CEN Announces $1M Grant to Rural HOPE from Thoma Foundation
| June 23, 2022 |
Collegiate Edu-Nation (CEN) is a network of high-performing rural school districts in Texas that focuses on heightened college and career aspirations through continuous educational attainment and industry-related certifications. The CEN P-20 System Model began in the rural school district of Roscoe Collegiate ISD under the leadership of superintendent Dr. Kim Alexander, and has since grown to its own nonprofit organization, focused on expanding statewide. By 2023, CEN aims to establish a model rural school district in each of the twelve Texas A&M AgriLife Extension districts. This distribution of transformational rural schools will provide a foundation for continued expansion beyond the initial years by positioning strong, regional model districts to serve as innovation hubs and to foster replication by additional districts. This strategic scaling is projected to increase the number of rural Texas students served from 4,800 to more than 7,200 by 2023.
The Thoma Foundation’s $1 million 3-year grant will support the Learning & Development activities of this expansion, including an online platform for continuous learning, trainings, professional learning communities for educators and school administrators, and network conferences.