Program History

In 2003, The Greater Houston Partnership began to look for ways it could use its resources as the city’s leading business organization to address the issue of workforce preparedness in the 21st century.

The GHP's Education and Workforce Advisory Committee contacted Houston A+ Challenge to help design and launch a new initiative aimed at improving the real-world relevance of learning in the classroom. One outcome of this partnership has been teacher externships.

As positive feedback has spread among educators, participation requests have soared.

In 2008, more than 250 classroom teachers from 18 school districts went to work at more than 70 businesses from across the Houston region.

This is more than double the 100 teachers who participated in 2007. Just six teachers and seven companies were involved when this program began in 2003.

To see a list of participants in each year, 2003-09, click here.