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MasteryPrep Boot Camps Propel Garland ISD to Record College-Readiness Gains

  • Onalee Smith
  • August 28, 2025

Halfway through the 2024-25 school year, leaders at Garland Independent School District (ISD) knew they were facing a race against the clock. Students had just months before graduation to meet Texas Success Initiative (TSI) benchmarks. The question was how to help them close that gap in time.

Their solution to improving college readiness across the district came in the form of high-energy, high-impact MasteryPrep Boot Camps for the TSIA2. In 2024-25, all seven Garland ISD high schools hosted full-day Boot Camp sessions for seniors, targeting those who had come close to the TSI standard but needed one more strong test performance to put them over the edge.

The result was a year-over-year increase of 6 percentage points—from 34% to 40%—in TSI-met seniors, one of the largest gains in the district’s history.

Garland ISD

  • 67 Campuses, Including 7 High Schools
  • 51,000+ Students in Grades K-12

Garland Independent School District is second-largest school district in Dallas County, the 15th largest in Texas and one of the 100 largest in America, serving a diverse student body across 67 schools.

  • A Districtwide Challenge in Texas

Garland ISD, one of the largest districts in Texas and one of the 100 largest in America, serves a diverse student body across 67 schools. For years, too many seniors across seven high schools were graduating without meeting TSI benchmarks, putting them at risk for costly, time-consuming remedial coursework in college, according to Jana Jones, Secondary School Design CCMR Coordinator for Garland ISD.

The district had worked with MasteryPrep in the past, but this time, district leaders wanted a targeted strategy that could quickly deliver measurable results.

“We wanted to make sure students had every possible opportunity before walking across that stage,” Jones says. “For some students, it was the difference between graduating ready for college and starting with remedial classes.”

  • MasteryPrep Boot Camps Take Center Stage

In spring 2025, Garland ISD made Boot Camps for the TSIA2 the centerpiece of its test prep plan. These sessions combined focused content review with test-taking strategies tailored to specific skills.

“The Boot Camps gave us a way to focus on exactly what each student needed, instead of trying to reteach the whole course,” Jones says.

The district’s Boot Camps were intentionally designed for students who had previously attempted the TSIA2 but had not yet reached CCMR benchmarks.

Teachers and facilitators focused on the most impactful skills for improving scores, such as eliminating incorrect answers, identifying key details, and avoiding overthinking, paired with targeted content review using real practice questions and immediate feedback.

“When students realize they’re just a couple of points away, it changes everything,” Jones says. “They show up ready to work, and the Boot Camp gives them that final push.”

  • Coordinated Implementation Across a Large District

Running Boot Camps across seven high schools required careful coordination between district and campus teams. CCMR staff worked with principals and counselors to identify the students, schedule sessions, and ensure consistent program delivery, while MasteryPrep collaborated with campuses and adjusted session formats to fit their needs.

These sessions took place during the school day to ensure high attendance. Some campuses hosted multiple Boot Camps to reach different groups of students based on the subjects where they needed the most help, and facilitators adapted instruction to address the most common skill gaps at each site.

Jones points to this consistent, high-quality execution as a significant factor in the program’s success.

“It was so successful that campuses were asking for more sessions before the year was even over,” Jones says.

  • Record Gains for Garland’s Seniors

By the end of the 2024-25 school year, more than 1,200 Garland ISD students participated in Boot Camps. Jones noted that every senior who hadn’t yet met the TSI benchmarks had at least one opportunity to attend a Boot Camp.

Districtwide, the senior class posted one of the largest TSI-met increases in recent years, a result Jones credits directly to the Boot Camp initiative. In the middle of the school year, the district’s TSI-met rate was about 31%. After the spring Boot Camp push, the district finished the year at 40%—a 9 percentage-point rise in one semester, much of it achieved within the March-to-May Boot Camp window.

School leaders now have a proven tool to drive measurable gains at the campus level, giving them a replicable strategy to support seniors in meeting college-readiness benchmarks.

Since the end of the 2023-24 school year, North Garland High School’s TSI-met rate has jumped from 46.8% to 52.6% after hosting multiple MasteryPrep Boot Camps—meaning the majority of students graduated ready for college-level coursework.

Naaman Forest High School recorded a double-digit increase (from 26.5% to 36.7%), with many seniors meeting their benchmarks on their very next attempt. South Garland High School’s TSI-met rate also jumped from 13.1% to 20.8% in a year.

Percentage of all graduates achieving Texas Success Initiative (TSI) standards in Math and Reading by exam only

  • Shifting Mindsets and Building Confidence

While the numbers stand out, Jones also highlights a mindset shift among students. Boot Camps gave them not only the academic tools to succeed but also the confidence to believe they could.

Teachers and facilitators observed that students entered the sessions feeling uncertain and left with a clear sense of readiness. The mix of targeted practice, personalized coaching, and a focused, single-day format proved to be a winning combination.

“When students master a college-readiness test, they start to see themselves as college-ready students,” Jones says.

Related Reading

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  • Scaling and Sustaining Success

With the success of the 2024-25 program, Garland ISD plans to continue and expand Boot Camps in the coming school year. Leaders are exploring ways to offer them earlier in high school so students have more time to meet the TSI benchmarks.

“We’ve seen what’s possible,” she says. “Now we’re going to keep pushing for even better results.”

For Jones, the gains made this year are not the end of the story but the beginning of a long-term shift in how the district prepares students for postsecondary success.

Unpaid testimonial. Individual results may vary, and testimonials are not claimed to represent typical results. TSIA2 score average and gain data are courtesy of MasteryPrep clients and based on year-over-year test data for the same cohort. All testimonials are real participants and are not intended to represent or guarantee that anyone will achieve the same or similar results.

MasteryPrep Test Prep Solutions for the TSIA2

From MasteryPrep Boot Camps to our standards-aligned curriculum and online course, our high-impact solutions for the TSIA2 provide schools and districts with test prep programs educators can implement throughout the school year.
Learn More
Picture of About the Author: Onalee Smith
About the Author: Onalee Smith

Onalee Smith is a content marketer and writer with over 15 years of experience helping brands tell better stories. She specializes in editorial strategy and SEO-driven content that connects with audiences and drives measurable results. Her work spans industries including education, publishing, and professional services. Onalee began her career marketing children’s and young adult literature, collaborating with bestselling authors and national literacy programs. Today, she partners with mission-driven organizations to craft content that informs and inspires. She holds degrees in Editing, Writing, and Media Studies, as well as International Affairs, from Florida State University. Based in Asheville, North Carolina, she enjoys hiking, spending time with her pets, and pursuing her hobby of floral design.

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