According to a new Children at Risk report, the racial and economic disparities. In addition, it offers the following update on Austin charter schools:
"The majority of Austin charter schools — public schools that are privately managed — received C’s or D’s in the Children at Risk ratings, underperforming in teaching low-income students compared with their peers across the state. However, no Austin-area charter school received an F."
Scroll to the bottom to find your school's ranking.
-Angela Valenzuela
Austin needs to do more for low-income students, new study says
By Melissa B. Taboada - American-Statesman Staff
Posted: 12:00 a.m. Sunday, May 20, 2018
Only 10 percent of black and Latino students in Austin are attending the school district’s highest rated schools, compared with one-third of white students and 50 percent of Asian students, a study being released Monday says.
Likewise, Austin is doing a lackluster job in educating its low-income students, according to the most recent findings from the Houston nonprofit Children at Risk, which puts out annual rankings of Texas schools. There are only a handful of Austin schools with mostly low-income student populations that still earned an A or B grade from the group.
“Austin needs to do a better job of serving black and Latino children, but especially children who are poor,” said Bob Sanborn, president of Children at Risk.
FIND YOUR SCHOOL: Search elementary, middle and high school rankings.
The findings of Children at Risk quantify a long-running complaint about the Austin school district, which has a number of highly rated schools serving middle- and upper-class, largely white neighborhoods, but has struggled to reproduce that success in neighborhoods where the residents are poor and the students are more diverse. The nonprofit will hold a news conference Monday to discuss the results.
The majority of Austin charter schools — public schools that are privately managed — received C’s or D’s in the Children at Risk ratings, underperforming in teaching low-income students compared with their peers across the state. However, no Austin-area charter school received an F.
“In Austin, you’re likely more likely to be in a bad charter school if you’re in one,” Sanborn said. “Charter schools in Austin, in comparison to Houston, the Rio Grande Valley and Dallas, are underperforming. There are some incredible charter schools that have done good work with the lowest-income kids. We’re just not seeing that in Austin.”
While the Austin school district continues to perform well compared with Dallas or Houston, “it’s because there is proportionally more affluence and fewer children in poverty than those other areas,” Sanborn said.
Only a handful of Austin elementary schools (compared with dozens in the Dallas and Houston areas) performed well enough to earn the Gold Ribbon distinction, campuses that earned A’s or B’s and serve high percentages of students from low-income families.
Other schools that scored high and serve large numbers of minority and low-income students include the Ann Richards School for Young Women Leaders, which performed among the top five best campuses in both the middle and high school levels. The demographics at Ann Richards, where 54 percent of students come from low-income families and 71 percent are black or Latino, are similar to those of the school district as a whole.
Kealing Middle School also is among the Austin’s highly rated campuses. But any poor academic performance, particularly of low-income students, was buoyed by the performance of those in Kealing’s magnet school program, which is not considered a separate campus. While making diversity gains in 2017-18, the magnet program within the school previously had few black and Hispanic students and few low-income students. The campus in its entirety, however, has the highest number of black students of any middle school in the Austin district and the majority of students are from low-income families.
Likewise, the nationally ranked Liberal Arts and Science Academy, or LASA, was the top-rated high school, but Sanborn noted that the school is “insulating themselves from economic disparity. It should be more reflective of the community.”
“It’s not representative of the Austin community as a whole. It’s representative of the white affluent community,” he said of LASA, Austin’s prized magnet school. “It’s a good school and great things are happening there, but as researchers we have to break it down and see what goes into that.”
Like Kealing, LASA for this school year tweaked its admissions criteria with the goal of diversifying the school. While small gains were made, the campus fell short of those goals.
The organization highly ranked Austin-area charter schools Chaparral Star, NYOS and Meridian. But other charters that have been highly regarded, including KIPP, mostly received C’s and D’s for their Austin campuses. KIPP schools performed better in other areas of the state.
Overall, the Round Rock school district had strong showings with some of the top elementary, middle and high schools in Central Texas.
Among other findings:
• The Lake Travis school district had the largest share of schools with A’s and B’s, and it is also one of the most affluent school districts in the area.
• Two Austin-area school districts, Bastrop and Del Valle, had no school that received an A or a B.
• About 84 percent of Austin charter schools that have a majority Hispanic student population received a C or D.
When rating schools, Children at Risk weighs student achievement on state-mandated tests, campus performance in relation to other schools with similar levels of poverty, and college readiness, including graduation rates and participation in advanced courses.
Several of the Austin district’s middle schools ranked poorly on the annual list and have struggled to meet state academic standards. Mendez Middle School scored last on the Central Texas list.
That campus has been at risk of being closed by the state for failing to meet academic standards for four consecutive years. The school board last month approved a partner to help turn around the school, and a decision is pending on whether the Texas Education Agency will approve the partnership, which would give the school a two-year reprieve from state sanctions.
Find your school’s ranking
The non-profit watchdog group Children at Risk ranks Texas public schools each year using a combination of factors: how well students did in reading and math on state standardized testing; how well a campus performed compared with similar schools; and how much students are improving academically year to year.
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Only 10 percent of black and Latino students in Austin are attending the school district’s highest rated schools, compared with one-third of white students and 50 percent of Asian students, a study being released Monday says.
Likewise, Austin is doing a lackluster job in educating its low-income students, according to the most recent findings from the Houston nonprofit Children at Risk, which puts out annual rankings of Texas schools. There are only a handful of Austin schools with mostly low-income student populations that still earned an A or B grade from the group.
“Austin needs to do a better job of serving black and Latino children, but especially children who are poor,” said Bob Sanborn, president of Children at Risk.
FIND YOUR SCHOOL: Search elementary, middle and high school rankings.
The findings of Children at Risk quantify a long-running complaint about the Austin school district, which has a number of highly rated schools serving middle- and upper-class, largely white neighborhoods, but has struggled to reproduce that success in neighborhoods where the residents are poor and the students are more diverse. The nonprofit will hold a news conference Monday to discuss the results.
The majority of Austin charter schools — public schools that are privately managed — received C’s or D’s in the Children at Risk ratings, underperforming in teaching low-income students compared with their peers across the state. However, no Austin-area charter school received an F.
“In Austin, you’re likely more likely to be in a bad charter school if you’re in one,” Sanborn said. “Charter schools in Austin, in comparison to Houston, the Rio Grande Valley and Dallas, are underperforming. There are some incredible charter schools that have done good work with the lowest-income kids. We’re just not seeing that in Austin.”
While the Austin school district continues to perform well compared with Dallas or Houston, “it’s because there is proportionally more affluence and fewer children in poverty than those other areas,” Sanborn said.
Only a handful of Austin elementary schools (compared with dozens in the Dallas and Houston areas) performed well enough to earn the Gold Ribbon distinction, campuses that earned A’s or B’s and serve high percentages of students from low-income families.
Other schools that scored high and serve large numbers of minority and low-income students include the Ann Richards School for Young Women Leaders, which performed among the top five best campuses in both the middle and high school levels. The demographics at Ann Richards, where 54 percent of students come from low-income families and 71 percent are black or Latino, are similar to those of the school district as a whole.
Kealing Middle School also is among the Austin’s highly rated campuses. But any poor academic performance, particularly of low-income students, was buoyed by the performance of those in Kealing’s magnet school program, which is not considered a separate campus. While making diversity gains in 2017-18, the magnet program within the school previously had few black and Hispanic students and few low-income students. The campus in its entirety, however, has the highest number of black students of any middle school in the Austin district and the majority of students are from low-income families.
Likewise, the nationally ranked Liberal Arts and Science Academy, or LASA, was the top-rated high school, but Sanborn noted that the school is “insulating themselves from economic disparity. It should be more reflective of the community.”
“It’s not representative of the Austin community as a whole. It’s representative of the white affluent community,” he said of LASA, Austin’s prized magnet school. “It’s a good school and great things are happening there, but as researchers we have to break it down and see what goes into that.”
Like Kealing, LASA for this school year tweaked its admissions criteria with the goal of diversifying the school. While small gains were made, the campus fell short of those goals.
The organization highly ranked Austin-area charter schools Chaparral Star, NYOS and Meridian. But other charters that have been highly regarded, including KIPP, mostly received C’s and D’s for their Austin campuses. KIPP schools performed better in other areas of the state.
Overall, the Round Rock school district had strong showings with some of the top elementary, middle and high schools in Central Texas.
Among other findings:
• The Lake Travis school district had the largest share of schools with A’s and B’s, and it is also one of the most affluent school districts in the area.
• Two Austin-area school districts, Bastrop and Del Valle, had no school that received an A or a B.
• About 84 percent of Austin charter schools that have a majority Hispanic student population received a C or D.
When rating schools, Children at Risk weighs student achievement on state-mandated tests, campus performance in relation to other schools with similar levels of poverty, and college readiness, including graduation rates and participation in advanced courses.
Several of the Austin district’s middle schools ranked poorly on the annual list and have struggled to meet state academic standards. Mendez Middle School scored last on the Central Texas list.
That campus has been at risk of being closed by the state for failing to meet academic standards for four consecutive years. The school board last month approved a partner to help turn around the school, and a decision is pending on whether the Texas Education Agency will approve the partnership, which would give the school a two-year reprieve from state sanctions.
Find your school’s ranking
The non-profit watchdog group Children at Risk ranks Texas public schools each year using a combination of factors: how well students did in reading and math on state standardized testing; how well a campus performed compared with similar schools; and how much students are improving academically year to year.
Children at Risk rankings
• Gold Ribbon schools (high-performing elementary campuses with at least 75 percent low-income student population)
Graham, Austin ISD
Barron, Pflugerville ISD
Hart, Austin ISD
Padron, Austin, ISD
McBee, Austin ISD
• Best 5 elementary, middle and high schools
Elementary Schools
Canyon Creek, Round Rock ISD, A+
Laurel Mountain, Round Rock ISD, A+
Spicewood, Round Rock ISD, A+
Cactus Ranch, Round Rock ISD, A+
Bridge Point, Eanes ISD, A+
Middle Schools
Canyon Vista, Round Rock ISD, A+
Walsh, Round Rock ISD, A+
Kealing, Austin ISD, A+
Cedar Valley, Round Rock ISD, A+
Ann Richards School for Young Women Leaders (grades 6-8), Austin ISD, A+
High Schools
Liberal Arts and Science Academy (LASA), Austin ISD, A+
Ann Richards School for Young Women Leaders (grades 9-12), Austin ISD, A+
Chaparral Star Academy, charter school, A
Westlake High School, Eanes ISD, A
Westwood High School, Round Rock ISD, A
• Worst 5 elementary, middle and high schools
Elementary Schools
Mitchell, Georgetown ISD, F
Widen, Austin ISD, F
Pickle, Austin ISD, F
Govalle, Austin ISD, F
Hemphill, Hays CISD, F
Middle Schools
Manor, Manor ISD, F
Webb, Austin ISD, F
Burnet, Austin ISD, F
Martin, Austin ISD, F
Mendez, Austin ISD, F
High Schools
Manor, Manor ISD, F
San Marcos, San Marcos CISD, F
Florence, Florence ISD, F
LBJ, Austin ISD, F
Eastside Memorial, Austin ISD, F
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