March News for our District Partners

March News for District Partners

This month’s newsletter focuses on planning for 2026-2027 and provides more detail on our upcoming in-person Summer Summit in Garland on June 8, as well as our virtual Spring Summit on March 26.

Based on some of the questions we have received about 2026-2027, we also want to reiterate an important clarification: Texas College Bridge will continue to provide an exemption to TSI testing, as mandated by HB 5.

We have great support from higher ed institutions across Texas, providing a TSI waiver to graduating seniors who have completed our college prep courses. No other HB 5 college prep offering provides this breadth of postsecondary opportunity for your students, and we sincerely hope that you will keep this in mind as you consider how your district will continue to satisfy your college prep requirement.

TCB Program and Procurement for 2026-2027

This past month, we have sent individual emails to all of our participating districts with information about our 2026-2027 fee structure along with quotes for continuing participation in Texas College Bridge.

For the 2026-2027 school year, participating districts will have unlimited licenses for 12th grade students taking TCB HB 5 College Prep AND for 8th – 11th grade students taking our new TCB TSIA2 Test Prep – at no extra cost.

We are excited to serve your wider college readiness needs with this expanded program, including TSIA2 Test Prep, HB 5 College Prep and our College and Career Support modules. With this offering, you will not only meet your HB 5 college prep requirement but also have the potential to improve TSIA2 passing rates for your district.

Please help us plan for the 2026-2027 by completing this non-binding interest form here.

The updated 2026-2027 Vendor Packet, Procurement FAQ, and resources to help with the payment process can be found on the Resource tab of our website. All districts renewing must sign the Standard Student Data Privacy Agreement for 2026-27.

If you are a district coordinator, and/or have responsibility for procurement/payment of Texas College Bridge, and did not receive an email, please email Leah Ballard of our team.

2025-2026 School Year Sign-up Deadline

For districts still wishing to participate in Texas College Bridge for the current 2025-2026 school year, the deadline for sign-up is April 1, 2026.

Please email Leah Ballard of our team for a current year quote and vendor packet.

Upcoming Events

Spring Virtual Mini-Summit on Thursday, March 26

Join us on Thursday, March 26 from 9:00 am – 11:00 am for our Spring Virtual Event, hosted on the Accelevents platform.

The agenda for this free virtual event – open to all Texas LEAs and colleges -- will include a review of the TCB 2026-2027 program, including our new TSIA2 Test Prep offering which is currently in pilot with nearly 100 districts. We’ll also review the Phase 5 evaluation of Texas College Bridge.

Click to Register

Save the Date: Statewide Summer Conference on Monday, June 8

Our fourth statewide conference will be held at the Curtis Culwell Center in Garland, Texas on Monday, June 8, open to representatives from all Texas LEAs and colleges.

If you are interested in attending this event, please fill out this interest form to stay up to date on event information. Registration will open later this month and be sent out via email as well as posted on our website.

If you are interested in hosting a breakout session, please submit your proposal HERE. The deadline to submit your proposal is April 6 We will notify presenters selected by April 13.

For those of you who will be traveling to this event, we are pleased to share that we have negotiated preferred rates for Sunday night at the following area hotels:

Holiday Inn - an IHG Hotel

Group Rates - King ($89), Queen ($95)

Book by April 1

TCB Booking Link

Tru by Hilton

Group Rates - King ($95), Queen ($105)

Book by May 8

TCB Booking Link

Hyatt place Dallas/Garland/Richardson

Group Rates - King or Queen ($90)

Book by May 29

TCB Booking Link

If you plan to arrive the day before, we will be hosting a welcome reception on Sunday evening and invite you to join us for a little pre-event networking! The venue for the welcome reception will be forthcoming.

Recognizing our Teachers

On March 26, we will be announcing the 10 teachers randomly selected to receive complimentary hotel accommodation for the Sunday night before our Summer Conference. If you nominated a teacher for recognition, you will receive an email with this news.

To all of you who nominated an outstanding teacher, thank you again. Due to limitations with our website, we apologize for the delay in getting all of your recognitions on our homepage. Those limitations have been fixed, so you will now see all of the teacher recognitions posted by next week!

Updates on Essay Completions

As we approach Spring Break, we are also keeping a watchful eye on Essay completions, which English students must pass to earn their ELA certification of completion. To date, we have a little over 15,000 English students who have demonstrated 90% mastery of stage one and two and now only need a passing essay for completion.

Please help us ensure that these students do not miss out on their TSI exemption because of a missing or ungraded essay. If your instructors are having difficulty finding and/or grading student essays, please direct them to assistance in our help center.

We will also be offering extended office hours this spring to support course completion, in addition to our regular office help hours each Thursday afternoon.

More Ways to Keep in Touch: TCB Text Updates

The TCB team now has the ability to send SMS Texts to contact lists, which we plan to use for critical information and announcements as a complement to our regular email communications and newsletters. The service would also serve as an alternative way for you to contact us when emailing isn’t feasible.

If you would like to opt-in to receive text updates from Texas College Bridge, please fill out this form.