Hispanic Student Progress in Dallas ISD: Closing the Gap!

August 13, 2012 the Dallas Independent School District released 18 charts documenting the wonderful progress in DISD closing the gap with all the other schools in Texas.  From 2007 to 2011 DISD students improved all their graduation rate numbers at about twice the rate as the rest of the students in Texas.  But the best news is that the Hispanic students in DISD improved at the best rate of all student groups! 


Hispanic Student Progress, Dallas ISD, 2007-2011
(Right-click on above image to enlarge and/or print)

More details about this wonderful progress can be seen on the DISD web site, just click here.

(A note about data accuracy: Anyone who has read my blogs knows I am very critical of the TEA graduation rate calculations, the same calculations used in these statistics showing student progress.  While I continue to be critical, the formulas I use in the calculations I trust show the same progress that the TEA data shows.  Thus I am certain the progress is happening as reported.  No matter how you calculate graduation rate, we are going forward by almost identical percentages!  That is what counts!  This is not the place to continue the accuracy debate.  The progress is real!)

Dallas has much to be proud of, especially among the 54% of our 106,000 Hispanic students who are classified as LEP.  In 2007 the LEP completion rate for Dallas ISD was 8 percentage points below the state of Texas.  By 2011 this rate was 4.5 percentage points ABOVE the state of Texas!  This demonstrates the power of a hiring focus on bi-lingual staff, and many other factors, that have helped this success happen in Dallas.