we achieve our full potential
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children enter kindergarten
ready for school (under development)
Public investments in early education can have a tremendous impact on a child’s future learning potential. Austin’s E3 Alliance notes that every dollar invested in ensuring Central Texas children enter kindergarten ready to learn will be returned over 13 times. There is currently no adequate way to measure school readiness among children entering public schools. The E3 Alliance is working with the Region XIII Education Service Center to develop one. Measures of social, emotional and cognitive skills are being piloted this school year. Learn more about these efforts at The Blueprint for Educational Change website.
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74% of Austin ISD students graduate
from high school in four years
According to the American Community Survey, the median income for high school graduates is approximately $26,000 compared to $19,000 for persons without a high school diploma. The Alliance for Excellent Education reports that, in addition to earning higher wages than dropouts, high school graduates live longer, are less likely to be teen parents and are more likely to raise healthier, better-educated children.
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The four year graduation rate is the percentage of students in a class of beginning ninth graders who graduate from any public school by their anticipated graduation date. Austin ISD’s high school graduation rate is the lowest of the five largest school districts in the Austin-Round Rock Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA). Visit the TEA Division of Accountability Research for more information about this data.
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50% of Austin ISD graduates
were “college ready.”
According to the E3 Alliance, to succeed in the 21st century and build a world-class economy, Central Texas must have well prepared graduates - those who have the academic skills, creativity, and job skills needed to succeed in life.
This college readiness indicator, developed by the Texas Education Agency, measures the percentage of high school graduates who meet or exceed the college-ready criteria on the TAKS exit-level test, the SAT test, or the ACT test. College readiness rates among the five largest school districts in the MSA range from 38% in the Hays CISD to 66% in the Round Rock ISD. Austin ISD has a college readiness rate of 50%.
The Austin Chamber of Commerce works with select Central Texas districts to gather similar data for high school seniors. The Chamber’s college readiness initiatives target students who need extra help to become “college ready” before they graduate.
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7% of Travis County residents
were unemployed in November 2009
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Workforce Solutions—Capital Area uses the unemployment rate as a barometer of the region’s economic health. A low unemployment rate indicates strong economic activity with businesses running at a high capacity. The Brookings Institute has found that unemployment causes steep reductions in family income. Rapid increases in unemployment, such as those that have occurred during the current economic recession, lead to substantial increases in community poverty.
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CAN is committed to both regional economic health and preventing increases in poverty and has added this indicator to the dashboard to monitor the ability of those who seek employment to find work. The unemployment rate in the City of Austin, Travis County, the Austin MSA, the state and the nation has increased significantly since 2007.
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LEARN MORE* | we achieve our full potential
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The Austin Independent School District’s Strategic Plan 2010-2015 includes goals related to the graduation rate and college readiness, both indicators on the CAN dashboard.
The Truancy Plus Subcommittee of Austin ISD, the City of Austin, and Travis County is working to identify ways to improve school attendance and address truancy.
The Ready By 21 Coalition has worked with nonprofit organizations and other collaborations to develop a detailed dashboard of outcomes and indicators for children and youth.
United Way Capital Area’s Success by 6 “Child Well-Being Report Card” is an annual report of child well-being in Austin and Travis County.
E3 Alliance Blueprint for Educational Change seeks to improve educational outcomes across the Central Texas region from pre-k through college through a collaborative process that engages parents, students, school personnel and members of the larger community.
Austin Chamber Community Education Progress Reports compares progress on a number of indicators across Central Texas school districts.
The Central Texas Afterschool Network collaborates to support services to children and their families during out-of-school times.
The Literacy Coalition of Central Texas is a coalition of agencies that provide workplace literacy, adult basic education and other services to create a central Texas community that is 100% literate, employable, and engaged.
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