Austin chamber releases new 2013 education progress data

"We are in one of the fastest-growing communities in the country with a lot of high-demand jobs and a lot of mismatch between the jobs that we have and what kids think they want to do," she said.

The chamber has partnered with school districts and other Central Texas chambers for the past nine years to put together the reports. This year 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.

The reports examine the number of students who say they intend to attend college, how many students applied for financial aid, and the percentage of a school district's graduating class that is deemed college- and career-ready, a classification based on state performance measures.

Additionally the reports include direct-to-college enrollment rates—the percentage of high school students who actually enrolled in a university, community college or technical school immediately after graduating.

JoyLynn Occhiuzzi, RRISD's executive director of community relations, said RRISD has seen an increase in its direct-to-college enrollment rate.

"We still want to focus on the 29 percent of students who aren't going directly to college and see how we can help them overcome obstacles to enrollment," she said.

Districts statewide are continuing their transition to the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness, or STAAR, exams. The reports include information on how fifth- and eighth-graders performed on STAAR exams in math, reading, science and social studies. Fifth graders are preparing to enter middle school, while eighth graders are preparing to enter high school.

"STAAR greatly increased the level of rigor in the curriculum and raised the bar on what students are expected to be able to do," said Steve Snell, Hutto ISD assistant superintendent of curriculum and instruction. "The test has forced all of us to increase the rigor of the daily lessons and the expectations for students."

Overall the reports provide business owners, educators and parents with an overview of what is happening in local school districts, Reeves said.

"We have the highest graduation rates that we have ever had in the region," she said. "Even in the face of budget cuts, [school districts] are doing a good job meeting the standards. Now the standards are going to change and they are probably going to be even more challenging. We have to be even more strategic with our decisions when it comes to budgets, programs and policies."

The chamber sends out the reports to new residents and businesses and shares them with Realtors who can present them to prospective residents, she said.

In addition to the reports, the chamber offers initiatives such as its Financial Aid Saturdays, which encourage students who intend to go to college to complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, or FAFSA.

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