About us

The STAR Center (Support for Texas Academic Renewal) is one of 15 comprehensive technical assistance centers funded by the U.S. Department of Education.

Using a comprehensive, integrated-programs approach, the STAR Center provides support and technical assistance services to the Texas Education Agency, regional service centers, and local Texas school districts in their school improvement efforts. The STAR Center offers support to low-performing or at-risk Texas campuses in the following areas:

• school-wide and systemic reform through the establishment of ongoing professional development for school support teams;
• parental and community involvement efforts through focused assistance to selected local school/family contacts, and assistance in the creation or refinement of policies and products that develop and sustain increased parental participation in schools;
• dissemination of information on effective practices in high poverty, high achieving schools, including the production of videos and other vehicles for information exchange, and training designed to support schools in learning from research;
• support for local districts in identifying or replicating successful models that schools can use to improve student achievement through the coordination of funds and programs;
• regional training and technical assistance to federal and state ESL and bilingual program staff for the purpose of promoting successful strategies for educating limited English-proficient students, including the integration of services across programs including Title I, migrant etc.; and
• technical assistance to selected local education agencies related to state performance standards and student assessment to ensure compliance with federal NCLB legislative requirements and the attainment of state achievement standards.

The Intercultural Development Research Association (IDRA) heads the STAR Center in partnership with RMC Research Corporation, directed by Dr. Shelley Billig, and the Charles A. Dana Center at The University of Texas at Austin, directed by Dr. Uri Treisman. IDRA Executive Director Dr. María "Cuca" Robledo Montecel serves as the principal investigator for the STAR Center.