TEXAS’ RESPONSIBILITY:10% OF THE NATION’S CHILDREN 5 MILLION STUDENTS

Raise Your Hand Texas

A Consultant’s Nightmare

Unlike smaller, less diverse countries with national education systems, the United States has a highly decentralized system of education. We value local control.

With that, there comes high variability in results among the more than 13,000 school districts serving close to 50 million students.

Texas alone has 1,030 school districts. The 17 largest districts serve over 28% of all

students. The 477 smallest districts enroll fewer than 500

students each and serve 2.5% of all students.

Sources: Digest of Education Statistics 2009, NCES, April 2010http://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d09/tables_2.aspPocket Edition 2008-09, Texas Public School Statistics, TEAPublic Elementary and Secondary School Student Enrollment and Staff From the Common Core of Data: 2008-

09 http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=20103472007 U.S. Census of Governments http://www.census.gov/govs/cog/GovOrgTab03ss.html2009 Accountability System State Summary, TEA December 2009

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State of the State

4.7 million students are enrolled in Texas public schools. About 200,000 Texas students are home-schooled. 246,030 Texas students are in private schools.

From fall 1996 to fall 2006, enrollment in U.S. public schools increased 8.1 percent. At the same time, Texas public school enrollment increased 20.1 percent – an increase of almost three-quarters of a million new students.

Students in Texas public schools comprise over 10.4% of all public school students in the U.S. Texas is 2nd in the nation (behind California) in student

enrollment.Sources: School Data Direct; 2008-09 Academic Excellence Indicator System State Report;Texas Home School Coalition and the National Home Education Research Institution;Texas Private School Directory, Education Bug, Educational Resources;Rankings & Estimates, NEA Research, December 2009; Enrollment in Texas Public Schools 2008-

09, TEA, November 2009

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4

California and Texas:  Largest Numbers of Public School Students

TEXAS CALIFORNIA

# of School Districts 1,030 1,042

Total Population 24,782,302 36,961,664

Public School Student Enrollment 4,728,204 6,322,528

Sources: CCD, 2008-09NCES, 2008-09

http://www.google.com/publicdata?ds=uspopulation&met=population&idim=state:06000&dl=en&hl=en&q=what+is+total+population+of+ca

Pocket Edition, 2008-09

Changing Demographics

The ethnic composition of both the U.S. and Texas populations has shifted dramatically, with Hispanic enrollment in Texas projected to be the majority within the next five years.

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1995 Projected 2015

Source: Pocket Edition 1994-95, Texas Education Agency http://ritter.tea.state.tx.us/perfreport/pocked/95/index.html

Projected Public Elementary and Secondary School Enrollment in 2005-2040, Office of the State Demographer

32%

12%

52%

47%

14%

36%

Anglo

Black

Hispanic

Other

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Pursuing an Education Pays Off

Educational Attainment October 2010 Unemployment Rate1

Less than a high school diploma 15.3%

High school graduates, no college 10.1%

Some college or associate degree 8.5%

Bachelor’s degree and higher 4.7%

Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics, Economic News Release. See Table A-4: Employment status of the civilian population 25 years and over by educational attainment.

1 Seasonally adjusted.

Four-year Graduation Rates7

Source: Class of 2008 Graduation Rates, Texas Education Agency; enrollment from 2009-10

Houst

on

Dalla

s

Cypre

ss-F

airb

...

North

side

Aust

in0

20

40

60

80

100

68 65

86 8174

Five Largest Urban Districts, by enrollment

Graduation Rates for Males are Lower8

District White Male African American Male

Hispanic Male

SAN ANTONIO ISD

66.7 49.0 57.0

DALLAS ISD 69.7 57.2 59.1

HOUSTON ISD 82.2 62.4 57.9

FORT WORTH ISD 86.8 64.4 72.1

AUSTIN ISD 87.1 64.0 60.9

Source: Secondary School Completion and Dropouts, 2007-08, page x.

Females in the class of 2008 had a higher graduation rate (81.4%) than males (76.8%).

There is significant variation in graduation rates by ethnicity for males.

The Bush School at A&M says the cost of a dropout …9

In Texas, the costs for only one class of students statewide1 who fail to graduate on-time are estimated to be between $5.4 and $9.6 billion.

This estimate was obtained as follows:

$5.0 to $9.0 billion (decrease in gross state product due to lost earnings)

+ $1.0 to $1.8 billion (increase demand on Texas welfare & criminal justice system)

$6.0 to $10.8 billion

– $0.6 to $1.14 billion (cost to keep students in school to earn a HS diploma)

$5.4 to $9.6 billion

1Projected as between 40,519 and 73,692 students for the Class of 2012.

Source: The ABCD’s of Texas Education: Assessing the Benefits and Costs of Reducing the Dropout Rate

Bush School of Government and Public Service, 2009

How are we doing?10

African American

Hispanic White Econ. Disadv.

0

20

40

60

80

10088 88

9687

7178

9076

6670

89

68

2009 Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills

(sum of all grades tested)

ReadingMathScience

Perc

en

t P

assin

g

Source: Pocket Edition 2008-09, Texas Public School Statistics, TEA

Indicators of Postsecondary Readiness

Texas ranks 45th out of 50 states in SAT scores in 2009.

College admissions test results tend to be lower when higher percentages of students take the test.

The Texas ACT composite score reached an all-time high of 20.8 out of a possible 36. This score trails the national score, which is 21.1.

Confirming what Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills results show, our students are less prepared for math and science classes. 44% of the students in the Class of 2009 are ready for college algebra and 26% are ready for college biology.

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2009 SAT Results 2009 ACT Results

Sources: http://www.act.org/news/data/09/pdf/output/ACT_Texas_Output.pdfhttp://blog.bestandworststates.com/2009/08/25/state-sat-scores-2009.aspx

Results of International Assessments

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The 2006 administration of the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) found that: U.S. 15-year-olds’ average scores were in the

bottom quarter of the thirty OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development) countries.

U.S. 15-year-olds are not as successful in applying scientific and mathematics knowledge and skills to real-world tasks as their peers in most other OECD countries.

Source: National Center for Education Statistics, U. S. Performance Across International Assessments of

Student Achievement, 2009 [http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2009/2009083.pdf]

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Rankings by Country & Time in School 

Rank (2006 PISA

Math)1

 CountryNumber of School

Daysper year2

Average Instructional Hours

per year3

1 Finland 190 777

2 South Korea 220 867

3 Netherlands 200 1,000

4 Switzerland 228 1,130

5 Canada 188 925

6 Japan 243 868

7 New Zealand 194 988

8 Australia 205 937

9 Belgium 220 960

10 Denmark 210 930

25 United States 180 997Sources: 12006 Data Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), Program for International Student Assessment (PISA), 2006 http://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d09/tables/dt09_402.asp

2Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) 20033Education at a Glance: 2010, OECD Indicators (Table: D1) NCES, Education Indicators: An International Perspective (Table 24)

Teacher Pool Statistics

Top-performing school systems recruit teachers from the top third of college graduates. South Korea recruits from top 5%. Finland recruits from top 10%. Singapore and Hong Kong recruit from

top 30%. The majority of United States teachers

come from the bottom third of SAT scores for high school graduates.

Source: McKinsey & Company, How the World’s Best-Performing School Systems Come Out on Top, September 2007

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Teacher Pool Statistics

Teaching is attracting better-qualified people than it did just a few years ago. Prospective teachers from 2002-05 scored higher on their SATs and earned higher grades in college than their counterparts in the mid-1990’s.

Source: Report Finds Better Scores in New Crop of Teachers, Sam Dillon, New York Times, December 12, 2007

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Texas Salary Trends by Occupation 16

Entry Level Wage Median Wage Experienced Wage

$0

$10,000

$20,000

$30,000

$40,000

$50,000

$60,000

$70,000

$80,000

$90,000

$100,000

$59,398

$87,068

$69,088

$64,012

Teacher

Loan Of-ficer

Insurance Sales Agents

Firefighter

Source: Texas Workforce Commission http://www.texasindustryprofiles.com/apps/win/eds.php?compare=0&page=0

A career teacher has the lowest increase in pay over time.

It’s popular today to blame the public schools for less than desirable results but an assessment is incomplete without recognizing that many schools inherit an over-entertained, distracted student body, disinclined to pursue scholarship in a serious way. The idea that “we’ve got it made and can coast” is pervasive throughout our culture.

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Increase in Single Parent Households

In 1970, 5 percent of U.S. households were headed by single parents.

Now – almost forty years later – that number has increased to 9 percent*.

Source: http://www.census.gov/newsroom/releases/archives/families_households/cb07-46.html

*12.9 million families

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Three Wake-Up Calls…19

1955:  Why Johnny Can’t Read and What You Can Do About It, by Rudolf Flesch Best seller that stunned the country with its description of a 12-year-old

who suffered from being “exposed to an ordinary American school”. 1957:  Sputnick

The first of the Russian Sputnick Program, Sputnik1, launched on October 4, 1957 the first human-made object to orbit the Earth.

1983:  A Nation At Risk 1983 report of President Ronald Reagan’s National Commission on

Excellence in Education.

Americans have failed to heed any of these wake-up

calls with an in-depth, effective response.

How many more chances will we have?

What are we doing about it?20

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Reform Organizations: Leading the Charge

Annenberg Institute for School Reform – “Conducts research…and shares its work through print and Web publications.”

Bellwether Education Partners – “National nonprofit organization dedicated to accelerating the achievement of low-income students by cultivating…a community of effective and sustainable change agents in public education reform.”

Coalition of Essential Schools (CES) – Network of hundreds of public schools founded on ten principles of excellent school culture and quality.

Communities in Schools – Within the public school system, determines student needs and establishes relationships with community agents to provide needed resources.

Democrats for Education Reform – “a political action committee whose mission is to encourage a more productive dialogue within the Democratic Party on the need to fundamentally reform American public education.”

Green Dot – Los Angeles-based charter management organization “leading the charge to transform public education…so that all children receive the education they need to be successful.”

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Reform Organizations: Leading the Charge

KIPP – “A national network of free, open-enrollment, college-preparatory public schools dedicated to preparing students in underserved communities for success in college and in life.”

New Leaders for New Schools – Trains and supports outstanding principals for underserved urban public schools

Teach for America (TFA) – Recruits recent college graduates to teach for two years in public schools in underserved areas

Teach for All – A “spin-off” of TFA; a network of TFA-like organizations over many nations in the world, including Brazil, China, the U.K. and others.

The New Teacher Project (TNTP) – Creates high-quality alternative routes to certification programs to bring accomplished teachers to hard-to-staff urban schools.

The Wallace Foundation – Supports and shares ideas to improve education opportunities. Currently interested in educational leadership and teacher recruitment.

YES Prep – Houston-based Charter management organization that works to “increase the number of low-income Houstonians who graduate from a four-year college.” Operates eight campuses.

Distinguishing Facts About Charters Public schools must provide 180 days of instruction per

school year. Charters have discretion to determine the length of their school

year. High performing charters (KIPP and YES Prep) spend up to 220

days in school.

Public schools must provide a 7 hour day. Top charter schools require students to be in school for at least 9

hours.

Public schools require teachers to hold a Bachelors degree and be certified. Charter schools have more flexibility in the required certifications to

hire teachers (except for special education and bilingual education teachers).

Public schools have contractual limitations to hire and fire staff. Open-enrollment charters can hire and fire teachers and

administrators at will.

Source: http://ritter.tea.state.tx.us/charter/faqs/faq.html

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Successful Charters in Texas

In 2009, a few charter operators had the most schools receiving the highest two ratings under the accountability system.

HARMONY: 11 Exemplary, 6 Recognized campuses

IDEA Academy: 3 Exemplary, 4 Recognized campuses

KIPP: 5 Exemplary, 11 Recognized campuses

YES Preparatory: 5 Exemplary campuses 19 Charters with one campus were rated

Exemplary

Source: 2009 Accountability System State Summary, TEA November 2009

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Unsuccessful Charters in Texas In 2009, a higher proportion of Charter

Schools are rated Academically Unacceptable than public schools:

10.5% (46 of 437) of charter schools are rated Academically Unacceptable

2.5% (199 of 7,885) of public schools are rated Academically Unacceptable

Source: 2009 Accountability System State Summary, TEA November 2009

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Summary of Results

Source: 2009 Accountability System State Summary, TEA November 2009

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Open-

enro

llmen

t Cha

rters

Trad

ition

al P

ublic

Sch

ools

0%20%40%60%80%

100%

5.8 0.9

47.120.9

16.638.7

23.5 31.7

ExemplaryRecognizedAcceptableUnacceptable

2010 Accountability Ratings

This is just a small slice.

We need better leadership at the school board level. School boards in low income areas often have a limited pool of candidates from which to draw.

We need state policymakers that view education as an investment, not a cost.

   

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SCHOOL GOVERNANCE: An International Look

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School Governance

Brazil: Municipalities are responsible for establishing and regulating schools, using funding provided by the Federal Government.

China: The administration over the basic education schools has been delegated to the local government, where the local municipality, districts (counties) and villages (townships) jointly manage the schools.

England: Local education authorities have responsibility of all state schools in their area: funding for the schools, allocate the number of places available at each school and employ all teachers. There are currently 150 local education authorities in England. School boards were abolished in 1902. More local control is part of the newly formed DE’s plans with the establishment of Free Schools.

Finland: The municipalities administer 97% of all basic-education-level schools. The municipality, being the schooling provider, allocates financing to individual schools. Steering is conducted through legislation, norms and national curricula. Schools and teachers enjoy large autonomy.

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Sources: http://portal.mec.gov.br/index.html (Translated from the Portuguese by Google) http://english.mest.go.kr/http://www.moe.edu.cn/english/laws_e.htm http://www.oph.fi/english/education http://www.education.gouv.fr/ (Translated from the French by Google) http://www.russianenic.ru/english/rus/index.htmlhttp://www.education.nic.in/ http://www.education.gov.uk/

France: School councils, comprised of various local elected and appointed officials, “provide advice and suggestions” for the school’s operation and meet quarterly.

India: Some effort has been made to increase community involvement but varies greatly by state. Elected parent bodies (School Development and Monitoring Committees SDMCs) consist of 9 elected parent representatives. Their powers include: scrutinize finances of the schools; auction crops grown in the school lands; and use government funds to buy materials required for the school.

Russia: Education is regulated by municipal bodies within their jurisdictions, which report to the Ministry of Education and Science. Kindergartens are operated by regional and local authorities, but not by the Ministry.

South Korea: School districts (city- or county-based), are governed by school boards, elected by individual school councils. Board size is limited to a minimum of 7 and maximum of 15 members. Members have a four-year term limit, and must have at least 10 years of education administration experience.

EDUCATION: An Investment or a Cost?30

Texas School Finance31

Public education is the “greatest single activity” funded by the state of Texas: $35 billion of General Revenue (43.7%) is appropriated for

public education in the 2010-11 biennium.

There is wide variation among per-pupil spending for Texas school districts. Star ISD = $3,613 per weighted average daily attendance

(WADA)

Westbrook ISD = $12,725 per WADA

Texas school finance has been the source of ongoing litigation since 1984. One of the landmark outcomes has been the “Robin Hood” system, which attempts to achieve equitable funding by redistributing funds from wealthier to poorer school districts.

Source: 2010-11 Fiscal Size Up, Legislative Budget Board http://www.lbb.state.tx.us/Fiscal_Size-up/Fiscal%20Size-up%202010-11.pdfTexas Education Agency, 2008-09 Target Revenue

Per Student Expenditures

Series1$0

$2,500

$5,000

$7,500

$10,000

$12,500

$15,000

$17,500

$9,036 $10,190

Texas

U.S.

Texas is 38th in the U.S. in expenditures per student.

Source: Rankings & Estimates, NEA Research, December 2009

In 2008-09, per-pupil expenditures ranged from a high of $17,638 in District of Columbia to $5,912 in Utah. The median value was $9,979.

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According to the Bush School at A&M…

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For every $1 invested in high quality pre-k, at least $3.50 is returned to Texas communities.

More than 1 in 5 Texas children grow up in poverty. Approximately 400,000 four-year-olds live in Texas. 200,000 four-year-olds are eligible for public pre-

kindergarten. Of those four-year-olds eligible for public pre-k:

1/3 are enrolled in full-day pre-k. 2/3 are enrolled in half-day pre-k.Sources: Bush School of Government & Public Service, A Cost-Benefit Analysis of Universally-

Accessible

Pre-Kindergarten Education in Texas (2006)

US Census Population Estimates (2008)

Personal Communication from Kara Johnson, president and CEO, Texas Early Childhood Coalition

Early Childhood Education: Texas34

Participating in high-quality pre-kindergarten increases high school graduation rates by as much as 44 percent.

Texas meets only 4 of the 10 standards for a quality pre-k program.

Three out of four Texans believe pre-k should be fully funded for all students, regardless of income.

Sources: School or the Streets: Crime and America’s Dropout Crisis, Fight Crime: Invest in Kids, 2008

The State of Pre-school in 2009, National Institute for Early Education Research, 2009

Texas Early Childhood Education Coalition

Strength in Schools. Strength in Texas.

www.raiseyourhandtexas.org

Raise Your Hand Texas35