I grew up moving.
Nine schools before I graduated high school. Being the new kid that many times does something to you. You stop feeling attached. You don’t develop pride in where you are. You learn to slip through the cracks quietly, and nobody notices because nobody is looking.
I was naturally ahead at most of those schools. But natural ability without challenge goes nowhere. So I coasted. I did just enough to keep my grades above average because nobody pushed me further.
One of the exceptions was my high school principal. He took me on a college tour with his sons and a couple other classmates. That changed the direction of my life.
I went on to graduate from Prairie View A&M University with a degree in Computer Engineering. I have spent over 20 years in technology making data-driven decisions for a living.
Now, I’m married. My wife and I have a five year old son and a three year old daughter. And the fear that lives in the back of my mind is that I won’t push them hard enough. That they will slip through the same cracks I did. That the school they attend will see them without ever truly seeing them.
That fear is what became TexasTEA Tool. A free tool that lets any Black family in Texas look up how Black students are performing at any school in the state, compared to every other group, using the most recent data available. I built it because I want my children to know what’s possible. I built it because every Black child deserves a principal who sees them. And until that’s true everywhere, they at least deserve the data.
This publication is what comes next.
Rashad
The Light Bearer
