THECB Hosts TSI Updates Webinar

October 2014 | Houston, Texas
BY: Amy Williams

The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (THECB) hosted the Texas Success Initiative (TSI) Assessment and Developmental Education (DE) webinar that aimed to provide educators, high schools, and institutions of higher education information regarding Texas Success Initiative Assessment (TSAI), advising, Developmental Education funding, House Bill 5 (HB 5), and a Statewide Professional Development Strategy.

The training was led by Suzanne Morales-Vale, Director of Developmental and Adult Education, Terri Daniels, Assistant Direct of Developmental Education, Alan Bugbee, Senior Project Manager of TSI Assessment, and Linda Munoz, Director of Adult Education. The panel also included a Q&A session at the end.

A few questions addressed concerned TSIA. It was clarified that the test is to be untimed and has been taking an average of 4 hours to complete all sections (reading, writing, and mathematics). The essay response section adds an average of 70 additional minutes. Students are also allowed to retest over just one area of the TSIA if they wish to improve only part of their score. 

The College Preparatory Courses (CPC), which are courses given to high schools seniors who have demonstrated they are not college ready per HB 5, were also covered. It was clarified that CPC offered by high schools are also set up to "provide an opportunity for a student to earn TSI exemption prior to high school graduation," (THECB, 2014). A list of CPC and HB 5 related tools offered by Education Service Centers (ESC) can be found here.

The webinar is now available to the public. In addition, the power point presentation also can be accessed.