Previously, the school district relied on the Texas Academic Performance Reports, which are published each January and include data from two years prior. Christina Cole, CFISD's chief officer for school leadership, said the new report improves data accuracy and allows the district to better evaluate students' needs.
“To measure progress toward graduation, a new metric was created in an attempt to have timely data,” Cole said at the March 3 board meeting. “This is the first time that we’ve been able to pull the data based on a snapshot date so that we can have a just-in-time moment of where our kids are.”
In a nutshell
CFISD officials will present the report twice a year, once in the fall and once in the spring.
Cole said high school principals and coordinating counselors collaborated with administrators and staff to develop a strategic plan to raise graduation rates. The district aims to increase its four-year graduation rate from 92.3% to 95.9% by 2029, targeting a 1% yearly improvement.
“A lot of times, public schools have to deal with data after the fact, and you can’t go back and fix things,” CFISD board member Christine Kalmbach said at the March 3 meeting. “Getting this in real time is so important to our district.”
The breakdown
Cole said CFISD can identify all students who are on track to graduate and those who are not with the assistance of the testing and research department.
The first report, which took data from Jan. 27, shows:
- Of the 9,799 students in the class of 2025, 90% are on track to graduate, while 10% are not on track.
- Tutorials before and after school and on Saturdays
- Interventions during the school day
- Academic conferences with parents
- Plans to recover from excessive absences
- Digital credit recovery
- Plans for individual grade placement committee
CFISD will present the next graduation rate report during a board meeting in the fall. The date of that meeting is undetermined.
