$450,000 grant awarded to TNTP to strengthen teacher certification in Houston-area school districts

Houston Endowment has awarded TNTP a $450,000 grant to support four Houston-area school districts—Fort Bend ISD, Houston ISD, Humble ISD, and Pasadena ISD—in implementing innovative plans to increase their number of certified teachers. TNTP will also lead three regional certification exam preparation sprints, allowing hundreds of teachers from across Houston to increase their likelihood of passing the EC-6 Core Subjects Exam, a teacher certification exam.

The grant comes at a pivotal moment for Texas schools as more than half of teachers hired statewide in the 2023–24 school year were unlicensed. Under House Bill 2 (HB2), signed into law in June 2025, school districts must reduce their reliance on uncertified teachers in core subjects to no more than 20% by the 2026–27 school year, with the cap dropping incrementally to just 5% by the 2029-30 school year.

Among Texas’ four largest urban centers, Greater Houston has the highest percentage of uncertified teachers at 12%. Research shows uncertified teachers leave the classroom at nearly double the rate of their certified peers—64% versus 34% within the first five years. Across the four school districts included in the grant, a total of more than 2,000 teachers are currently uncertified.

“Every student in the Houston region deserves a well-prepared, certified teacher in their classroom, and research shows significant learning loss when school systems are unable to provide this,” said August Hamilton, Program Director at Houston Endowment. “That’s why our partnership with TNTP is so important—by helping districts remove barriers to certification and directly supporting teachers to pass their exams, we are ensuring more students have access to high-quality instruction that sets them up for success in school and beyond.”

Over the course of spring 2025, TNTP and the Houston Endowment convened the four districts to:

• Build a shared understanding of the challenges facing the Houston-area teacher workforce;
• Explore the underlying barriers that prevent current teachers from achieving certification; and
• Develop and refine district-specific action plans to grow and sustain a fully certified workforce.

With this new grant, TNTP will provide 16 months of technical assistance to help the districts implement their strategies. In addition, each district will receive up to $350,000 in seed funding from Houston Endowment to put their action plans into practice.

“We’re thrilled to partner with Houston Endowment to expand the pipeline of certified teachers in the Houston region,” said Christine Briggs, Consulting Partner at TNTP. “In the wake of HB2, this is a powerful opportunity to ensure more students benefit from certified, committed teachers and that Texas schools are better prepared for the future.”

For more information, visit HoustonEndowment.org or TNTP.org