![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/rice_tarletondualcredit_02--1024x683.jpg\")
Tameah Benton, center, smiles while in class at Tarleton State University Fort Worth on Dec. 12, 2025. (McKinnon Rice | Fort Worth Report)<\/p>\n\u201cWho should I pick to volunteer when I\u2019m picking students?\u201d Javier Ordo\u00f1ez asked his class. \u201cShould I pick the one who\u2019s really scared and shy?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSometimes.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Crowley ISD dual credit students had differing ideas.<\/p>\n
\u201cUltimately, guys, it\u2019s your class,\u201d said Ordo\u00f1ez, who is the education and training department head for Crowley ISD. \u201cYou\u2019re going to know your students better than anyone.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Although still high schoolers themselves, the students are already preparing for a potential career in a K-12 classroom through a new dual credit program at Tarleton State University Fort Worth aimed at fostering the next generation of teachers.\u00a0<\/p>\n
This fall marked the beginning of the education pathway program aimed to meet a local need as the state struggles to retain its educators.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The knowledge students gain could also be applied to fields such as social work or psychology, Ordo\u00f1ez said, but most of the students do want to become teachers.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He hopes they will return to Crowley ISD classrooms, where more than 60% of students are considered at risk of dropping out.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese types of communities are in great need of educators who are passionate and committed to what they do,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m definitely looking forward to seeing them progress through my program, seeing them be successful in another program and hopefully coming back home to where I can send my new kids out to them to learn from.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tarleton State Fort Worth and Crowley ISD are in the second year of their dual credit partnerships. The education program came out of joint recognition that a pathway for future educators was needed, said Rachael Capua, dean of the university\u2019s Fort Worth campus.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Tarleton State also would like to see the students return to local classrooms as teachers, she said, adding that this is one reason for the investment in the pathway.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cHow special will it be that some of these students will actually come back to teach within the Crowley Independent School District, or others coming back to teach within Fort Worth ISD, or within, really, an ISD within their own neighborhoods or their own communities?\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
She said the university hopes to expand the program to serve more students in the future.<\/p>\n
One student currently in the program is Na\u2019Kiya May, a North Crowley High School junior with aspirations of becoming a teacher like her mother.<\/p>\n
May said she has learned more in Ordo\u00f1ez\u2019s class than any other, and it has helped her build her confidence.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I first got to this class, I didn\u2019t really like talking in front of the class,\u201d she said. \u201cI just kind of kept quiet, stayed in the back, but Mr. Ordo\u00f1ez, he helped me make a better version of myself. Now I\u2019m more talkative, more open and I\u2019m not afraid to just get up in front of the class.\u201d<\/p>\n
She has especially enjoyed working with students as a teacher aide at Crowley Montessori Academy through the program, she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt just makes me want to keep going, to get to where I want to be, because I want to be a kindergarten teacher whenever I graduate, get everything that I need to achieve that goal,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
North Crowley High School junior Tameah Benton plans to pursue a career in health care but said she has enjoyed participating in the pathway program.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Tameah Benton, center, smiles while in class at Tarleton State University Fort Worth on Dec. 12, 2025. (McKinnon Rice | Fort Worth Report)<\/p>\n
Although she does not plan to become a teacher, impactful teachers in her life have inspired her, she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI really always had cool teachers,\u201d she said. \u201cThey always made me feel like I belonged in the class that they were in, whether it was an on-level or high-achieving class, like honors. I feel like teaching, it really inspired me to want to help others.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ordo\u00f1ez, for his part, is proud of how far his students have come.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cAs the semester has gone, you\u2019ve seen them get comfortable and grow on their strengths and really, really come out of their shell,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s been amazing to see how much of a difference these kids have gone through since the beginning of the year.\u201d<\/p>\n
McKinnon Rice is the higher education reporter for the Fort Worth Report. Contact her at mckinnon.rice@fortworthreport.org<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n The Fort Worth Report partners with Open Campus on higher education coverage.<\/p>\n