Since fall 2019, Odessa College's dual credit program has grown by 67%. Texas' initiatives, around college, career, and military readiness (CCMR), certainly provided an impetus for growth in dual credit, but this tremendous level of growth points to a number of structural changes Odessa College made to its dual credit program. The article focuses…

This study examines implementation of college-and-career-ready (CCR) education standards across five school districts in Ohio, Texas, California, Pennsylvania, and Massachusetts. Drawing on the policy attributes theory, we found that the specificity of districts' approaches to two long-recognized policy levers, curriculum and professional…

Public school districts in Texas and policymakers need studies of efficiency in the production of College, Career, and Military Ready graduates to maximize resources in the House Bill 3 funding formula and improve ratings in the Texas public school accountability system. A replication of efficiency studies by Carter (2012) and Thompson (2017), the…

Texas House Bill 3 established a college, career, and military readiness (CCMR) outcomes bonus, which provides extra funding to districts for each annual graduate demonstrating CCMR under the state accountability system. Some small district and rural district leaders expressed concern about the ability of their graduates to meet the career…

This study examined science teachers' perceptions and determined their level of STEM awareness and support. Survey, interview, and demographic data were collected from a purposeful sample of 124 high school science teachers across eight high schools in a large suburban school district in southeast Texas. For purposes of this study, the school…

Texans ages 25-34 who earn an associate degree are nearly twice as likely to earn at least $50,000 per year than those who don't earn a degree (24% vs. 13%). Those earning a bachelor's degree or higher are nearly four times as likely to reach this self-sustaining wage (49% vs. 13%). If every eighth grader in Harris County were to earn an associate…

The purpose of this report is to provide information about the academic performance of emergent bilingual students in the Austin Independent School District (AISD). This document summarizes performance on the State of Texas Assessment of Academic Readiness (STAAR) tests, end-of-course (EOC) tests, the Texas English Language Proficiency Assessment…

This report describes SAT test results for AISD's graduating seniors, Class of 2019, who took the SAT any time during high school.

Background/Context: Instructional policy aims to shift the nature of teaching and learning. Decades of policy studies have highlighted the challenges inherent in these aims and the conditions necessary to support such change, including a robust infrastructure to support teacher learning. Further, teachers themselves must perceive and experience…

Background/Context: Instructional policy aims to shift the nature of teaching and learning. Decades of policy studies have highlighted the challenges inherent in these aims and the conditions necessary to support such change, including a robust infrastructure to support teacher learning. Further, teachers themselves must perceive and experience…

This report summarizes the academic performance of emergent bilingual students, also known as English learners, for the 2019-2020 school year, in the Austin Independent School District. Results are presented from the Texas English Language Proficiency Assessment System (TELPAS), advanced placement (AP) course enrollment and exam performance,…

This report describes ACT test results for Austin Independent School District (AISD) seniors in the 2018-2019 school year. In 2018-2019, the district's average ACT composite score of 23.0 exceeded the state (20.5) and national (20.7) average composite scores.

Critics of standards-based reform often cite an accountability policy environment that disproportionately affects teachers compared with principals and district officials. We directly examine this disproportionality. In our three study states of Texas, Ohio, and Kentucky, we use survey analysis to understand how policy environments for district…

Critics of standards-based reform often cite an accountability policy environment that disproportionately affects teachers compared with principals and district officials. We directly examine this disproportionality. In our three study states of Texas, Ohio, and Kentucky, we use survey analysis to understand how policy environments for district…

As originally conceptualized, Early Colleges were small schools focused purposefully on college readiness for all students. Frequently located on college campuses, Early Colleges targeted students who might face challenges in postsecondary education, including students who were the first in their family to go to college, economically disadvantaged…