Austin Chamber debuts 2013 Education Progress Reports

Each year, the Austin Chamber leads regional efforts to collect K–12 student performance data. This year's reports include information from the 2011–12 school year as well 2013 STAAR results and highlight key factors such as graduation rates and college readiness.

The reports cover 12 school districts in Central Texas including Austin ISD, Hays CISD, Hutto ISD, Leander ISD, Pflugerville ISD, Round Rock ISD, and San Marcos CISD. Local results will be included in upcoming editions of Community Impact Newspaper.

Regional results included:

• In 2012, the average college- and career-readiness rate was 61 percent, compared with 44 percent among the same group of school districts in 2007. About 8,316 college- and career-ready students were deemed college- and career-ready in the class of 2012, compared with 4,509 in 2007.
• 86 percent of eighth-graders passed the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness, or STAAR, exams. More rigorous standards will be implemented in 2016, and under those standards 44 percent of students would have passed.
• The direct-to-college enrollment rate—the percentage of graduates who went on to enroll in a university, community college or technical school immediately after high school—has remained relatively flat for the past six years.
• As of mid-March, 81 percent of the class of 2014 has applied to at least one Texas public or private institution of higher education.

Catherine Morse, 2014 chair of the Chamber's Education Progress Reports and vice president for Samsung Austin Semiconductor, noted significant gains among economically disadvantaged students in districts including Leander ISD, Round Rock ISD and Hutto ISD.

"At 91 percent, the region has earned the highest four-year graduation rate in memory," she said. "Central Texas has an 11 percentage point increase in its four-year graduation rates since 2007, even as graduation tests got harder. Our educators deserve a tremendous amount of credit; we've seen some huge improvements."

The full reports can be accessed at www.austinchamber.com/edureports.