The Permian Strategic Partnership Invests in Our Youngest Readers
The PSP is launching the Permian Literacy Initiative, a multiyear pilot program to strengthen early literacy reading instruction.
There is a brief, critical window in a child’s life when learning to read either clicks or it doesn’t. For most children, that window opens in kindergarten and closes somewhere around second grade. What happens during those few years shapes everything that comes after.
According to the National Assessment Governing Board, reading performance among students is at some of its lowest levels in decades. About 40% of fourth-grade students and one-third of eighth-grade students are reading below the National Assessment Educational Progress Basic benchmark.
The Permian Strategic Partnership has committed $5.5 million to reverse that trend in West Texas by launching the Permian Literacy Initiative, a multiyear pilot program to strengthen early literacy reading instruction, reaching 2,900 students across 10 elementary schools in Ector County ISD (ECISD) and Midland ISD (MISD). The Permian Strategic Partnership (PSP) is a coalition of 25 leading Permian Basin energy companies and two university systems who have joined together to work in partnership with leaders across the region’s communities to address current and future challenges to the responsible development of the vast oil and natural gas resources of the Permian Basin in the states of New Mexico and Texas.
“The PSP is proud to support and accelerate these efforts as part of our long-standing investment in expanding educational growth across the Permian Basin. We are grateful for our partnerships with both Midland ISD and Ector County ISD,” says Tracee Bentley, president and CEO of the Permian Strategic Partnership.
Leading this literacy effort is the Meadows Center for Preventing Educational Risk (MCPER) based at The University of Texas at Austin. MCPER brings decades of literacy research into real classrooms, working alongside teachers and school leaders rather than handing down programs from the outside.
“Learning to read is one of the most important milestones in a student’s educational journey,” says Letti Romero Grimaldo, Ph.D., senior project manager at MCPER. “This initiative focuses on the years when literacy development has the greatest impact, and through our partnership with the Permian Strategic Partnership, we have the opportunity to work alongside teachers and educational leaders to strengthen literacy instruction.”
The initiative is built around proven approaches: strong core instruction for every student, extra support for those who need it, regular check-ins on how kids are doing, and ongoing professional development that improves what happens in a classroom day to day. Instead of a single training session, the program brings instructional coaches and researchers into schools twice a month. They observe classrooms, teach side by side with teachers and help plan lessons based on what they’re seeing.
“The Permian Strategic Partnership’s generous support allows these schools to accelerate reading outcomes for their students and be part of a lasting impact,” says Sharon Vaughn, Ph.D., executive director of MCPER.
The long-term vision is as ambitious as the work ahead. These pilot schools are a starting point, not a ceiling. Over time, the program could expand to reach far more students across the Permian Basin. The pilot includes clear success metrics, ongoing evaluation and a phased implementation approach designed to inform sustainability and potential future scaling.
District leaders in both Midland ISD and Ector County ISD will help shape how the initiative takes root in their schools, working closely with teachers and instructional coaches to adapt the program to their classrooms.
“We are grateful to have a partner like the Permian Strategic Partnership, one that values early childhood literacy as much as we do,” says Dr. Keeley Boyer, superintendent of schools for Ector County ISD. “In working with the UT Meadows Center, ECISD teachers will gain access to research, resources and rigorous professional development that will make them better and, in turn, help students learn to read. We all win in this partnership.”
“Three years ago, we began using structured literacy, brought back phonics-based instruction and have prioritized literacy in Midland ISD,” says Dr. Stephanie Howard, superintendent of Midland ISD. “This partnership will further support this work and our commitment to align our practices, strengthen instruction and ensure that every K-2 student receives the high-quality literacy experiences they deserve.”
Every student deserves the chance to become a strong reader, and in these Permian Basin schools, teachers will now have UT Austin’s proven research and professional development support to help make that happen.
