Blackshear chief earns Elementary Principal of the Year

From OA Online, July 11, 2022

When a group of Ector County ISD officials turned up at Blackshear Magnet Elementary School, Principal Valerie Rivera thought the campus had won a grant or someone else was getting an award.

But that person was her. Rivera was recognized with the Elementary Principal of the Year award recently.

In her 28th year with ECISD, she has helmed Blackshear for four years. Rivera started as a bilingual teacher and worked her way up to assistant principal and principal.

Read the full article here.

Keep Learning

New Staffing Models Put Strong Teachers Out Front

From The 74, by Greg Toppo, July 29, 2026 In Carlsbad, N.M., a tiny district in the southeastern corner of the state, nine of its 12 schools have turned teacher assignments upside-down, inviting their best teachers to coach a team of colleagues, model lessons and take...

Rethinking Teaching: New Ways to Staff America’s Schools

From Bipartisan Policy Center, July 8, 2026, by Adam Johnston Why America’s One-Teacher Classroom Needs to Change American classrooms in 2026, in which one teacher instructs 20 to 30 students, are strikingly similar to those from 100 years ago. Most teachers, like a...

ECISD announces $6.3 million in Teacher Incentive Allotment awards

From Odessa American, May 14, 2026 Ector County ISD on Thursday handed out big checks to teachers who earned a designation in the state’s Teacher Incentive Allotment (TIA) program. This year 532 ECISD teachers were designated by the state, including 175 who are newly...