Pledge: Increase direct-to-college enrollment rate
Local leaders want Central Texas to be known for education.
Area school districts and business leaders announce an ambitious plan to enroll 70 percent of local high school students directly into college after graduation in 2015.
Area school districts and business leaders on Monday announced an ambitious plan to enroll 70 percent of local high school students directly into college after graduation next year.
Ten area superintendents, representing 192,000 students in Central Texas, gathered on stage before 330 educators and business leaders during the Greater Austin Chamber of Commerce’s 10th annual Education Progress Report event as a sign of their commitment to increase the area’s direct-to-college enrollment rates by 10 percentage points for the Class of 2016.
Boosting graduation rates has been a major focus for school districts in the Austin area.
Some have had quick success, including the Austin district, which hit an all-time high of 84.1 percent last year.
The Hutto and Del Valle districts also saw double-digit gains in recent years. But direct-to-college enrollment figures have stayed relatively flat, as the American-Statesman reported last summer.
The superintendents offered few details on their plans to boost college enrollment rates — which in Central Texas have been stuck at 60 percent since 2008 — as components of the plan are still under development.
But Round Rock Superintendent Steve Flores said a working group of area superintendents and business leaders, including the Austin
Board of Realtors, first met less than two weeks ago and will meet again in May and in June to formalize a “regional collaboration to make Central Texas a destination region for education in Texas and across the nation.”
“When we meet our regional direct-to-college enrollment goal, 1,400 more graduating seniors in the class of 2016 will be enrolled in community colleges and technical colleges or universities, on path to achieve their dreams,” Flores said.
As discussed at the event, plans to improve the college enrollment rate will likely include getting more students to attend a college fair, complete financial aid paperwork, craft a plan to pay for college, and take a college entrance exam preparation course, among other things.
Austin Superintendent Paul Cruz said some strategies are already in place, and making core course instruction more rigorous will also be key to increasing the rate.
The Austin district last year began offering free online student preparation courses for college.entrance exams, advance placement courses and state-mandated high school exams. The district, which has counselors at 12 high schools to help students with college applications and financial aid, has also tied principal and counselor evaluations to the goals. But Cruz said the various districts and campuses will approach improving the rates differently.
“I think we can get there because you have a unified effort, where superintendents are collaborating on how we’re going to do it,” Cruz said after the event. “That’s our commitment. It’s better to set a goal that is significant to strive for something. In the end, it’s going to make us better.”
Also at the Monday event, chamber leaders emphasized the strides area school districts have made in recent years: Four-year graduation rates are at an all-time high of 91 percent, while college readiness rates also are at their highest at 64 percent, up from 44 percent in 2007 — nearly a 50 percent increase.
“There are those, especially at the state level, who like to say that public schools are failures and jump on every item of negative news as further proof that public education is not up to the task of our age,” said Gene Austin, the chamber’s board chairman and CEO of Bazaarvoice. “(We) don’t believe that our public schools are failing. ... We believe that public education has improved and will continue to improve.”