STEM programs, new graduation requirements are highlighted

Preparing students for college and career must continue to be the focus of Central Texas educators and business leaders, said Don Kendrick, the Greater Austin Chamber of Commerce education chairman.

At the chamber's 2013 State of Education luncheon Nov. 12, Kendrick said the region's direct-to-college enrollment rate has been flat for five years.

"We know that it coincides with a global recession, rising tuition, uncertain college financial aid and direct-to-college rates that have dropped nationally and in Texas. Holding our own may be a partial victory, but we have to do better," he said.

The chamber invests about $1.5 million annually in efforts to increase the percentage of Central Texans with a post-secondary degree, Kendrick said.

In June, 57 percent of the Central Texas high school class of 2013 had submitted the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, or FAFSA, representing a 100 percent improvement compared with 2008, he said. About 84 percent submitted an ApplyTexas Texas Common College application, up 49 percent from 2008, he said.

Nearly 40 percent of the 37,000 open jobs in Central Texas are in information technology, health care and management, Kendrick said.

Gregg Lowe, CEO of the Southwest Austin–based semiconductor producer Freescale, said corporations should work with schools to emphasize science, technology, engineering and math, or STEM.

"STEM is about opportunity," he said.

He noted many top-paying jobs are in STEM fields, and some CEOs of Fortune 500 companies have engineering degrees.

Kendrick said 80 percent of the class of 2013 in Central Texas schools completed chemistry, physics and algebra II classes.

New law brings changes

House Bill 5, signed into law in June, will cause many changes in Texas schools starting with the 2014–15 school year. Among them, a new graduation plan will replace existing graduation plans, and students will have to choose endorsements, or areas of concentration, upon entering ninth grade.

Kendrick said the chamber supports algebra II being in graduation plans.

In 2012, 80 percent of graduates completed the current default Recommended Plan, which required algebra II.

Under HB 5, the only graduation plan that requires algebra II is the Distinguished Achievement designation applied to the new Foundation graduation plan. The Distinguished plan is similar to the Recommended Plan.

Kendrick said schools should also offer applied versions of traditional courses.

"House Bill 5 has provided different pathways, and we have to make sure that students have the academic counseling and advising necessary to pick wisely among the different endorsements and pathways," Texas Higher Education Commissioner Raymund Paredes told attendees. " We have to do a better job of counseling students about where the jobs are," he said.