Thank you for inviting me to testify before you today. I appreciate this opportunity to discuss the Texas higher education master plan, Closing the Gaps by 2015, and the efforts going on in Texas to improve access and outreach for students.

The Coordinating Board adopted Closing the Gaps in October 2000. As we look back on the development of the plan, we now realize that the real question asked by the many people on our planning committees was this: What would be the worst thing that could happen to Texas that education could prevent?

We shortly realized that the "worst thing" would be for the dire projections made by the Texas State Demographer, Dr. Steve Murdock, to come true.

Dr. Murdock for years has traveled around Texas on a campaign to awaken the state to the consequences of a trend that has continued for over a decade. Part of the trend was manifested in the fact that our population has grown faster than the growth of the number of people enrolled in, or graduating from, our colleges and universities. In particular, the fastest growing segment of the population, Hispanics, participated at a significantly lower rate than other groups despite the fact that Hispanic enrollments in higher education have grown substantially over the last decade. If we do not change the trend, Texas will gradually become a less and less well-educated state, and therefore a less prosperous state with fewer opportunities for all of our people.

In economic terms, Murdock’s projections show that by 2040, median household income in our state in constant dollars would drop by over $5000 (from its current level of $41,000). Multiplied by the number of households projected in 2040, the consequence would be a reduction of over $60 billion annually in income. So, opportunities for our people would contract, the state’s economic competitiveness would diminish, and the overall quality of life would drop.

If we cannot change the trend, the only educational category in Texas that would grow by 2040 would be the percentage of our workforce that has less than a college education.

It also did not take long for us to realize that the trend is aggravated by the large gaps that exist within Texas and between Texas and the 10 most populous states in higher education participation, success, and quality.

So ultimately the question became: How can we prevent the "worst thing" from happening to Texas? The answer became clear: we must close the gaps within Texas and between Texas and other states in higher education participation, success, excellence, and research. And, must have a performance system in place to measure whether we are making progress towards accomplishing the goals.

Clearly, those four goals of closing the gaps by 2015 cannot be reached unless we also close similar gaps at all levels of education. The Closing the Gaps plan, clearly, rests on a pre-kindergarten through higher education philosophy.

Of particular interest to the Subcommittee are the plan’s first two goals: Close the Gaps in Participation rates across Texas to add 500,000 more students, and Close the Gaps in Success by increasing by 50 percent the number of degrees, certificates, and other identifiable student successes from high quality programs.

The plan has three main strategies for achieving the participation and success goals: (1) improve student preparation for success; (2) affordability; and (3) build awareness about the importance of higher education to students and their families, promote preparation to enable students to succeed in higher education, and raise and reinforce motivation and aspirations to continue education beyond high school.

The College for Texans campaign is a key effort for accomplishing these strategies. The single objective of the campaign is to bring the approximately 300,000 people, who would otherwise be missing from higher education in 2015, into our colleges and universities and have them prepared to succeed.

The campaign is being pursued along two lines. One is a marketing and advertising effort. The other is a grassroots outreach effort to connect organizations and persons across the entire state in a common campaign (1) to reach the people who would otherwise be missing and anyone who influences their behavior, and (2) to provide information, build aspirations, and reinforce motivation to assist them in preparing well at every grade level for success in higher education. A fact sheet describing the campaign in more detail is included in your briefing materials.

The theme of the campaign is "Education: Go Get It." One of its most promising efforts is the establishment of Go Centers at high schools throughout the state. These centers are a grassroots network of community-based college recruiting centers that use student peer educators. The idea is for these "G-Force members" (who are both high school and college students) to create the momentum for other students to go to college. We currently have 48 in development but that number increases almost daily. A copy of a brochure describing the Go Centers is provided in your briefing materials. These centers are being funded through a combination of state, federal, and private funds.

This is just one of many efforts Texas is engaged in to reach out to students. Although my time is up, I would be delighted to share information about other efforts. We believe that Closing the Gaps has changed the way we view education in the state of Texas. The state’s leadership, our public and higher education communities, business leaders, and community-based organizations have all rallied to the call. Establishing a few very compelling goals, and providing strategies to achieve them, targets to aim for, and a performance system to measure our progress has given Texas a new direction. Achieving the goals won’t be easy, but at least we are all moving in the same direction.

Thank you for inviting me to testify. I would be happy to answer any questions you have.