Austin Public Education Foundation

Early literacy and numeracy: literacy and numeracy are the cornerstones of long-term academic and life success. Austin ed fund's efforts in the area reach more than 30,000 students k-5 and 2,000 educators across 79 elementary schools. The initiative strengthens instruction by pairing high-quality instructional materials with ongoing professional learning for teachers and school leaders. Principals, assistant principals, and instructional coaches participate in job-embedded coaching and structured learning communities that enhance their ability to guide instruction. Six lighthouse schools serve as demonstration sites, sharing effective practices that are then scaled districtwide. These combined efforts ensure that students are receiving consistent, evidence-based instruction in reading and math, grounded in the science of learning. When these core skills are strong, students are more likely to thrive throughout their academic careers and beyond.

College and career readiness (ccr): aims to increase student awareness by expanding college and industry workplace visits across the district. These efforts are designed to position students for post-secondary success. College and industry visits give students exposure to what's possible by helping them imagine themselves in different settings and careers. The summer internship program provides students paid opportunities that help them gain professional experience with local business and non-profits that are aligned to austin isd career and technology education clusters. Over 100 students have participated in this program to date. The post-secondary gap fund launched this summer and provides small emergency grants to austin isd graduates in pursuit of their post-secondary dreams. Our first student to receive funding was able to use the resources to assist in moving and travel expenses required to attend college out-of-state.