By Lanet Greenhaw, Director of Education and Public Policy
Closer examination of data from by the Texas Education Agency (TEA) reveals Dallas ISD is narrowing the gap with statewide averages on the four-year graduation rate, complete rate and dropout rate, and has made considerable progress during the last five years. Beyond that, Dallas ISD’s gains are even more pronounced among African-American, Hispanic and Limited English Proficient student groups.
Charts are provided below to illustrate the gains graphically. Here are the highlights:
Four-Year Graduation Rate: More than three-quarters of Dallas ISD students are now graduating on time, up 15 percentage points from 62.5 percent five years ago. Dallas ISD has narrowed the gap with the statewide average from 16 points five years ago to eight points today.
Overall Completion Rate: Nearly 88 percent of Dallas ISD students are graduating from district schools, just four points below the statewide average. The gap five years ago was 13 percent.
Dropout Rate: Dallas ISD has lowered the dropout rate to 11.8 percent and is now just five points below the statewide average. Data from five years ago indicated that more than 25.8 percent of district students were dropping out, compared to the statewide average of 11.4 percent.
Limited English Proficient Student Population: Dallas ISD’s Limited English Proficient (LEP) students are now graduating at higher rates than their peers statewide. The percentage of district LEP students graduating on time has improved 27 percent during the last five years, eclipsing the statewide average by 2.7 percent. Dallas ISD LEP students are graduating now at 80.3 percent, compared to 75.8 percent statewide. The percentage of Dallas ISD LEP students dropping out of school has been cut by more than half in the last five years and is four points lower than LEP students throughout Texas.
African-American Students: More than 85 percent of Dallas ISD African American students are now graduating from high school. Dallas ISD African-American students have reduced a nine-point gap with their peers statewide to 2.7 points on the completion rate during the last five years. In addition, the percentage of Dallas African American students dropping out has been cut nearly in half in the last five years, making improvement against the statewide average.
Hispanic Students: Five years ago, only 59.8 percent of district Hispanic students graduated on time. The most recent figures show increases to 78.1 percent on-time graduations. Overall, the percentage of district Hispanic students graduating has risen to 88.7 percent, just a point and a half less than Hispanic students statewide. The percentage of Dallas ISD Hispanic students dropping out has been cut nearly in half since the Class of 2007.
