What a difference a year makes.
Over the past twelve months, LONESTARP3 expanded our statewide community, created new research tools, and brought four Pathways Research Collaboratives to the threshold of publication. We gathered in virtual rooms and around tables in Lubbock, welcomed new members and leaders, and began shaping the questions that will guide our work in public education finance, teacher workforce, and early childhood education.
This fall, we begin sharing what we have learned and working with partners across Texas to put those insights to use.
Research Moving Toward Action
Our four Pathways Research Collaboratives are completing studies of academic and career advising, dual-credit academic and workforce education, workforce-aligned instruction, and students’ postsecondary pursuits. Along the way, the teams have brought together researchers, education leaders, policy partners, and community perspectives from across Texas. Now they are turning their findings into policy briefs, practice guides, presentations, and other resources that will help education and policy leaders interpret the evidence and apply it within their own contexts.
In December, the Pathways findings will take center stage at the 2026 LONESTARP3 Success Summit. The invitation-only convening will bring together leaders from across sectors to explore the implications of the research and identify opportunities for action. After the Summit, LONESTARP3 will share new research resources and continue the conversation through CONNECT Virtual sessions, while members will carry the findings into their organizations and communities.
We also laid the foundation for LONESTARP3’s next areas of inquiry. Over the past year, LONESTARP3 completed statewide landscape analyses in public education finance, teacher workforce, and early childhood education. By bringing together existing research, data, and policy context, these analyses clarified what Texas already knows and where important questions remain. They served as the starting point for a statewide process to identify shared research priorities in each topic. This fall, we will publish the resulting research agendas, making visible the questions that will guide LONESTARP3’s next generation of Research Collaboratives.
Ways to Connect in the Year Ahead
CONNECT Virtual sessions offer an informal, interactive space to learn what is happening across the Network. This year’s sessions will feature new data and visualization tools, previews of Pathways findings and forthcoming resources, perspectives on the 90th Texas Legislature, and examples of how organizations are using research to inform policy and practice. We will also introduce new Research Collaboratives and invite members to contribute to their emerging designs.
LONESTARP3 LIVE! will continue to bring leading voices into candid, real-time conversations about the issues shaping Texas education. These livestream interviews move beyond prepared presentations to explore how leaders understand the challenges before us, what they are learning from their work, and where research might help move Texas forward. Stay tuned for the announcement of dates and speakers.
None of these milestones belongs to LONESTARP3 alone. They reflect the expertise, candor, curiosity, and commitment that members and partners bring to the Network—and the willingness of people across Texas to work beyond institutional and sector boundaries toward shared goals.
We begin this year with more evidence to share, more questions to pursue, and more ways to connect what we know with what Texas students and communities need. Looking forward to taking those next steps with you!
