HOME / DONATE / ONE LEVEL UP / ABOUT NCPA / CONTACT
Report Card On Texas Schools
Executive Summary
The Best and the Worst in 1989
This report is based on academic tests administered to more than 1,400,000 Texas school children in more than 1,000 school districts in the 1988-89 academic year. The Texas Educational Assessment of Minimum Skills (TEAMS) tests measure student performance in the areas of reading, writing and mathematics for students in grades 1, 3, 5, 7 and 9; and in the areas of mathematics and language arts for students in grade 11.A passing grade on the TEAMS tests represents a minimum acceptable standard of performance for studies in the Texas public schools. Students who fail the exit level (eleventh grade) tests are not eligible to receive a Texas high school diploma.[1]
It is important to note that a passing grade on the TEAMS tests is not the only goal - or even the most important goal - of Texas public schools. Instead, a passing grade on the TEAMS tests is a minimum standard, below which performance is judged unacceptable.
In this report, we publish the percent of ninth grade students passing all three TEAMS tests in all school districts in the state of Texas, with the exception of those districts in which 25 or fewer students took the exam. [2] The ninth grade results were selected because this is the highest grade level at which three separate tests are administered. The 52 school districts which are designated as "best" are the districts in which at least 85 percent of the ninth graders taking the tests passed in all three subject areas. The 37 districts which are designated as "worst" are those districts in which fewer than 40 percent of the students taking the tests passed in all three subject areas.
Overall, the performance of the public schools is poor, with only 62 percent of ninth graders showing minimum proficiency in reading, writing and mathematics. This means that four of every ten ninth-grade students taking the tests passed in all three subject areas.
Among the school districts listed as "best" and "worst" there is considerable diversity. Both lists contain large districts and small ones, urban districts and rural ones, districts that spend below average and districts that spend above average. We make no attempt here to explain why some districts outperform others, apart from the general comments below.
Why A Report Card On Schools Is Necessary
One of the most important things that teachers do is assign grades to students. the report cards they issue determine whether students will be promoted or held back. They also help determine postgraduate opportunities for jobs and for admission into colleges and universities. Given the central role of grading in the public schools, it is strange that the schools themselves are rarely graded.Although the Texas public school system was established in 1854, only recently have students, parents and taxpayers had any objective information which allows them to compare the performance of the public schools. the problem is not that the information does not exist. The problem is that information has been withheld. For example, although Texas parents have paid for the administration of SAT tests to students for decades, the results of those tests (by school or school district) have never been made available to the public.[3]
In principle, the results of all tests administered to Texas school children and paid for with taxpayer funds should be a matter of public record - available to all Texans. Public access to information about the performance of public schools is especially important in view of the fact that the public schools in Texas form a network of local monopolies. Parents cannot choose which school their children will attend; and if their local school is failing to meet minimal standards, they have little recourse other than attempting to change things through the political process.
The results of the TEAMS tests are reported here because, at the present time, these test scores are the only publicly available information which allows parents to compare the performance of their own school district with that of all other districts statewide.
Test Scores of Minority Students
There is no question that the main victims of the public schools' failure to meet minimal standards of performance are the ethnic minorities.[4]- Although 73.7 percent of white ninth grade students passed the TEAMS
tests last year, only 46 percent of black students and 49 percent of Hispanic
students did so.
- This means that more than half of all black and Hispanic ninth grade students are failing to meet minimal acceptable standards.
More than 70 percent of black and Hispanic first grade students pass the TEAMS tests. Note that at this point in a child's life, parents and home life have had the predominant influence. The schools have had access to these children for only a few short months.[5] By the time children reach the ninth grade, however, they have been exposed to the public school system for nine years. During this period, these students probably have spent more time with teachers than they have with their parents or other family members.
In general, the more time minority students spend in school, the worse they do relative to our minimal expectations. Moreover, the more time students spend in school, the greater the performance gap between white and minority students.
Test Scores of Low-Income Students
Another area in which the Texas public schools are especially unsuccessful is meeting the special needs of students from low-income families: [6]- Among school districts with fewer than 20 percent of students from
low-income families, 73 percent of ninth graders passed the TEAMS tests.
- By contrasts, only 45 percent of ninth graders passed the TEAMS tests in school districts with at least 80 percent of the students from low-income families.
Student Test Scores and the Amount Spent on Public Education
In Texas, as in other states, almost every discussion of public school failure leads to pleas for more money on the part of the educational establishment. Yet, as is the case in other states, in Texas there is virtually no relationship between the amount of money we spend and the performance we get. [7]- School districts which spend the least amount of money per student
(less than $3,296) do just as well as school districts that spend 30 percent
more.
- School districts which spend the least amount of money per student actually perform better than districts which spend up to 30 percent more.
Test Scores and Property Values
The Edgewood v. Kirby case led to a recent Texas Supreme Court ruling that the current method of financing education in Texas is unconstitutional. A major issue in the case was whether it is fair that some students live in school districts that are wealthier (have more valuable taxable property) than others. Yet as Figure VI shows, there is very little difference in the performance of school districts with above-average and below-average wealth. Except for the extremes of wealth (the least wealthy districts and the most wealthy districts), there appears to be no relationship between the value of taxable property in a school district and student performance on TEAMS tests. For example: [8]- In school districts where the value of property is between $102,657
and $118,605 per student, 62 percent of the ninth graders passed the TEAMS
tests.
- By contrasts, in school districts with more than twice as much wealth ($229,889 to $289,605 per student), the passing rate was three percentage points lower.
A complete copy of the study "Report Card on Texas Schools" is available for $10. To order this study, please contact the NCPA at 972/386-6272.