Raising Blended Learners

Raising Blended Learners (RBL) was an eight-year demonstration initiative showcasing strategies for using blended and personalized learning to improve student achievement across diverse student urban, rural and suburban settings and the diverse student populations that comprise the state of Texas, particularly among schools and districts with persistent opportunity gaps.

Our ultimate goal was for blended learning to be systematically utilized throughout Texas and serve as a replicable model for all educators.

Letter from the
Charles Butt Foundation

The Charles Butt Foundation (formerly the Raise Your Hand Texas Foundation) has always been committed to fostering innovation – innovation that serves as a catalyst for scaling and sustaining best practices in education.

In 2015, our founder, Charles Butt, posed a series of transformative questions: How can we prepare Texas students with the skills needed for a 21st-century workforce? How can technology enhance learning in meaningful and equitable ways? How do we create systems that sustain innovative teaching across Texas, a state known for its diversity and scale?

These questions became our charge: to research, develop, and propose a pilot program to address these challenges and support Texas schools in implementing and scaling educational best practices.

Blended learning – an approach combining in-person teaching with online tools to personalize instruction – emerged as a promising strategy to power personalized, student-centered learning at scale.

Our research led us to pioneers in disruptive innovation, including:

• the Christensen Institute, whose work helped define the nascent blended learning field;
• Blended: Using Disruptive Innovation to Improve Schools by Michael B. Horn and Heather Staker;
• Dallas ISD, which was an early adopter of personalized learning approaches;
• and, thought partners such as the CA Group.

With research in hand, direct observations from the field, and connections with experts, we launched the Raising Blended Learners initiative. This eight-year demonstration project showcased strategies for using blended and personalized learning to improve student outcomes across Texas – offering a replicable model for educators everywhere.

Through this initiative, we discovered that what initially seemed like innovative approaches to teaching and learning were, at their core, simply best practices – and represent the future of instruction and student agency. Just as each learner’s journey is personalized in a blended learning classroom, each district’s path to success is unique. Districts achieving the greatest long-term success were those that integrated blended learning into their core instructional practices.

This report provides an in-depth look at the development, implementation, and impact of the Raising Blended Learners initiative. You’ll find key insights from the eight-year journey, case studies from exemplar district pilots, program outcomes, and a preview of how personalized learning is scaling across Texas – catalyzation of the work that was always our goal.

We are proud to note that what started as a small pilot program successfully resulted in system-wide change throughout the state of Texas through partnerships with school districts, lawmakers, and the Texas Education Agency. The Raising Blended Learners initiative helped inform legislation, Senate Bill 1318 (2017) and House Bill 3 (2019), supporting the development of TEA’s Math Innovation Zones and Blended Learning Grant Program. Additionally, the initiative paved the way for the Texas Center for Blended Learning, which is now facilitated by Texas Education Service Centers. Raising Blended Learners' philosophy, structures, and resources live on through an open-access platform supporting statewide and national efforts as our formal involvement concludes. 

As these practices evolve, we remain optimistic about their potential to create a stronger, more equitable, and successful public education system for all Texas students.

Sincerely,