Border schools beat state dropout rate
McALLEN — Texas Education Agency data reveal schools along the U.S.-Mexican border have rapidly increased their graduation rates in the past four years, nearly closing a gap between state and regional averages.
And for the first time in at least a decade, the dropout rate in the Region One education service area – which spans 37 school districts from Laredo to Brownsville – actually fell below the state average for the Class of 2010.
“While graduation rates are not yet where we would like them to be, school districts in the region have done significant work to close the completion rate gap through various recovery programs intended to provide opportunities for those students needed such support to obtain their high school diplomas,” said Jack Damron, executive director of the Region One Education Service Center, which assists districts and charter schools within its area.
The regional four-year graduation rate hit 82.3 percent last year, exactly 2 percentage points below the entire state’s average, according to a Region One ESC analysis of the state’s 2009-10 Academic Excellence Indicator System report.
That gap has narrowed in the past four years, after border schools graduated just 71.9 percent of the Class of 2007 and widely trailed the state average of 78 percent.
And in the same time period, dropout rates in Region One finally dipped below the state average – from 13.5 percent in 2007 to just 7 percent in 2010 – as more students continued another year in high school or graduated on time. The state posted an 11.4 percent dropout rate in 2007 and performed worse than the region, at 7.3 percent, four years later.
“Our schools have greatly stepped up their efforts to ensure that students graduate, and graduate on time, and are providing specialized, highly-targeted assistance to increase student success while in high school,” Damron said, specifically applauding early college programs that he felt promote interest, attendance and academic success.
“This model has enabled many students to graduate from high school with numerous college hours to their credit, thus helping to bridge the connection between public education and higher education,” he added. Districts are “saving students and their families considerable tuition costs and giving students a tremendous advantage to be successful not only in high school but in college and beyond.”
The Brownsville Independent School District has added several initiatives that have helped raise graduation rates, Superintendent Carl A. Montoya said.
"These same programs also keep our dropout rates consistent or below the state average. The annual Walk for the Future, high school dropout prevention teams, credit recovery programs, and support from the Brownsville Learning Academy have been instrumental in helping students earn their high school diplomas," Montoya said.
Edinburg schools Superintendent Rene Gutierrez had a similar observation.
His district has seen great success with its Vision Academy, a dropout recovery program that has graduated more than 200 struggling students and helped earn them college credits in under two years.
“The only way to recover these dropouts and provide them an incentive to graduate from high school is to dedicate a program to that population (that) no longer fits a traditional high school,” said Gutierrez.
More than 75 former Edinburg dropouts will participate in the Academy’s next graduation ceremony this month.
But Gutierrez acknowledged every district along the border has committed itself to similar efforts.
“In the Region One area, we probably serve the highest Hispanic population, migrant population as well as low-income students,” he said. “For us as a region to serve this population and improve our graduation rates, obviously our districts can be models to others in the state and in the nation.”
Herald education reporter Gary Long contributed to this report.
