Communities In Schools of Central Texas

Communities In Schools of Central Texas (CISCT) surrounds students with a community of support, empowering them to stay in school and achieve in life.

CISCT envisions a Central Texas where all children have access to needed school-based support, resources, and opportunities so they are successful in school, graduate, and become contributing members of society.

Goal One: Succeed in school: We will ensure that CISCT students improve academics, behavior, & attendance so they are on track for graduation and post-secondary opportunities.

Goal Two: Achieve in life: We will ensure more students attain a post-secondary credential because education is the ticket to a secure future that can bolster racial & economic equity within our communities.

Goal Three: Serve more students: CISCT will continue to increase its impact to meet the need in our rapidly growing region, giving more students access to the supports that they need to succeed in school.

CISCT has partnered with Leadership Austin to create and operate its own "Communities In Schools Leadership Academy" to develop and grow current and future leaders. This 6-month leadership development curriculum is taught by an experienced community leader and attended by cohorts of CISCT employees who are selected by external reviewers through a competitive application process.

After 25 years of supporting male student success, CISCT launched the new Male Student Achievement Program (MSAP) in fall 2023. We have brought together resources, best practices, and programmatic learnings from our chapter of the My Brother's Keeper Scholars (MBKS) program and CISCT's longstanding XY-Zone program to guide this new initiative. We are grateful for the tireless efforts of our Male Leadership Coaches (formerly XY-Zone Coordinators) and Higher Education Coaches (formerly MBKS Higher Ed Advisors), who are undertaking the launch of the program within 12 high schools across 5 school districts. Through their hard work, MSAP will provide culturally responsive workforce development and post-secondary readiness for male students to set them up for college and career success. MSAP will build from our deep work in schools and classrooms to bolster the academic performance of our most marginalized students. The research is clear: positive relationships work for all students. Students with at least one caring developmental relationship are 55% more likely to enroll in college, 78% more likely to volunteer regularly, and 130% more likely to hold leadership positions than their unmentored peers. Yet we know that sometimes individual interventions are not enough, so we are also announcing the launch of the Male Student Success Coalition (MSSC), to unite community leaders in a shared commitment to improving academic outcomes for male students in Central Texas. This group of passionate change-makers will uplift and empower boys to succeed in school and achieve in life.