September 2024
Read the September e-newsletter here! Poll Reveals Texas Teachers' Struggles...
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Defending the honor of Texas students and educators since 2004.
DATA POINTS
Texas Ranks 5th in High School Graduation Rates!
Texas public schools are doing better than 90% of the states in the nation in graduation rates! Texas graduation rates rank 5th, well above the national average. In fact, when you break down the graduation rate by sub-populations, Texas is in the top four in several categories: 2nd among Asian students, 2nd among Black students, 2nd among White students, 2nd among Economically Disadvantaged students; and 4th among Hispanic students.
Five Cities with the Best High School Graduation Rates are all in One State...TEXAS!
Almost 85% of public high school students in the United States now graduate with a regular diploma within four years of starting ninth grade - a record high - according to a study by the National Center for Education Statistics. The location of the cities where the most people graduate high school, however, might surprise you. Using data from the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute's Country Health Rankings and Roadmaps, 24/7 Wall St. identified the metropolitan areas with the highest graduation rates according to the latest available research, and the top five (plus one more in the top ten) were all in the same state: Texas!
Texas 8th Graders Consistently Beat National Average on NAEP Math & Science Assessments
Since 2000, Texas public school students have consistently scored above the national average on the 8th grade NAEP Math assessment. Since 2009, Texas 8th graders have scored above their national peers in NAEP Science assessment.
Achievement Archive
STUDENTS IN SPECIAL EDUCATION PROGRAMS IMPROVE EOC EXAM PERFORMANCE
The Performance-Based Monitoring Analysis System (PBMAS) Manual is a comprehensive technical resource designed to explain each year's PBMAS indicators and reports of a district's special populations. The PBMAS is used by the Texas Education Agency as part of its overall evaluation of school district performance and program effectiveness. Based on this information, special education (SPED) students have made gains the past three years with the greatest gains in math at 11.7%
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MORE THAN 98% OF TEXAS ISD'S EARN PASSING RATINGS FOR FISCAL RESPONSIBILITY
Nearly 99% of Texas ISDs earned passing ratings for fiscal responsibility from the state legislature's Financial Integrity Rating System of Texas (FIRST). FIRST ensures that Texas public schools are held accountable for the quality of their financial management practices and promotes the improvement of those practices. The system is designed to encourage Texas public schools to better manage their financial resources to provide the maximum allocation possible for direct instructional purposes.
TEXAS'S ECONOMICALLY DISADVANTAGED POPULATION HAS HIGHEST GRADUATION RATE IN U.S. WHEN COMPARED TO PEERS
The Texas economically disadvantaged student population, which amounts to 60% of total statewide enrollment in our public schools, has the highest graduation rate in America at 85.6% when compared to the economically disadvantaged student populations in every other state. Great things are happening in Texas Public Schools!
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TEXAS STUDENTS ACHIEVE STRONG GAINS IN ALL SUBJECTS ON 2019 STAAR EXAMS!
Results for the 2019 spring administration of the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness (STAAR) tests reveal high school end-of-course assessments were particularly strong, with gains in all subjects compared to 2018.
IMMEDIATE COLLEGE ENROLLMENT REACHES AN ALL-TIME HIGH!
The immediate college enrollment rate for high school completers increased from 63 percent in 2000 to 70 percent in 2016. The enrollment rate for those from high-income families (83 percent) was higher than the rate for those from low-income (67 percent) and middle-income families (64 percent) in 2016. The gap in enrollment rates between low- and high-income students narrowed from 30 percentage points in 2000 to 16 percentage points in 2016.
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TEXAS GRADUATION RATES ARE AMONG THE HIGHEST IN AMERICA!
The May 2018 e-edition of The National Center for Education Statistics reports that Texas ranked near the top in the country in graduation rates as measured by the adjusted cohort graduation rate (ACGR).
This indicator examines the percentage of public high school students who graduate on time, as measured by the adjusted cohort graduation rate (ACGR). State education agencies calculate the ACGR by identifying the "cohort" of first-time 9th-graders in a particular school year. The cohort is then adjusted by adding any students who transfer into the cohort after 9th grade and subtracting any students who transfer out, emigrate to another country, or die. The ACGR is the percentage of students in this adjusted cohort who graduate within 4 years with a regular high school diploma.
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TEXAS PUBLIC SCHOOLS CLASS OF 2016 ON-TIME GRADUATION RATE REACHED ALL-TIME HIGH FOR 9TH CONSECUTIVE YEAR AT 89.1%...WITH 4.2% CONTINUING FOR the 5TH YEAR AND .5% EARNING GED.
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TEXAS LEADS NATION IN EARLY COLLEGE HIGH SCHOOL PROGRAMS
Texas has more early college high school campuses and more students participating in early college high school programs than any other state in the nation.
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TEXAS LEADS U.S. IN NAEP EIGHTH-GRADE MATHEMATICS GAINS AMONG MEGA-STATES
The average mathematics score for Texas eighth-graders was 32 points higher in 2011 than in1990. This increase was larger than all the other Mega-States. Texas was also the only Mega-State to score higher than the national average in 2011.
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MEGA-STATES: AN OVERVIEW by the National Center for Education Statistics. Mega-States are California, Florida, Illinois, New York, and Texas, which in total enroll close to 40% of the nation’s public school students:
AFRICAN-AMERICAN STUDENTS IN TEXAS POST GREATEST GAINS AMONG MEGA-STATES ON NAEP MATH
African-American eighth-graders in Texas scored 42 points higher in 2011 than in 1990, which was a larger gain than in any of the Mega-States.
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TEXAS STUDENTS RANK HIGH IN COMPARISON OF TOP-PERFORMING NATIONS
Texas students beat Finland, England, Germany, France, and most other countries around the world when translating their scores on NAEP (National Assessment of Educational Progress) to results on TIMSS (Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study), the same benchmark so often used by critics and reformers to demonstrate how far behind American students are from the rest of the world. Texas students rank 8th in the world in math and 11th in science. The National Center for Education Statistics linked the scale of NAEP to the scale of TIMSS so that states can reasonably compare their students' performance with those in other countries.
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U.S. STUDENTS RANK NO. 1 INTERNATIONALLY IN READING
When comparing students in similar socio-economic groups, U.S. students rank first in the world in reading, as measured by the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA). Though overall Finland outscores the U.S. in reading with a PISA score of 536 to 500, Finland is at a distinct advantage with a poverty rate of only 3.4%. The U.S. poverty rate is 21.7% and climbing. In this comparison, the U.S. ranks 12th out of 23 ranked countries. However, when comparing U.S. schools with less than 10% poverty to those countries with less than 10% poverty, U.S. ranks No. 1 with a PISA score of 551, beating even Finland.
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TEXAS ISD'S OUTPERFORM THEIR CHARTER SCHOOL COUNTERPARTS ON STATE RATINGS
The new Texas accountability ratings reveal that 92.59% of school districts across Texas have achieved the rating of Met Standard. The percentage of charter schools earning the “Met Standard” rating was 81.77%. Districts, campuses and charters receive one of three ratings under the accountability system: Met Standard; Met Alternative Standard; or Improvement Required.
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STUDENT PARTICIPATION IN AP EXAMS MORE THAN DOUBLED OVER THE LAST DECADE
The number of Texas graduates taking at least one Advanced Placement exam has more than doubled during the past decade. The number of low-income graduates taking at least one AP Exam has more than quadrupled. According to the College Board’s 10th Annual AP Report to the Nation, Texas students in the Class of 2013 again made a strong showing. The report shows the number of Texas students who scored 3 or higher on an AP exam (52,167) in 2013 was greater than the number of all Texas high school students who took an AP exam in 2003 (48,500).
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