to off-campus agencies.

The college hopes to hire additional personnel for these centers and to open similar offices at the Transmountain and Rio Grande campuses during the 2024-25 academic year. Until then, students at those campuses can access virtual services, said Paula Mitchell, associate vice president of Instruction & Student Success.

The college began in the spring 2021 semester to send students an engagement survey to check on their well being. One of the questions asks if they need any mental health resources. Of the nearly 8,300 responses, over 400 requested mental health assistance. 

Mitchell said the college also will start a behavioral intervention team this year made up of staff, faculty, administrators and mental health professionals who will review instances of behavioral issues that involve students and employees and act to de-escalate those situations.

鈥淲e have a lot of stuff in the works,鈥� said Mitchell, who added that EPCC provides a link to 鈥淢ental Health Resources鈥� at the bottom of every college web page.

Among UTEP鈥檚 efforts to provide greater academic support include its recent hiring of 19 advisers who were assigned to specific schools to assist students with everything from academics to personal emergencies. Officials expect those advisers to have a significant effect on student retention and progression rates.

Edens noted that the need for mental health services has grown during the past 10 years. UTEP spends about $1 million annually on mental health counseling support services.

The UT System Board of Regents recently announced a $16.5 million investment in student mental health services across its institutions. Part of UTEP鈥檚 portion will go toward free 24/7 online and telephone hotlines. Additionally, UTEP will add two interns to its counseling staff.

The university also invested about $147,000 of its COVID Higher Education Emergency Relief Funds to purchase five multi-use 鈥減rivacy鈥� pods strategically placed around campus to provide students a quiet and secure place for a virtual counseling session. Students also could use the pods for general meetings with professors or to take an exam.

鈥淚t鈥檚 to the point where we are almost having difficulty accommodating the large number of students that are needing support, which is why these 24/7 hotlines and these other resources are going to be critically valuable moving forward,鈥� Edens said.

State lawmakers plan to require that all students be tested for dyslexia and other reading challenges, but the hurdles ahead point to a bigger problem with how California鈥檚 public schools teach reading.

Before teachers can screen their students, they themselves need to be trained both in how to use the screening tests and how to help the students who get identified as struggling readers. Many experts and educators say most public school teachers in California weren鈥檛 adequately trained to teach students how to read.

鈥淣obody goes into teaching to mess up a kid鈥檚 life,鈥� said Leslie Zoroya, a teacher coach specializing in literacy at the Los Angeles County Office of Education. 鈥淭eachers do think they鈥檙e teaching kids to read. But when you look at the data, it鈥檚 telling us that is not the case.鈥�

Across the state, only about 42% of third-graders met or exceeded English language arts standards last year.

The mandatory dyslexia screening policy was a part of Gov. Gavin Newsom鈥檚  released last week, which allocated $1 million to form a panel of experts who would compile a list of reliable screening tools as well as determine the types of training needed for teachers. The proposal seeks to screen all students between kindergarten and second grade starting in the 2025-26 school year.

The policy proposal comes after several legislative efforts, , to require dyslexia screening in California鈥檚 public schools. They failed largely due to . The statewide teachers union argued the practice of screening all students would disproportionately push English learners into special education and said the legislation needs to provide more resources for teachers.

The union did not respond to questions for this story about the types of support and training teachers need. But for some experts, the fact that teachers even need training to help students who struggle with reading illustrates just how far behind California is in literacy instruction.

鈥淲e鈥檙e going to need a lot more training,鈥� Zoroya said. 鈥淭his needs to be a statewide effort.鈥�

The problem is twofold, according to experts. First, most of California鈥檚 public school districts use reading curricula based on 鈥渂alanced literacy,鈥� an approach to reading instruction based on the idea that children are natural readers. It relies on exposure to books and the enjoyment of reading with less of an emphasis on sounding out words. Second, the experts say, teacher preparation programs don鈥檛 train teachers enough in 鈥渟tructured literacy鈥� or 鈥渢he science of reading,鈥� which focuses heavily on phonemic awareness and phonics 鈥� the practice of matching letters to sounds and sounding out words. 

Betina Hsieh, the chair of the teacher education program at Cal State Long Beach, said balanced literacy curricula do include some phonics and argued that the balanced literacy approach works for most students. 

鈥淣o one is saying that phonics and phonemic awareness is not important,鈥� she said. 鈥淭he thing is, it only gets you so far.鈥�

But Hsieh agrees that all younger students should be screened for dyslexia and reading challenges and that teachers need to be trained. But she expressed frustration that there鈥檚 already so much material squeezed into teacher credentialing programs.

Zoroya argues that if teachers had been better trained in phonics instruction, dyslexia screeners would be a natural extension of their instruction. Because screeners test students鈥� ability to pair letters to sounds, a teacher who is adept in phonics will have an easier time navigating not just screening but helping students overcome their reading challenges.

鈥淭his work is too important for adults to be out here arguing,鈥� she said. 鈥淲e have too many kids coming out of elementary school not being able to read well.鈥�

Too little phonics

Zoroya, who trains teachers across the 80 school districts in Los Angeles County, said most elementary school teachers don鈥檛 know how to teach reading through 鈥渟tructured literacy.鈥� The approach鈥檚 focus on phonics enables students to sound out unfamiliar words. 

Across California, students typically learn reading by being exposed to text and being read to in the classroom. Teachers focus on cultivating a love of reading as opposed to a more systematic instruction in letter sounds. While most students are able to learn reading through the former method, many are left behind. Dyslexia, a neurological condition that causes difficulty reading, affects about  people across the country. 

According to experts, the fact that California is  that doesn鈥檛 screen all students for dyslexia is a symptom of the broader problem of how public schools in the state teach reading. For educators, reading instruction remains hotly debated. 

鈥淚t reminds me a bit of politics right now,鈥� Zoroya said. 鈥淓ven reading is very polarized.鈥�

The debates over reading instruction have a deep and contentious history, which some refer to as 鈥渢he reading wars.鈥� In California, the 鈥渂alanced literacy鈥� approach  in the reading wars. But teachers and parents  have spoken out against it, calling it a well-intentioned but  to teach reading. 

Santiago Cuevas, a first grade teacher at San Francisco Unified鈥檚 Lafayette Elementary, said he received hardly any training in phonics instruction while earning his credential at San Francisco State University. He had to study the concepts of the 鈥渟cience of reading鈥� on his own to pass the , one of the requirements for a teaching credential. The assessment tests prospective teachers鈥� ability to develop a reading curriculum, ranging from phonics to reading comprehension. 

Cuevas said he was lucky to get hired at a school that happened to be committed to teaching phonics. But for most other teachers, the material they studied to pass the reading instruction assessment becomes an afterthought because their districts use balanced literacy.

鈥淭he RICA is just one of the things on the checklist to becoming a teacher,鈥� Cuevas said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 kind of strange how we didn鈥檛 talk about the science of reading at all at SF State.鈥�

Margaret Goldberg, a literacy coach in West Contra Costa Unified, said not only are most teachers using faulty curricula, they鈥檙e also not assessing their students enough between kindergarten and second grade. Statewide literacy data is only available starting in third grade. But because students show signs of reading challenges as early as kindergarten, teachers need to take reading instruction seriously as early as age 5, she said. 

鈥淚n some ways, it feels very comfortable to primary grade teachers who say their students will catch up later,鈥� Goldberg said. 鈥淪o it can be very uncomfortable when we put a universal screening measure in place.鈥�

That discomfort materialized in the fight to mandate screening for dyslexia in California. The California Teachers Association, the state鈥檚 largest teachers union,  for multiple years despite a chorus of literacy experts calling for early screening for all students. The union said the legislation lacked details around what types of training teachers would need and how often students should be screened. 

Cuevas said teachers who are more comfortable with phonics and the science of reading will be much more comfortable screening students. 

He said, for example, if a student had a hard time saying the word 鈥渃hair,鈥� the balanced literacy approach would recommend just giving that child more books about chairs. But a teacher with training in structured literacy and phonics instruction has a more systematic approach that includes more testing and targeted instruction.

鈥淚t just seems like everyone鈥檚 trying to kick the can down the road,鈥� Cuevas said. 鈥淲ith the science of reading, you just think differently.鈥�

A necessary change

Goldberg and Cuevas agree that teachers, even those supportive of balanced literacy, have the best intentions. But they said that the shift toward mandatory screening should be accompanied by a shift toward more phonics instruction.

Goldberg said teachers first need to understand why screening matters. She said teachers typically see assessments as punitive and burdensome, but tests used to detect dyslexia and other reading challenges are a tool for improving instruction. Teachers might not understand why the tests ask students to sound out nonsense words, but Goldberg said sounding out random clusters of letters is the best way to detect whether a student will struggle with reading. 

鈥淭hey seem like arbitrary tasks,鈥� she said. 鈥淥nce you understand why each measure is important, administering the screeners is actually quite simple.鈥�

School and district administrators also need to embrace these shifts. Meghan Trutter, a reading intervention specialist in the San Jose area, said teachers who learn about the science of reading later in their careers often tell her 鈥渢his is what I needed all along.鈥� 

But Trutter said she鈥檚 concerned about whether districts will support teachers with the right curricula once the state mandates screening. If teachers aren鈥檛 given the necessary textbooks and materials to teach phonics, screening will be a pointless exercise.

鈥淚f the district executives don鈥檛 get it, they鈥檙e going to be another roadblock,鈥� she said. 鈥淚 can see teachers saying 鈥榃e鈥檝e identified the problems, now what?鈥� The district might say 鈥業 don鈥檛 know.鈥欌��

However, educators say there鈥檚 some much needed changes coming to teacher credentialing programs. A law signed in 2021 requires programs to teach the science of reading approach . 

鈥淚 believe new teachers that are coming out of these programs are going to be better equipped to teach students how to read,鈥� said Mara Smith, a reading specialist with the L.A. County Office of Education who helped revise California鈥檚 standards for teacher credentialing.

Long-term obstacles

The overhaul necessary in higher education will be easier said than done, according to some professors. Hsieh, at Cal State Long Beach, said one issue is the segregation of special education and general education programs. 

She said prospective teachers in general education programs don鈥檛 get the training they need in phonics because those skills are more intensely taught in special education programs that focus on working with struggling students. 

Another problem is the short length of teacher training programs. Elementary and middle school teachers earn the same multiple-subject credential. Their training spans instruction for kindergarten through eighth grade. Hsieh says this leaves little wiggle room for changes to teacher-training curricula.

鈥淲e鈥檙e working on being flexible and adaptive, but it鈥檚 challenging,鈥� she said. 鈥淭here鈥檚 so much that鈥檚 being demanded of teachers.鈥�

And it鈥檚 not just classroom teachers and district administrators who are entrenched in balanced literacy. Most professors teaching in California鈥檚 credentialing programs are also committed to the approach, according to Kathy Futterman, a professor at Cal State East Bay. She said most professors aren鈥檛 sufficiently trained in structured literacy.

鈥淚 don鈥檛 know how many professors and instructors have themselves mastered structured literacy,鈥� she said. 鈥淚 feel like I鈥檝e been swimming upstream and swimming solo for a long time.鈥�

Futterman said the push for structured literacy as well as for mandatory screening started as a grassroots movement among parents and classroom teachers. But without a more systemic transformation, reading instruction in California will remain a patchwork, she said.

鈥淲e are heading in the right direction,鈥� Futterman said. 鈥淣ow we have to make sure everybody can be on board.鈥�

This story was originally published on .