Texas Dropout Rates

On this momentous occasion, President Barack Obama signed into law the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) of 2015. This measure was meant to reauthorize the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) of 1965 that was introduced during President Lyndon B. Johnson’s Great Society Reform. Most importantly, for Americans, it replaced the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) instituted during the presidency of George W. Bush. The Every Student Succeeds Act was touted by lawmakers for returning power back to the states by taking a more flexible approach to student testing and school accountability. This measure is a step in the efforts to return American to its place as a leader in education worldwide, but this bill is not without its pundits as well.

The amount of high school graduates in the United States is significantly less for minority students (Wagner, 2008). Less than one-third of minority students in the United States high schools obtain a high school diploma (Wagner, 2008). As the Hispanic population continues to grow rapidly, the ratio of Hispanic students enrolled in K-12 public schools by 2020 will be one in four students (Maxwell, 2012). According to Noguera & Akom (2000), the achievement gap for Hispanics is relatively transparent through their high dropout rates, college completion rates, and their low educational achievement. The dropout rate for Hispanics is approximately

The current state of the Texas education policy is very complex and its roots can be traced all the way back to times were there was no equality in the public school system, we can even say it can be traced as far back to the state’s split from Mexico. This was a very problematic situation that began to be reformed heavily starting in 1954. The legislations that passed to resolve this problem have morphed the Texas Public education policy into what it is today.

While many may believe that the most important issue to Latinos is immigration reform, a survey taken by the Pew Research Center in 2013 reveals that “some 57% of Latino registered voters called education an ‘extremely important’ issue facing the nation today” (Krogstad). The reason why this is seen as most important may be due to Texas’s overall low national rankings. As reported by the U.S. News and World Report, of the 1,492 Texas high schools examined for the nation’s best high schools, only 357 made the list in 2014 (Brown 367). As an increasing number of students “have come… from families that are ethnic minorities or economically disadvantaged,” such low rankings possibly result from the low quality education that they receiving as “historically, Texas not served minority and less affluent student as well as it has Anglo and middle-class students” (Brown 367). Additionally, in the 2012-2013 academic school year, the Texas Education Agency reported that 51 percent of students in the state are Latino, therefore as the amount of Latino students increases throughout the state, the higher the notice of this lower quality education as compared to their Anglo counterparts (Brown 367). This has lead to an outreach throughout the Latino community to improve the quality of education that they are

The new 2015 federal Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) challenges states to draw on lessons from the last 15 years and to refine their accountability systems to provide the right combination of pressure and support for school improvement.

There are numerous demographic changes taking place in the Texas as a result of immigration. The main changes include a rapidly increasing population, a decreasing White population, and increasing Black, Asian, and Hispanic population. This is different from the trends occurring nationally since Texas is one of the fastest growing states in the Nation and, in 2010, according the reading by Murdock, was one of the only four states that had a population that was less than 50% non Hispanic White. One reason behind such large population growth is net immigration (including legal and illegal) into Texas, which accounted for 35% of population growth from 1990 to 1994 according to the CIS reading. In fact, if fertility rates were to remain the same, 70% of the growth between 1995 and 2020

The rising cost of education in Texas colleges started in 2003 when the deregulation was lifted. Then, soon after, the Texas State legislature cut the education budget because of a drop in the economy in 2008. The cut in funding and the removal of the deregulation law allowed colleges across Texas a way to recoup lost resources by raising the cost of tuition. The raising cost of tuition has limited the amount of attending students from graduating in the expected time frame, left students in debt, and has denied the chance of countless others from attending the college of their choice. This essay will reflect on supporting evidence to demonstrate how the increase of cost of college tuition over the past 10 years has affected future and current student enrollment.

Texas is one of the largest states in the country in terms of size, population, and its higher education system. This presents a number of challenges and opportunities. A recent report from the State Comptroller’s office provides insight into the future of higher education in light of changing demographic trends. While Texas has significantly improved in many dynamics of higher education, there are still several challenges present that need to be addressed in the coming years.

Schools in Texas suffer a large amount of dropouts, some believe the students are to blame and other believe it is the teacher’s/school. However, schools are not the reason for students failing out because teachers would much rather support and help their students rather than fail them. There are multiple reasons why students are failing due to where they stand in society, how they are socialized throughout their lives, and the social forces that influence their decisions as students.

Throughout the years the dropout rate of African Americans has increased and decreased. Many people look at black students as if they sit there and do not learn anything at all but we do try. Some may think that the only reason the black students drop out is because their grades, but that’s not true. Some dropout because of financial pressure, health problems, mental, emotional, and social issues, and may not have family support.

To break down the above scores, Hispanics had the highest dropout rate at 12.7 percent. Blacks had the second highest dropout rate at 7.5 percent. Whites had the lowest dropout rate at 12.7 percent. A big reason as to why minorities have higher dropout rates comes down to poverty quite often. ”Almost 1/2 of the difference in the dropout probability between Hispanic and white students stems from the greater prevalence of being economically disadvantaged among Hispanic students. More than 1/3 of the African-American and white student difference in the dropout probability is linked to our simple measure of student poverty” (Lofstrom,). As you can see money plays a huge factor in dropout rates. Numerous issues can result in student drop outs. The

The ESEA Act of 1965 was enacted to offer equal educational opportunities to children from low income students with the help of Title 1 being the largest source of funding. With the help of Title 1 the schools would be able to provide supplemental services to these children. In Contrast, The NCLB Act requires states to use standardized test to test students in reading, math and science to see if academic progress is made and the students are proficient in grade level of these subjects. The NCLB Act also focused on eliminating socioeconomic and racial differences providing quality education to all students of America regardless of ethnic, socioeconomic and racial background. Whereas the ESEA Act only focused on low income family students, the NCLB Act included low- income students, students with disabilities, major racial and ethnic groups and English language learners by providing test results to show improvement and that each student reach the appropriate grade level performance. (Thomas & Brady, 2005, p. 51-56). Furthermore, A blueprint for Reform: The Reauthorization of the ESEA differed by focusing on “moving from a punishment based system to a system that rewarded students and teachers for excellent teaching and student growth” (Woolfork, 2014, p.X). In Comparison, all of these educational policies have the same goal which is to improve the educational experience of students in all areas and populations. These policies help with the effectiveness of teaching learning

They also lack the skills they need to get a good job, to communicate with others and to cope with situations. According to Michael Henry, Counselor at Mary Lyon Pilot High School, ‘’The typical consequences for Black and Latino students that drop out are they will make less money and wouldn’t be able to get the job they desire. Students lack communication skills with others and receive less opportunity. You mostly develop in high school and gain skills.’’ I believe from personal experience, standardized test plays a part in this confusion as well. According to CNN, Steve Kastenbaum mentions, ‘’Teachers in some states are now being labeled good or bad based on their students score. Scores from statewide tests in English and math have been used to determine which schools are doing a good job of educating students and which are failing. Some of those testing results need to be used to help identify schools that are struggling so that we can give them additional interventions but they also need to be part of how we evaluate teachers.’’ Students are losing self esteem and aren’t able to show their real ability in those standardized test. Money also plays a big part in my plan and harms. Money is needed for most of the things that would help students in need. I also wondered why Black and Latino students are mostly affected by this. Meeting with Michael Henry, I learned that it’s their community. Black and

Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) was established by President Obama. ESSA replaces the No Child Left Behind Act. EESA was said to be implemented in schools in the 2017-2018 school-year. The main goal of ESSA is to assist in strengthening the middle social class, thus building stronger schools. This legislation is said to ensure that students that graduate high school are ready for college, maintain accountability, so that no child is left behind, make sure standardized testing doesn’t interfere with teaching, provide more children with high- quality preschools, give more power to state and local decision makers, and establish new resources for teaching and testing. Every Student Succeeds Act removed the excessive certifications requirements

Texas has often been known for our lack of education, many of these views however many be true. The lack of interest in going to school for high school or students in general have increased tremendously. Many students have dropped out due to them giving up or laziness and or not having the support needed either at home or at school.