During the 2013 Legislative Session, a collection of civil rights, academic and business organizations fought to maintain well-rounded academics and college readiness as the expectation for all high school students. Now that House Bill 5 is law, a recent meeting took place to determine whether HB 5 has improved student outcomes.

Bottom line: no one knows for sure. However, with a few research projects, we can begin to see the impact of HB 5 before the next Legislature convenes.

For context, the Class of 2014 was the last to graduate under the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS) system. TAKS had four subject tests which a student needed to pass to earn a high school diploma. Math TAKS included content from algebra & geometry; Science TAKS included content from biology, chemistry and physics; English TAKS included content from English 10 & 11. Things changed for last year’s graduates, the Class of 2015; they only tested students in algebra 1, biology, English 9 & 10 and US history...and students only had to pass three of five to earn a diploma.

The Chamber recommends to those researchers and civil rights organizations to look at the following to determine if student academic preparation has improved, stayed the same or declined:

• Number of graduation credits earned. For years, the number of academic credits a student earned by graduation had been increasing. Now that fewer credits are required by HB 5’s default graduation plan, has the number of actual graduation credits earned by students changed?
• Number/% of graduates completing physics, Algebra II or a math beyond Algebra II. Research is very clear that completion of three basic lab sciences and a math beyond Algebra II are critical for Texas students to graduate college/career ready. Only one of the new HB 5 endorsements (STEM) requires physics and a math beyond Algebra II. The percent of graduates completing these courses had skyrocketed since 2001...well beyond population growth. But, with the new changes, has the percent of Class of 2014 and Class of 2015 graduates completing these advanced courses changed?
• College readiness test. For the first time in a decade, Texas no longer tests whether students have learned college/career readiness content. This means schools cannot systematically identify who is not ready for college, nor target assistance to help students become ready. As such, we urge all to support to State Sen. Seliger’s bill (SB 452) to require the administration of the Texas Success Initiative (TSI) test – which assesses college readiness – to all 10th grade students. Anecdotally, we hear that college/career readiness rates have dropped precipitously this year.
• Additional college readiness indicators. College readiness should be made the organizing principle for Texas’ new system of testing and accountability. In support of this, we urge the IDRA to conduct appropriate research to determine the relationship between TSI performance and important student outcomes, like direct-to-college enrollment and future earnings.
• Direct to college enrollment & College retention rates. To accomplish this, we will need to accelerate the timeline for reporting high school graduation outcomes....which currently takes eight to ten months.
• Counselor-to-student ratios. In April 2016, the Austin Chamber will publish an “effective” counselor-to-student ratio for 40 high schools in Central Texas. Our methodology captures all college counseling support on a campus into one ratio. This ratio will be compared to student outcomes – like college readiness, graduation rates, and direct-to-college enrollment – to determine correlation. With this information, schools can establish the appropriate ratio they need to affect these outcomes.

If you have further questions, please contact the Austin Chamber of Commerce.