The Austin Chamber of Commerce released its 2012 Education Progress Reports on April 3, providing business owners, educators and parents with a snapshot of what is happening in local school districts.
Kwee Lan Teo Yam, vice president of education and talent alignment for the chamber, said that for the past eight years, the chamber has partnered with school districts and other Central Texas chambers to compile reports of student performance data relevant to the business community.
"This is the [group of students] that's entering the workforce or is already in the workforce," Teo Yam said. "This is what your businesses and your community can get to hire. Is it a community of students that have generally pursued some form of post-secondary education? How many graduate within four years? And if you hire them, are they going to need remedial math [refresher classes]?"
The reports cover 11 school districts using data from the 2011–12 school year.
In addition to providing graduation rates, the reports examine the percentage of a school district's graduating class that is deemed college- and career-ready, a classification that is based on state performance measures.
Leander ISD superintendent Bret Champion said he was pleased with the significant increased made in closing the achievement gap on college and career readiness indicators.
Lake Travis ISD superintendent Brad Lancaster said that, while encouraged with the results of the study—which shows graduation rates at 91 percent for the class of 2011—he feels the Texas Education Agency more accurately reports that LTISD has an approximately 95 percent four-year graduation rate.
"Regardless, we would like the graduation rate at 100 percent," he said.
The reports provide direct-to-college enrollment rates—the percentage of graduates that went on to enroll in a university, community college or technical school immediately after high school.
"We want to ensure that our students continue to move forward as we increase the number of students who are deemed college and career ready," Champion said. "It is one of the four focus areas and we will continue to improve in this area."
The reports include data on students' post-graduation activities. Partnering with the Ray Marshall Center at The University of Texas, the chamber has been tracking students using employment records and wage records for four years after graduation to determine who is going to college, who is not and who sought employment, she said.
The reports also offer districts a suggested framework for areas of improvement.
Lancaster said that, while the report indicates a higher percentage of college- and career-ready graduates than regional averages, the school district will consider the data when setting priorities.
"There is this interdependency," Teo Yam said. "The business community needs the talent that the district generates, and the district needs the business community to help support as well."
