A community ecosystem fuels success

The ecosystems in Midland and Longview are a point of distinction. Both have traditional support from organizations like the local Chamber of Commerce, which typically understand the importance of an educated workforce to help fuel the local business community. Yet in Midland, leaders from business, philanthropy, and education are actively advocating for improvement in their school system.

The, a collection of business and civic leaders and organizations, has become a catalyst in focusing the community on the trajectory of the Midland Independent School District. (Acknowledgement: Former Commerce Secretary, the Chairman of the Permian Strategic Partnership, chairs the board of the George W. Bush Presidential Center.) The PSP website acknowledges that: 鈥淭he public schools in the Permian region compared to other areas of the state.鈥� The site also makes clear that, 鈥淥ur schools the next generation with access to highly qualified teachers and a robust curriculum.鈥�

As happened in Dallas a decade ago, when leaders concerned about the city鈥檚 schools pushed for improvements, Midland鈥檚 education reformers are using outcome data broken apart by race, ethnicity, gender, socio-economic status and special education status to better understand where the school system is working for kids 鈥� and where it is not 鈥� to help identify solutions.

As one example, the reformers invited in the Partnership, the Dallas-based collective impact organization, to help the community better understand the depth of Midland鈥檚 educational shortcomings. 鈥淒ata is a tool, not a weapon,鈥� said Midland civic leader Ronnie Scott in emphasizing the need for quality data.

Civic leaders also researched regions that exhibited educational progress, including how they use charter schools to improve student achievement. Midland ISD trustees have taken advantage of a Texas law that allows charter operators to take over failing campuses.

For its part, Midland College is working to bolster the local K-12 system. Midland鈥檚 successful Early College High School, which earned an A on the state鈥檚 2021-2022 rankings, sits on the Midland College campus. Also, the community college now offers a four-year degree .

Scott cites the latter move as key to Midland preparing more of its own teachers. Attracting talent to communities far away from Texas鈥� metropolitan areas is hard. But members of Midland鈥檚 active ecosystem contributed about $30 million in private funds to create this initiative.

Community volunteers like Christine Foreman are playing a key role, too. Raised in Midland, Foreman noticed Midland鈥檚 public schools had hit rock bottom several years ago. She took action by leading Midland ISD鈥檚 2019 bond package, which Scott, a business executive, helped craft and supported publicly.

The election drew an impressive turnout of about 23,000 voters, but . Midland鈥檚 staunch anti-tax culture contributed to the defeat, as did an insufficient number of young people turning out to approve the package.

Mobilizing enough voters in a staunchly anti-tax city to support another new bond package is a tall but important task. A city that rightly prides itself on freedom and opportunity should appreciate how much quality public schools can expand the important guiding values of the community.

Most important, Midland鈥檚 business, civic and education leaders must keep playing the role of truth-tellers. The city once had a strong set of public schools. Now, it must rebuild them. That鈥檚 not an easy message to deliver, much less hear.

Longview leaders could learn from Midland鈥檚 example. Longview ISD has a commanding leader in James Wilcox, the district鈥檚 superintendent since 2007. Through his leadership, Longview took advantage of the same state law that Midland has used to create charter schools. Except in Longview鈥檚 case, Wilcox turned the state law, , inside out to make every one of Longview鈥檚 schools into a charter campus.

What the district needs now is a broad ecosystem, one that involves a range of organizations, leaders, and citizens in the conversation about Longview ISD鈥檚 path. Wilcox has set the vision, but widespread engagement will allow the district to build upon its progress over time 鈥� and ensure an eventual successful transition when Wilcox decides to retire.

A broad ecosystem also would help the entire 82,000-person city navigate through the maze of three school districts that serve Longview. Competitive tensions inevitably mount. A network of civic and business organizations could ensure the competition benefits the entire community.

And, as in Midland, Longview business, civic and education leaders must play the role of truth-tellers. In Longview鈥檚 case, the most recent A grade it received from the Texas Education Agency is a triumph. But it doesn鈥檛 mean that all students are having an A experience in terms of quality instruction and academic progress. The A campuses in Longview provide great opportunities to learn what interventions and approaches may better support students on lower-ranking campuses.

An innovative use of government programs

Wilcox has made International Baccalaureate curriculum and the development of Montessori schools a priority for Longview ISD. Research supports those approaches as strategies to stimulate early learning and prepare students for an education beyond high school.

The longtime superintendent is making his priority a reality through an unusual use of SB 1882. The law uses incentives to encourage districts to partner with nonprofit charters to turnaround struggling campuses. In return, the districts receive an increase in state funding for that campus.

Through Wilcox鈥檚 opportunistic use of SB 1882, all Longview ISD schools are now charter campuses. At the same time, the district is using the money from the law to finance the expansion of IB or Montessori programs, including training teachers in these models. (Not all Longview schools have one of those programs, but efforts are underway to spread them district-wide. Teachers are not currently required to be certified in IB or Montessori to be hired by the district.)

Although the three charter organizations operating in Longview have their own boards, Longview ISD essentially runs the schools since it employs the teachers and administrators in each charter. Autonomy is at the heart of charter schools, particularly autonomy around hiring, salaries, use of instructional time and curriculum. Autonomy in Longview is somewhat murky at present, particularly given the governance structure and the fact that teachers and principals are employees of the district, not the charters. Next year, when the charters come up for review, the district should run a competition to select the best charter operators, including being open to charter management operators who insist upon employing their own educators and administrators.

For its part, Midland is focused on strengthening early childhood education, teacher development, career and technical education, and long-range facility planning. Midland also has tapped into the innovations that external charter operators like and use to improve student learning.

Third Future Schools, launched by former Dallas ISD Superintendent Mike Miles, redesigned once-failing Sam Houston Collegiate Preparatory Elementary with innovations like paying higher salaries based upon a teacher鈥檚 classroom performance, assigning apprentice teachers to nurture young educators, and using a curriculum that includes a concentration in the art of thinking. Sam Houston went from a F rating in 2018-2019 to a from the Texas Education Agency for the 2021-2022 school year.

In 2020, Public Schools opened the first , thanks to local foundations and leaders $55 million to fund the expansion of charters in Midland and Odessa. IDEA took over Travis Elementary School, a campus that the state gave a F grade in 2019. By contrast, TEA in 2022.

To its credit, IDEA focuses on the fundamentals of quality classroom instruction and developing effective teachers. The charter management organization notably offers a housing benefit to prospective teachers as part of its goal of developing a local pipeline of quality instructors.

As IDEA has shown with its progress in Midland, innovation need not be new. It may mean something as old-fashioned as strong instruction and a strong, welcoming culture for students.

Whether through a charter school or a traditional campus, Midland ISD will help prepare students for the world that awaits them by remaining open to innovative educational strategies.

Clear and inspired governance is key

The biggest governance challenge for Longview ISD is simplifying its unique but overlapping set of school boards. The district鈥檚 three charter operators have their own set of directors. But the charter operators eventually answer to Longview ISD鈥檚 school trustees and superintendent. Who, then, really is in charge?

Simplifying lines of authority would ensure the charters are not like a cautious driver looking back over their shoulder for approval from passengers in the backseat. Timidity leads to trouble, even danger. Longview students would be better served if the district remained the authorizing agent, while letting the charters manage their own work.

Giving quality charters freedom to operate, whether through rearranging school days, experimenting with curriculum, and using their own hiring and salary practices, has worked around the country. , Public Schools, and Public Schools provide three good examples.

The most important decision facing the Midland school board is hiring a superintendent to replace Angelica Ramsey, who decided in September to become Fort Worth ISD鈥檚 leader. She was hired to stabilize and advance the district after it had churned through two leaders without much progress. Ramsey was headed in the right direction by working closely with the Midland community, building the leadership capacity of principals and assistant principals, and staying on top of district data. The board would be smart to find someone with similar visionary instincts.

Midland voters elected 3 last month. The board has made strides toward concentrating on the most important variable: student performance. In fact, Scott and others credit trustees for being intent on improving the district, focusing on such priorities as attracting talented instructors to West Texas.

Trustees also have participated in Lone Star Governance, a Texas Education Agency spinoff that focuses on effective governance. But, as in other districts, board members need to know what to do with poor results and to stay the course once they find an evidenced-backed pathway. Parochial or minor matters can dominate school board鈥檚 discussions in any district 鈥� it is easy for board agendas to be filled with matters that have the gloss of relevance but lack any substantive impact on students.

Recommendations for Texas and lessons for beyond

As we saw in our look at Texas鈥� big metros as well as this look at our state鈥檚 smaller cities, adult leadership matters everywhere. Smaller cities and towns are, by definition, smaller ponds. Big fish can have outsized impact, to the good or the bad. Civic engagement and service is critical in small towns, particularly for those who want their hometowns to keep their homegrown talent.

Schools that prepare young people well for real local opportunity is a strong strategy for any Texas town. We recommend that leaders in smaller cities consider these recommendations when working to improve outcomes for all young people in their towns.

Show up and engage. In a smaller city, engagement by adults really matters. Citizens need to understand the outcome data and the community context, contribute to solutions with their time and treasure and vote in school board elections. Midland鈥檚 ecosystem is pushing forward with the priorities identified before their superintendent resigned for another role. The ecosystem in Longview is less well-organized and defined.

Distribute the leadership. Transitions will happen in the central office. In smaller cities, distributing responsibility and information across district leaders ensures that improvements work and a focus on goals continues even when leadership may change

Take advantage of charters and SB 1882. As both districts show, partnering with charters through brought new approaches to struggling campuses 鈥� and generated revenue for the districts. District-charter partnerships provide opportunities for learning and innovation when executed with fidelity. Taking advantage of policies like SB 1882 can help smaller cities access new ideas and resources.

Use the data. There is no way around using student outcome data to measure progress. It is impossible to meaningfully improve outcomes for students without using comparable data to understand who is on track and who is lagging. Tests are not solutions in and of themselves. They are simply the tool that helps illustrate academic progress. Breaking apart that data to understand what is happening on each campus and within each subgroup of students is also important to know if all students in the district are having comparable experiences.

The Texas miracle of economic growth and opportunity is both tantalizing and sobering. Texas is the fastest-growing state in the union per the 2020 Census. People of color account for 95% of that population growth, and we need everyone in the state to have opportunity within reach for our state to thrive. We know that the progress made by Texas students through the 1990s and 2000s stalled before the pandemic 鈥� and that stall became a major crash for far too many young people thrown off track by COVID-19 disruptions to school and home.

Recovery for today鈥檚 students is not a lost cause. Texas can still cultivate and benefit from the collective ingenuity, knowledge, and leadership of our young people if adults stay the course to build and support school systems that work for all students. Adult leadership and vision matter now, more than ever.

Towering metropolitan populations dominate the storyline of modern Texas. The 13 largest cities in the United States include five from Texas: Houston, San Antonio, Dallas, Austin and Fort Worth. The Texas Triangle, a megaregion in the middle of the state that includes those five main urban centers, is home to nearly 21 million of the state鈥檚 28.6 million residents. The rest of the state鈥檚 7.5 million residents 鈥� still greater than the population of 30 smaller states 鈥� live in rural areas, small towns and moderately sized cities.

The foundation of the state 鈥� and often its mythic image 鈥� rests in the vast stretches of land far from the office towers of Texas鈥� urban and suburban skylines. No regions of the state capture more of that heritage than West Texas and East Texas. They provided the oil, cattle, timber and cotton that allowed a frontier state to eventually develop an economy that would rank ninth in the world if Texas were a nation.

We chose Midland and Longview, two longstanding Texas communities that help anchor West and East Texas, respectively, for a closer look at opportunity in Texas beyond the state鈥檚 urban core. Both cities sit in growing counties in our fast-growing state, according to the 2020 Census. (Midland County grew over 24% over the last decade, Gregg County grew a more modest 2%.) They are also blessed with young people. Will those young people stay in their cities? Will they be well prepared for opportunities?

Midland sits 325 miles west from Dallas/Fort Worth in the center of the oil-rich Permian Basin. The city鈥檚 thriving energy industry long has attracted pioneering entrepreneurs and educated professionals to its windswept plains. None have been more prominent than a young George H.W. Bush, and his wife Barbara Bush, who arrived after World War II in search of opportunity.

Midland continues to attract college-educated engineers, geologists and executives, at least more so than neighboring Odessa. Yet the boom-and-bust cycles that roil the energy industry require Permian Basin residents to retool themselves 鈥� or become unemployed 鈥� when downturns hit.

Longview became an industrial hub in the Piney Woods of Texas after long-ago becoming a center for shipping cotton and timber. The East Texas town also capitalized on the discovery of the nearby East Texas Oil Field in the 1930s. Fortunes were made from that field, benefitting towns and families across East Texas.

Today, Longview houses a number of manufacturing operations, but only about 22% of the town鈥檚 population has a . By contrast, the state average for a bachelor鈥檚 degree or higher is almost 31%.

These communities face the same question that big cities like Dallas, Houston and Austin encounter with their school districts: How do they best prepare students for a meaningful life in the modern workforce?

Towns like Midland, with its 176,000 people, and Longview, with its 82,000 people, need to grow their own talent to become their communities鈥� next teachers, doctors and entrepreneurs. Big cities have more people moving in, but the futures of Midland and Longview are tied to how well they can prepare their young people for opportunities in adulthood.

This urban-rural dynamic plays itself out across America, no matter a state鈥檚 size. As people flock to cities, what happens to the communities they leave behind? What happens to their workers, their families, their children? What becomes of their institutions, not the least of which are their schools? Look at any state in the union, and this story applies.

What data says about Midland ISD and Longview ISD

As the energy capital of the Permian Basin, Midland is a major force in world energy markets. As of June 2022, the Dallas Federal Reserve Bank , the Permian Basin produced almost 44% of the nation鈥檚 oil and about 17% of its natural gas.

The production is vital to the economies of Midland and the nation. Yet the roller coaster nature of the energy industry means that Midland鈥檚 schools must continually produce innovative students who can help their community adapt to financial booms-and-busts.

Young families once knew they could place their children in a Midland public school and their education would ready them for the world. In the ensuing decades, the community continued to provide a decent education at a below-average cost.

Now, student performance in the Midland Independent School District shows something different.

In the 2018-2019 school year, the Texas Education Agency gave in the agency鈥檚 A-F annual rankings of public schools. The earned only mediocre marks for overall student achievement on the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness exams. Its students demonstrated marginal year-over-year progress on the annual tests. And the state ranked twice as many Midland ISD schools as failing compared to the previous year.

Fast forward three years, Midland ISD students improved on the As a whole, the district of 26,387 students moved from a C rating in 2019, the last year TEA handed out letter grades, to a B for the 2021-2022 school year. The progress is encouraging, especially given the pandemic鈥檚 impact on students.

Similarly, Midland ISD educators should celebrate that their students improved in reading in grades three through eight. And across all subgroups of students, whether by race, income or English proficiency, the district met the state鈥檚 target for .

Still, Midland鈥檚 overall B rating sits on the border between a B and a C. The district barely scooted by with a numerical score of 80 out of 100 to claim that B grade. In part, that is because on the state鈥檚 expectations on all STAAR exams, trailing the Texas state average of 48%.

The 鈥渕eets鈥� mark is critical because it means that students are able, as TEA reports, to 鈥済enerally demonstrate the ability to think critically and apply grade-level knowledge and skills in familiar contexts.鈥� In Midland鈥檚 case, 58% of the district鈥檚 students are not showing they can apply their knowledge in a way that is appropriate for their grade level.

Longview ISD is also showing some signs of improvement, but not all of the East Texas district鈥檚 metrics are encouraging. Like Midland ISD, Longview can鈥檛 claim victory.

The big headline is that the district of 8,223 students earned a coveted A from the state for the 2021-2022 academic year. That top mark was up from a B in 2018-2019. Equally encouraging is that Longview students beat the state average on all STAAR exams except for social studies.

Of course, trumping a fairly low state average is not a major victory. It is particularly troubling that only 44% of Longview ISD鈥檚 Black students, who make up 34.5% of the Longview student body, . Their passing rate trails the average passing rate for all Longview ISD students by 10 points.

While it is good that Longview earned an A rating, an A rating may not mean an A experience for all of a district鈥檚 students. And Midland鈥檚 B rating is a positive sign of growth, but it also does not mean a B experience for every student.

As we saw in our study of Dallas, Austin and Houston, strong high school graduation rates do not guarantee future success.

The charts below illustrate the challenge facing young people in Midland County and Gregg County, in which Longview is located. Third-grade reading scores show gaps by race and ethnicity 鈥� gaps that appear to be largely eliminated when we consider high school graduation rates across those same racial groups. Maddeningly, however, those gaps reappear across higher education attainment and wage measures.

A proxy graduate profile shows that many students were well behind on reading in third grade and math in eighth grade, but a high percentage of students graduated from high school. This begs the question, were they truly prepared for opportunity and their next step, or did we set them up to fail by passing them along in the system?

In our next article, we will examine how the governance and leadership of these two mid-size districts impacts student learning, how well the districts use innovations and fundamentals to improve student outcomes, and the degree to which the community ecosystems support and drive school progress. We also will provide recommendations on how Midland ISD and Longview ISD can best deal with the realities they confront.

For now, we conclude with the voices of students who explain their experiences in Midland and Longview. Their voices are the most important ones, after all. Their opportunity to enjoy a meaningful, purposeful life is at stake.

This piece is part of 鈥淭he Texas Story,鈥� a four-week series produced in partnership with the George W. Bush Institute examining how well Texas students are being prepared for the workforce as the country recovers from the pandemic. Read all the pieces in this series as they are published here. Read our previous accountability series here and here.

This final article puts forth recommendations for civic leaders in Dallas, Austin and Houston. Part one focused on outcomes data and student perspectives. explored the importance of effective governance and community ecosystems. Part three addressed innovation in each of the three regions.

We define 鈥済overnance鈥� as both the school board and the opportunistic use of legislation and public policy. We define 鈥渆cosystem鈥� as the broad coalition of organizations and community leaders focused on education and workforce outcomes across a city or region. Finally, we define 鈥渋nnovation鈥� as the use of strong practice, sometimes new and sometimes not, with the goal of improving student outcomes.

The urban and suburban boom of Texas is full of both promise and risk. According to the 2020 census, Texas grew the fastest 鈥� and grew more diversely 鈥� than any state in the union since 2010. And according to, the state鈥檚 population is likely to grow to 10 million by 2036, Texas鈥� bicentennial. Over 71 percent of jobs will require some college, but only 32 percent of Texas high school students earn a degree or credential within six years of graduating high school.

According to the National Assessment of Education Progress, the gains that Texas students were making in the 1990s and 2000s have stalled, leaving many Texas young people behind in reading and math, the academic building blocks needed for future success.

Unemployment in Texas is low again, at 5.6 percent in September 2021, after hitting a record high of nearly 13 percent in April 2020. Texas companies, large and small, are adding jobs and competing for talent. Texas excels at importing talent thanks to a potent and attractive mix of incentives for businesses to relocate and expand, no state income tax, and job availability. The challenge for Texas is whether young Texans, the homegrown talent of all races and ethnicities, will have access to this growth in opportunity. 

As this series detailed, leaders in Dallas, Houston, and Austin are addressing the opportunity gap for young people in their cities in different ways. While there is no one correct approach, directly acknowledging the current state is essential for any meaningful change. Adults need a seriousness of purpose that supersedes politics and the gravitational pull of the status quo. 

Sometimes that means doing more of what is working. Sometimes it means stopping what is not serving students. It always means that the adult leaders across a region, not just those employed by the school district, need to meaningfully engage with their community鈥檚 education and opportunity challenges. Improvement is only possible when governance, ecosystem, and innovation are used together in service of young people. 

Lessons learned from Dallas, Austin, and Houston inform these recommendations for leaders in any city focused on improving outcomes for young people.

Put Outcomes Above Sound Bites

Outcome data from the state and districts are essential. Intermediaries like the and use that comparable outcome data to say true things about what is happening in the system. Outcome data reveals which students are on track for their next step and who is falling behind; it is impossible to make decisions about priorities and investments without considering the success of students. 

Successful intermediaries make a huge difference. They do far more than critique from the cheap seats, like some education version of Statler and Waldorf, the grumpy balcony-dwelling Muppets critiquing from above. Commit and Good Reason Houston provide concrete support for strong teaching and learning in districts willing to take improvement seriously. Because those organizations sit outside the school districts in their counties, they can use knowledge, incentives, and, when needed, public pressure to bring about change. Importantly, intermediaries help a wide range of people understand what is at stake.

Austin would benefit from a similar quarterbacking organization. The, which brings together Central Texas school districts, higher education institutions, businesses, and nonprofits to pursue policies that create an educational pipeline from pre-K through college, could be a place to start. The Austin Chamber of Commerce, which has a longstanding interest in local education, similarly has an opportunity to focus the region’s attention on the need for a better pipeline.

Keep the End in Mind

The goal of our education system is to prepare young people for a life with agency and opportunity, with all the stops along the way building upon each other. The launch process from high school into higher education, military, credential program, or career should be made explicit for students and their families. Families need information about options, pros and cons, and costs.

High school graduation rates alone no longer signal a win. Those diplomas need to lead to a two- or four-year degree, a certification, or the military to prove their worth. Dallas Independent School District鈥檚 work to build is an important example of how a district can create this more explicit connection between high school and what is next. The initiative is built upon partnerships with higher education institutions and corporations.

Innovate Where It Matters, Not in the Margins.

Initiatives du jour often litter cities, especially when it comes to education. New shiny objects can attract attention, especially when a high-profile champion is behind one. Too often, these well-intentioned but disjointed efforts fail to live up to their promise to meaningfully serve kids. Innovation doesn鈥檛 always mean new. Sometimes it means committing to do what works, to do it well, and to do it with fidelity over time.

Strong policy can pave the way, and , a landmark education bill passed by the 2019 Texas legislature, is one example. The wide-ranging bill provides districts with incentives and supports to improve student outcomes and support teacher excellence, while making some important changes to school finance in Texas. 

A hallmark of the bill is a concentration on K-3 reading support, with a particular focus on training all K-3 teachers and principals on the science of reading. Aldine ISD used that bill as a catalyst for change across its district to dump poor instructional practice and curriculum and instead build the capacity of their educators. HB 3 also provides incentive funds for districts to pay their best teachers the most, particularly if they are on the faculty of a high need and/or rural campus. Dallas ISD and Aldine ISD have taken advantage of this opportunity.

Teaching reading well and rewarding your best teachers are not new ideas. But students who can read 鈥� and who are taught by high quality educators 鈥� will be better prepared for their next steps. District leaders who ignore the incentives HB 3 offers should explain that choice to parents. Systems change can be slow. A focus on improving reading instruction and educator excellence can pay off for kids quickly.

Prioritize Governance, the Unsexy Building Block of Student Success. 

It is difficult to compensate for school boards gone awry. At best, they distract all the players from improving student outcomes. At worst, they disrupt, halt, or implode important student-centered work. Across the state, several districts are working with, the TEA initiative for developing and supporting effective board members. Trustees need clarity about their role in the district, and voters need clarity about what to expect from the board members.

American education is noteworthy for its local control ethos. Given limited federal mandates, states and local communities have significant influence on districts. When boards work well, they set policies and direction that reflects strengths and needs of the community. When boards don鈥檛 work well, the needless drama drives people away and erodes confidence in the district. Too much is at stake for governance to be an afterthought. Simply put, school boards must focus on the main thing 鈥� improving student outcomes.

Build the Bench for the Long Haul

Keeping the focus on quality education and workforce pathways requires stamina and a long-game mindset. The challenges are complex, so solutions will take time, commitment, and a sense of humility. Building a strong bench of stakeholders that will work to keep district and regional goals focused on student outcomes and opportunity matters. Leaders should prioritize developing future trustees and community leaders, recruiting staff (and funders) to intermediary and support organizations, and engaging business and higher education leaders in making strong connections to the region鈥檚 PK-12 districts. The ecosystem will be strengthened 鈥� and its influence increased 鈥� when more people understand what success means for all Texans. 

The current Dallas board has a stronger understanding of governance than previous iterations, but that current knowledge is not an inoculation of knowledge for future trustees. This is where the ecosystem really matters.,, and have made a meaningful difference in Dallas by engaging new people in the process and the key issues.

Prioritize Parent Input

Parents should be central to decision-making. Patricia Arvanitis, founder of , rightly notes that parents need to be a check on the system given how much they have at stake for their own children. Outreach to parents, centered on their child鈥檚 progress, is crucial. Parent perspective should play a role in allocating resources and determining priorities.

, based in Dallas, trains parents to be advocates for their students. Florencia Velasco Fortner, the organization鈥檚 president and CEO, describes a sense of urgency among parents coming out of the pandemic. After months of learning from home, they see their children鈥檚 academic needs in a new way. Input from parents can help shape priorities 鈥� and serve as an important accountability check for districts and programs.

City leaders can seek out organizations like which focuses on providing parents free, personalized support to find a school that is a good fit for their child. The organization, which works in Austin, San Antonio, and Tarrant County, largely serves families of color with a household income of less than $50,000.

Create a City Hall Champion-in-Chief

In Dallas, strong mayoral leadership matters, despite limited direct authority over Dallas ISD. Former Mayor Mike Rawlings certainly was instrumental in identifying Mike Miles as a superintendent candidate who would bring a sharp focus on student outcomes. And Rawlings pushed for Dallas ISD to enact reforms like a merit-pay system that recognizes effective teachers and develops those educators who struggle in the classroom. Former Dallas ISD school board chair Miguel Solis put it this way: 鈥淭he mayor must consistently promote education, even if they lack line authority.鈥�

Mayors in each city can influence, engage, and cajole others across the city to focus more sharply on outcomes for young people. The bully pulpit is real and can be powerful.

Put Corporate Skin in the Game

Districts in all three counties are preparing future employees for the region鈥檚 businesses 鈥� but also educating the families of today鈥檚 employees. Corporate leaders should seek ways to explicitly connect with high schools through partnerships like P-Tech, and they should also engage with organizations like the regional Chambers of Commerce to advocate for improvement. The Texas economic miracle needs talent for fuel. And there is a great deal of talent to unlock in these ISDs.

Corporations in Austin are particularly mute on education, which is somewhat surprising given the 34 percent population growth in the region since 2010. Many of those newcomers hail from out of state as companies relocate, expand, and launch in Travis County. Leaders from Dell Technologies have engaged the most, largely promoting charter schools in the area. But beyond Dell, the tech community is a non-factor in Austin鈥檚 education discussion.

The Austin Regional Chamber of Commerce should ensure that the new corporate leaders in town understand the promise of Austin ISD (as well as its challenges). Supt. Stephanie Elizalde just wrapped up her first year. Now is the time for Austin鈥檚 business sector to prioritize education, and to work with Elizalde to help connect Austin鈥檚 high-flying economic success to the Austin ISD students preparing for careers of their own.

Texas is fortunate to offer opportunity to so many people, including those coming from afar. Supporting lives with agency that lead to lives with dignity requires a strong commitment to readiness for all young Texans. Students across the state will need the right skills to land the problem-solving, creative-thinking jobs that tomorrow will offer. Unfortunately, the 68 percent of Texas students on track to earn only a high school degree will increasingly be shut out of higher wage jobs and career paths.

It doesn鈥檛 have to be that way. The recommendations listed above and highlighted in this series can ensure that students are not left in the lurch. Texas鈥檚 story can remain one of opportunity.  We can guarantee that the state has a pipeline of talent to sustain itself into a third promising century if we take action.

Catch up on this four-week series here.

Anne Wicks is the Ann Kimball Johnson Director of the George W. Bush Institute鈥檚 Education Reform Initiative.

William McKenzie is senior editorial advisor for the George W. Bush Institute.

This article addresses innovation in Dallas, Austin and Houston. Part one focused on outcomes data and student perspectives. explored the importance of effective governance and community ecosystems. Part four puts forth recommendations for leaders.

We define 鈥済overnance鈥� as both the school board and the opportunistic use of legislation and public policy. We define 鈥渆cosystem鈥� as the broad coalition of organizations and community leaders focused on education and workforce outcomes across a city or region. Finally, we define 鈥渋nnovation鈥� as the use of strong practice, sometimes new and sometimes not, with the goal of improving student outcomes.

Dallas: Pathways to College

Choice plays an important role in Dallas County, giving thousands of families options beyond their neighborhood school thanks to charter networks like Uplift and KIPP. Current Dallas Supt. Michael Hinojosa gives for spurring the district to improve (, however). Part of the innovation inspired by this competition includes Dallas ISD鈥檚 program.

As the name suggests, Early College students graduate with more than a high school diploma, something that students will increasingly need. By 2036, Texas鈥檚 bicentennial, will require a postsecondary credential. Yet less than a third of Dallas County Black and Hispanic high school graduates currently earn such a credential within six years of completing high school.听

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Dallas ISD is taking on this challenge in part through its 26 Early College High Schools (18 of those are P-TECH campuses, which offer certificate programs along with associate degrees). Ninety industry partners work with the campuses to expose students to the world of work. Each school鈥檚 aim is to improve the readiness of students for college and the workforce, particularly students from marginalized communities.听

One participating high school is Kathlyn Joy Gilliam Collegiate Academy, where Vanessa Larez graduated in 2018 with a high school diploma and an associate degree. She then attended and graduated from Southern Methodist University in 2021. Her tuition was fully covered, thanks to the initiative, which pays the final bill at partner institutions after financial aid is applied for participating students.

Larez credits the program with helping her get into SMU, boosting her GPA, and providing insight into what college classes are like. She felt prepared for the college culture, although she acknowledges that she didn鈥檛 know how hard college would be academically. As the student stories in part one of this series indicate, other students also felt they weren鈥檛 academically well prepared for college.听

Larez got a taste of the difficulty when she failed an exam early in the year, which she says was the first test she had ever flunked in her life. To her credit, she sought out her professor, studied hard the rest of the semester, passed the course, and, importantly, finished SMU with a degree in three years. Larez now has a job in communications with Bachman Lake Together, a Northwest Dallas private-sector collaborative that focuses on kindergarten readiness. In her own way, she is giving back to students with backgrounds like her own.

Another campus in Dallas ISD鈥檚 efforts to prepare students for college and the workforce is Sunset High School, one of the district鈥檚 P-Tech schools. Yesenia Tejeda graduated from Sunset in June with both a high school degree and an associate degree from . Now enrolled at the University of North Texas-Dallas, Tejeda credits the initiative with putting her on the path to earning 60 college credit hours plus a high school diploma.

Tejeda chose the early childhood education pathway, and credits it with not only providing her academic content but also helping her learn how to manage her time, advocate for herself, and ask questions. She found developing those skills part of the P-TECH secret sauce. 鈥淧-TECH motivated me and got me to set goals鈥� Tejeda said this spring. 鈥淚t changed my life.鈥�

The district started its P-TECH work five years ago, with 125 ninth-graders. Today students can enroll in one of several pathways, such as early childhood education, allied health, and information technology to earn an associate degree, along with an industry certificate. In the 2020 school year, 72 percent of the district鈥檚 872 P-TECH seniors graduated with dual degrees, giving the graduates a leg up on a four-year degree, an industry internship, or higher-wage employment. Just over 10 percent of Dallas ISD seniors earned an associate degree in 2021.

Dr. Brian Lusk, Dallas ISD鈥檚 Chief of Strategic Initiatives, acknowledges that the district needed to 鈥渓evel up college readiness.鈥� Lusk explained that the district envisions a future where all students earn more than a high school diploma. That means that a third of its students would graduate with an International Baccalaureate diploma or Advanced Placement credits, a third would graduate with an associate degree, and the final third would earn an industry credential.

The district deserves credit for recognizing the need to better prepare students for the workforce and higher education. Now, Dallas ISD Superintendent Michael Hinojosa and school administrators must make these programs work better for more students.

An instructive way to start improving these initiatives is through listening to students who have participated in them. Larez, for example, believes that high schools need more counselors. Her campus of approximately 400 students had only one counselor at a time 鈥� a counselor who left and was replaced almost every year. When applying to SMU, the new counselor told Larez that she couldn鈥檛 fill out the recommendation form because she didn鈥檛 know her. As a result, Larez had to track down an assistant principal to ask for help with the letter. Some of her classmates got off track and did not attain an associate degree because they had to prioritize working to support their families.

For her part, Tejeda wished P-TECH had exposed her to more colleges and careers. She also believes the program should place greater attention on the financial aspects of applying to college. Many participants are part of the first generation in their families to seek a college degree and are not familiar with the process of applying to college and for scholarships. Partnerships with nonprofit organizations dedicated to increasing college and career knowledge and access 鈥� such as (disclosure: Wicks is a board member), , and 鈥� can add needed capacity.

That capacity should include enough qualified teachers to teach rigorous college prep courses. Lincoln High School graduate Kiara Kabbara, who now serves as the University of Texas at Austin student body president, shared that her school didn鈥檛 offer many Advanced Placement courses due to a lack of teachers. The few AP courses they did offer had permanent substitutes or teachers overwhelmed with multiple preps. Everyone in Kabbara鈥檚 class scored a 鈥�1鈥� (out of 5) on their AP exams, which meant no college credit.

Houston: Aldine ISD is Focusing on the Fundamentals

The Independent School District borders the Houston Independent School District. It serves nearly 70,000 students, 90 percent of whom come from economically disadvantaged families. Before the district hired as superintendent in July 2018, Aldine ISD had earned only a 鈥淐鈥� rating on Texas鈥� A-F school accountability ratings.

Dr. Goffney brought a bold vision to Aldine ISD, focusing on advancing equity, elevating student achievement, and ensuring every school in Aldine ISD puts students on a path of choice and opportunity. Dr. Goffney didn鈥檛 look for the shiny new object to put her stamp on the district. Instead, she 鈥渋nnovated鈥� by emphasizing the basics, starting with the mechanics of reading. She and her team began working with to improve the district鈥檚 academic trajectory.

Good Reason Houston鈥檚 experts now hold monthly meetings with Aldine school leaders, focusing on improving the number of high-quality schools, expanding pre-kindergarten opportunities, developing a literacy curriculum, and retaining effective teachers. 鈥淎ldine ISD is leading the way in Harris County through their innovative approaches and actions they are taking to address low-performing schools,鈥� said Good Reason Houston CEO.

Under Goffney鈥檚 leadership, the district set a of having all third-graders read at or above grade level. Reading scores for Aldine鈥檚 third-graders demonstrate the urgency. Only 29 percent of them scored proficient in reading on the 2019 State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness exam. That means that less than a third of Aldine third-graders were reading at grade level.听

Up until third grade, students are primarily learning to read by expanding their reading skills and building stamina. After third grade, students are reading to learn in every subject, from math to science to social studies. Poor readers will struggle to stay on track as they move through school. has shown that children who are reading at grade level by third grade are more likely to graduate from high school.

To their credit, district officials didn鈥檛 hide from the problem. They owned it publicly and worked with to launch a literacy task force in the summer of 2019. Eight schools were enlisted in a pilot program for the 2019-2020 school year. Six were elementary campuses, and two were middle schools in order to focus on older struggling readers.听

The district used a science-based approach to teaching reading and monitored progress over the next nine months. According to district officials, the focused on early phonics instruction and reading complex texts, an approach supported by HB 3, the significant education bill passed by the 2019 Texas Legislature. That bill included support to train all K-3 teachers on the science of reading.

The literacy program has now spread across the district, focusing on effective instruction to build strong literacy foundations. The effort draws upon outside experts to coach Aldine reading teachers in the best literacy practices, review the state鈥檚 English and Spanish language arts standards, and help educators plan their instruction. Aldine officials likewise have worked on aligning reading materials to every grade level. A previous audit revealed areas in the reading curriculum that needed strengthening.

This strategy doesn鈥檛 require fancy bells and whistles. It just requires a commitment to implementing research-proven methods by supporting educators in changing instructional practice and improving the reading resources for students and families.

Of course, the COVID-19 pandemic has slowed some of the progress, as the 2021 STAAR scores show. Still, the district isn鈥檛 letting up on this program in its infancy, but rather doubling down on the reading initiative to help students recover from their COVID-19 learning losses.

some of the district鈥檚 COVID-19 federal stimulus money to reverse losses in subjects like reading. Following Aldine鈥檚 lead and focusing on the science of reading is a smart place to start. Houston ISD could learn from Aldine鈥檚 use of the model that Dallas ISD pioneered. The fundamentals include placing highly effective principals and teachers in low-performing schools, using data to drive instruction, and offering extended days for more time to learn.

In 2019, the Texas Legislature provided funds for districts to adopt the ACE model as a part of HB 3. Houston school leaders chose not to take the money or apply the proven model in its low-achieving campuses.

That said, Houston is not without its own innovations. The region has embraced giving parents choices for their students. Two of the nation鈥檚 most recognized charter school networks 鈥� and 鈥� launched in Houston in the 1990s. Today, those two networks operate about one-third of Houston鈥檚 charter schools.听

Like Dallas ISD, Houston ISD also offers a collection of initiatives to prepare students for college. That list includes which provides SAT prep, a program manager who provides students with personalized support, and college tours and application assistance to first-generation and low-income students to help them attend and graduate from top-ranked colleges.听

Good Reason Houston鈥檚 provides a roadmap for Houston ISD, too. The proposal calls for expanding or replicating successful schools, creating systems to identify and reward highly effective teachers, giving them incentives to teach in the district鈥檚 most struggling schools, using classroom curricula that have proven effective in helping students learn, giving students the individualized interventions they need to master their subjects, and involving parents in all levels of campus decision-making.

Innovation does not necessarily mean new; it can also mean adopting research-proven practices and measuring progress. Choosing to focus on fundamentals 鈥� like a football coach who makes sure that players can block and tackle before teaching them trick plays 鈥� is innovative if the basics have largely been abandoned. Aldine ISD recognized this misalignment and reprioritized. Houston ISD can do the same.

Austin: Choice Leads the Way

Charter school expansion in Austin leads this region鈥檚 innovation story. A 2020 University of Texas found that Austin ISD鈥檚 charter school enrollment grew by nearly 800 percent between 2008 and 2018. That increase was greater than in Dallas, Houston, and San Antonio. Established networks like KIPP and IDEA have a large presence in the Austin area, joined by smaller organizations like Austin Achieve too.听

Charters in the Austin area are growing in spite of the local ecosystem, not because of it. The KLE Foundation provides strong philanthropic leadership, but the region lacks a broad base of support. That is not due to a lack of wealth. Austin is home to a thriving tech and start-up community and a generally booming economy. The Austin skyline is filled with.

Lizzette Gonzalez Reynolds, vice president of the Foundation for Excellence in Education and a member of IDEA Austin鈥檚 regional advisory board, shared that charters in Austin face challenges raising money, getting city permits, and establishing partnerships given the anti-charter sentiment in town. 鈥淎 quality education is the great equalizer and every student deserves an opportunity to attend a quality school. Policy leaders should embrace a culture of freedom, where parents are empowered and school choice is extended to all families, not just the select few who can afford a private education or have the means to pick-up and move to a new school that works for their individual child.鈥�

Some in Austin fear the inroads charters have made. And some in the district may see them as a threat to Austin ISD . But the goal should never be to preserve the district status quo; it should be to serve children and families well. District schools can adapt and change to better meet the needs of families. Austin ISD leaders, including Superintendent Stephanie Elizalde and head of enrollment Alejandro Delgado, started prioritizing direct engagement with families this summer in a bid to boost enrollment.听

Austin ISD can use public policy to access innovation as well. The 2019 Texas Legislature passed as a way to spur innovation and expand proven educational strategies across the state. Despite the impact of the pandemic on Texas鈥檚 finances, lawmakers extended the funding for the measure during their 2021 session. The 2021 Texas Legislature passed HB 4545 to provide support for districts working to mitigate the disruptive impact of COVID-19 on student learning.

The money from HB 3 can help districts in numerous ways, including paying their highest-performing educators to teach in the lowest-performing schools, extending their number of school days, and differentiating teacher pay according to classroom effectiveness.

Austin school officials approved a merit pay plan for district teachers in 2016. But they cannot stop there. Austin school trustees should enact a policy that identifies the highest-performing teachers and gives them a financial incentive to serve in schools that struggle to keep children learning at the appropriate grade level.

That strategy has not worked perfectly in Dallas ISD, but student gains have been faster in low-performing Dallas campuses that have attracted high-performing teachers than in the district as a whole. Superintendent Elizalde is familiar with this approach and its results from her time as a Dallas ISD senior leader. Additionally, Austin ISD has slowly built some new capacity in talent management. The district is one of four in the country that participated in a recent George W. Bush Institute study designed to help districts better recruit, support, and retain effective school leaders.

As the experience of Cole Harrison, an Austin ISD graduate indicates, the district can help advanced learners get ready for college and beyond. That is good. But the achievement gap between students based upon their race presents a challenge for Austin leaders, just as it does for school officials in Dallas and Houston.听

Austin, Texas鈥檚 state capital, is a political town. As a blue city in a red state, local politics capture attention beyond Travis County. Battles over charters and school closures mask the real issue:听 big academic outcome gaps across racial and ethnic subgroups. According to the , Austin ISD鈥檚 overall third grade reading scores are above the state average, and above Dallas and Houston. But the gaps between White students and Black and Hispanic students 鈥� 51 percentage points and 43 percentage points, respectively 鈥� are staggering.

Innovation can mean a new strategy or approach to improve student outcomes. But it can also mean prioritizing the basics of strong teaching, learning, and governing above politics. It can mean connecting more directly with parents and families to adapt to their needs and hopes for their children. It can mean focusing on outcomes for all students instead of soundbites about incremental success.听

This series concludes next week with recommendations for civic leaders.

Follow this four-week series here.

Anne Wicks is the Ann Kimball Johnson Director of the George W. Bush Institute鈥檚 Education Reform Initiative.

William McKenzie is senior editorial advisor for the George W. Bush Institute.

This article explores the importance of effective governance and community ecosystems. Part one focused on outcomes data and student perspectives. Part three will address innovation in each of the three regions. Part four puts forth recommendations for leaders.

We define 鈥済overnance鈥� as both the school board and the opportunistic use of legislation and public policy. We define 鈥渆cosystem鈥� as the broad coalition of organizations and community leaders focused on education and workforce outcomes across a city or region. Finally, we define 鈥渋nnovation鈥� as the use of strong practice, sometimes new and sometimes not, with the goal of improving student outcomes.

Houston: Recapturing 鈥淚t鈥�

If this story had been written 15 years ago, Houston would have been the star. The Houston Independent School District had 鈥渋t鈥�: effective governance and a supportive community, both of which were leading to impressive innovations and improving outcomes. At the same time, two successful charter networks 鈥� KIPP and YES Prep 鈥� launched and expanded in the region.

Today, Houston has lost 鈥渋t.鈥� While the charter sector in Houston remains strong, progress for students in the district has ground to a halt.

For the last five years, Houston ISD鈥檚 governance has been a mess, to be blunt. One lasted just two years and was followed by two interim superintendents over a three-year period. Meanwhile, bitter trustee were fueled by political infighting, and student outcomes took a backseat. The Texas Education Agency moved to HISD in 2019, prompting more backlash and lawsuits. The agency has asked the Texas Supreme Court to hear the case, but it remains unclear whether the court will take it up. Legislation passed this year would allow the state to take over failing campuses if need be.

Adult infighting has upended Houston students鈥� march toward progress. From 2012 to 2019, for example, third grade reading scores in the district only increased by 4 percentage points on the . By contrast, third grade reading scores for Dallas Independent School District students improved by 9 percentage points during that period.

Sadly, this is the same district that twice won the Broad Prize for Urban Education, the once-coveted, but now-discontinued award that honored districts that were improving the quality of schools in major urban centers., HISD won the award under former Supt. for such strengths as improved reading and math scores, clear academic goals, and effective management and accountability systems.

HISD won again in 2013 under then-Supt. for advances such as improving its graduation rates faster than peer districts, closing achievement gaps for low-income and Hispanic students from 2009 to 2012, and improving the readiness of its students for college.

The charter school sector established a firm foothold in Houston as KIPP, YES Prep and others launched and grew. Houston families had more choice inside and outside the district to find the right fit for their children.

A combination of factors upended that progress. The reform movement lost momentum, and some reformers retired, moved on to other cities, or, in the case of exemplary leader Charles Miller, passed away. The ecosystem ran short of champions and outcomes-focused board candidates who were willing to stand up for students. The school board turned over, candidates opposed to the successful reforms gained control, and Houston鈥檚 respected ecosystem faded.

Status quo is not the only option, despite the challenges. There is new energy in Houston around positive change. Houston ISD now has a new superintendent, , who promises to use research to guide best practices, especially in low-performing schools. And the ecosystem is reorganizing.

Organizations such as , the , and the have important institutional memories, hold key relationships across the region, and share an outcomes focus. recruits and supports prospective school board candidates in three regions of Texas, with Harris County as one of them. , a research-based TEA program designed to train and support sitting school board members to focus on student outcomes, can provide critical support to Houston ISD board members.

This type of ecosystem worked before in Houston. Starting in the early 1990s and lasting for the next two decades, business leaders, nonprofits and philanthropists were crucial supporters when the district introduced a merit-pay system for educators, used data to drive innovative classroom strategies and bolster effective campuses, and expanded choice for families. Houston鈥檚 ecosystem also supported reform-minded trustees such as Dianne Johnson and Natasha Kamrani. As John Fitzpatrick of Educate Texas puts it, 鈥淗ouston had a coherent theory of change and the board worked hard to pursue it.鈥�听

That coherent theory of change can return if Houston鈥檚 leaders take action, including making student academic outcomes the bottom line. Getting derailed into metrics like 鈥渟tudent experiences鈥� will take Houston ISD鈥檚 eye off mastering reading and other fundamentals. It is great for students to visit the Houston Zoo or the Museum District. But students can only move forward with agency and opportunity if they can read, write, do math and think critically.听

Good Reason Houston鈥檚 codifies the vision and aspirations for a high-quality education that every child in every neighborhood growing up in Houston deserves. The polices outlined in the blueprint include expanding or replicating successful schools; creating systems to identify and reward highly effective teachers and giving them incentives to teach in Houston ISD鈥檚 most struggling schools; using classroom curricula that have proven effective; giving students the individualized supports and interventions they need to master academic content; and involving parents in all levels of campus decision-making. This is a smart road map of priorities that all stakeholders can and should embrace.

Dallas: How to Sustain 鈥淚t鈥�

In 2011, a group of Dallas business leaders, Dallas Independent School District administrators and trustee and nonprofit representatives toured cities around the country to learn how big, urban school systems can steer themselves in the right direction. At the time, Dallas ISD sorely needed a North Star.听

In 2002, Dallas voters rewarded then-Supt. Mike Moses鈥檚 leadership by passing a , which was the largest ever in the state. In 2009, the district became the third Teach for America site in Texas, welcoming about 100 corps members as teachers to the district. And by 2011, the school board included a few data-driven trustees such as future Texas Education Commissioner Mike Morath.

But a in 2008 had rocked and nearly overwhelmed the district, contributing to then-Supt. Michael Hinojosa鈥檚 exit three years later. (Hinojosa later returned to the district). The state 33 of its 230 schools 鈥渁cademically unacceptable鈥� in the 2010-2011 school year. And the business community had largely stepped away from district engagement.

Fortunately, a commitment to improve Dallas ISD鈥檚 governance and create a network of community support evolved from those tours to Los Angeles, Denver, Houston, and Cincinnati.听 First, the district hired as superintendent in 2012, and second, businessman and philanthropist Todd Williams launched , a data-driven nonprofit that rallies partner organizations to drive educational success and economic mobility in Dallas County.听

Miles, formerly a superintendent in Colorado, developed a new merit-pay plan for teachers and principals to reward and encourage the district鈥檚 best educators, reforms that remain in place today and that have been copied around Texas. He placed an intense focus on stronger instruction and created a program to bring high-performing teachers and principals to low-performing schools, matching expertise with high-need campuses.

Commit鈥檚 focus on gathering, reporting and analyzing data ensured that a focus on outcomes became normal in discussions about district policy and goals across Dallas County. School trustees like Morath had new, quality data and information to help guide their decision-making.听

Strong mayoral leadership under then-Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings bolstered the reform movement, too. He championed improving the school district, even though he had no real authority over Dallas ISD. Nevertheless, Rawlings saw himself as the town crier, willing to tell the truth about the schools鈥� needs and how those needs were impacting Dallas鈥檚 ability to grow. As Rawlings told us, 鈥淲e couldn鈥檛 grow with marginal schools.鈥� A child of teachers, he also saw education reform as an equity issue. 鈥淓ducation is the only thing to overcome the gaps between Dallas鈥� haves and have-nots,鈥� the former Pizza Hut CEO said.

At the same time, organizations such as , which supports and promotes high-quality, student-focused board members, helped elect new trustee leadership. and Leadership DISD, which later spread around the state as Leadership ISD, began engaging parents and others to learn more about governing and district priorities. Support organizations such as the Teaching Trust and TFA added capacity and leadership focused on strong instruction and student outcomes. And charter school networks such as Uplift and KIPP blossomed around Dallas and North Texas.

Important student-focused changes to practice took hold. For example, Dallas ISD began differentiating effective teaching. Instead of an evaluation system in which 95 percent of teachers earned the highest two rankings, the district shifted to a multi-measure evaluation system that identified the most effective teachers as well as the lowest performers. The most effective instructors were also given financial incentives to teach in the initiative, which Miles created to serve the most underperforming campuses.

Student academic progress has been uneven. As one example, Dallas ISD on the 2019 installment of the respected National Assessment of Educational Progress exam showed that Dallas ISD students scored below the level of students in other urban districts. On the other hand, as we note above, reading scores for Dallas ISD third graders improved by 9 percent between 2012 and 2019 on the . That increase was better than for third graders across Texas and in the Houston and Austin school districts.听

鈥淚mprovement in education in Dallas is the most exciting part of the past decade,鈥� former Dallas ISD School Board President Miguel Solis contends. 鈥淐ollectively people came together and united around a new approach to a long-standing challenge.鈥�听

How does Dallas sustain this momentum to ensure that improvement in student outcomes becomes consistent? Thanks to the new ecosystem, most Dallas ISD school board members are focused on student outcomes, paying particular attention to gaps across race and ethnic groups. But as Houston鈥檚 experience reveals, a results-oriented, students-first approach can evaporate quickly without a bench. It only takes an election or two for effective governance to diminish and a supportive ecosystem to wither.听听

Austin: Developing 鈥淚t鈥� for the First Time

If Houston must regain an effective governing model and a supportive ecosystem, and Dallas must sustain the leadership and support it has developed over the last decade, the Austin Independent School District has never had 鈥渋t鈥� to regain or sustain. The lack of both strong governance and an outcomes-focused culture is surprising for a city that keeps attracting residents and businesses from well beyond Texas. Why aren鈥檛 the burgeoning creative class and the problem-solving technologists paying closer attention?

To be sure, Austin has had its bright periods. Former Supt. Pat Forgione, who once was state superintendent in Delaware and served as a commissioner for the National Center for Education Statistics, led the district from 1999 to 2009. He ushered in initiatives such as free kindergarten, small learning communities and a portfolio of high school choices, which helped keep some middle-class families from Austin鈥檚 university, government, and technology communities in Austin ISD schools.听听

During Forgione鈥檚 tenure, the district twice scored first or second among urban districts on the National Assessment of Educational Progress exams. Voters invested in three significant bond packages. And an intensive public engagement campaign led to a student enrollment growth of 8.5 percent. Stanford professor鈥檚 Larry Cuban鈥檚 book, , noted Forgione鈥檚 鈥渟hrewd appointments of key staff in instruction and data assessment.鈥�

Even today, with fast-growing suburban districts like Leander ISD nearby and increased charter competition, a number of Austin鈥檚 middle-class families enroll their students in Austin ISD schools. The district鈥檚 scores, in aggregate, are decent compared to many large urban districts, considering that 53 percent of students met or exceeded the state鈥檚 standards on the.

But when you drill down into the data and study how students across racial and economic lines perform, a different picture emerges. Consider that only 35 percent of students met or exceeded the state鈥檚听 reading standards in 2019. Only 33 percent of Black students and only 40 percent of Hispanic students met or exceeded the standard. However, 78 percent of white students met or exceeded the state reading standard. The divide between the haves and the have nots across racial lines in Austin is stark.听听

Encouragingly, the charter school movement has gained some momentum. From 2008 to 2018, Austin had the in charter school enrollment than Houston, Dallas or San Antonio. The result for parents and students is greater choices among schools.

At the same time, declining enrollment is now a serious challenge for Austin ISD, as enrollment has dropped by more than 10,000 students in the last decade. Per pupil funding, of course, follows the student to their new district or public charter school, so the impact on Austin ISD鈥檚 budget is material as enrollment numbers shift. This drop is a signal to the board and the district about what families value. Travis County is booming, but that population influx is not reflected in Austin ISD enrollment.

And in recent years the school board has been bogged down in issues unrelated to student outcomes and school quality. Public battles have focused on closing neighborhood schools as enrollment has declined instead of concentrating on improving quality to attract more families into the district. One oversight has been the board鈥檚 failure to enact an extended calendar to address learning losses stemming from the pandemic.

Austin鈥檚 young people will benefit when adults prioritize outcomes above sound bites. Thanks to the TEA鈥檚 efforts to administer the STAAR exam in 2021, we have detailing the gaps that existed pre-pandemic as well as how the pandemic has impacted students over the last 18 months. Gaps widened over the pandemic, disproportionately impacting the region’s students of color.

Can Austin finally make education the cause of choice in the region? That remains to be seen. The work of public schools is to prepare their students for future opportunity. We will address the important role of innovation next in this series and then conclude with recommendations for leaders.听听

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Follow this four-week series here.

Anne Wicks is the Ann Kimball Johnson Director of the George W. Bush Institute鈥檚 Education Reform Initiative.

William McKenzie is senior editorial advisor for the George W. Bush Institute.

Texas is more than swagger and 270,000 square miles. It is home to more than 29 million diverse residents. According to the 2020 Census, Texas gained the most citizens of any state since 2010. That growth was driven by people of color. Whites and Hispanics each make up 40 percent of the state鈥檚 population, followed by Black and Asian Texans, at nearly 12 percent and 5 percent, respectively.  

As the story of Texas plays out between now and 2036, when the state observes its bicentennial, the ability of Texas鈥� PreK-16 schools and institutions to prepare young people for their next step will have enormous influence. Will the Texas economic miracle sustain itself? And will all Texans have access to that prosperity? 

Gains happened in Texas in the 1990s and 2000s, as measured by the National Assessment of Education Progress, but that progress largely tapered off in the 2010s. Texas now has strong A-F accountability ratings in place, thanks to passed in 2017 by the Texas Legislature.  Strong education laws passed again in 2019 and 2021 to strengthen instruction, reward strong teachers, and help districts mitigate the impact of Covid-19. The policy ingredients for improvement are in place.

There are more than 7 million Texans under 18 today who need the skills to enjoy a successful career, find purpose in their work, and contribute to the state鈥檚 economy. Will young Texans entering school between now and 2036 be offered the fundamentals of a quality education that puts them on a path to opportunity and a decent living? Will the state enjoy the fruits of these students鈥� ingenuity, knowledge, and leadership?

To better answer those questions, we spent several months speaking with community and school leaders, policy experts, and, most importantly, students in Houston, Dallas and Austin. We also looked at outcome data, mapping third-grade reading scores, high school graduation rates, and higher education attainment and wages.

That data is sobering. The charts below illustrate the challenge facing three of Texas鈥� largest counties 鈥� Dallas, Harris (Houston), and Travis (Austin). Third-grade reading scores show gaps by race and ethnicity – gaps that appear to be largely eliminated when we consider high school graduation rates across those same racial groups. Maddeningly, however, those gaps reappear across higher education attainment and wage measures. 

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The below proxy graduate profile shows that many students were well behind on reading in third grade and math in eighth grade, but a high percentage of students graduated from high school. This begs the question, were they truly prepared for opportunity and their next step, or did we set them up to fail by passing them along in the system?  

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One measure of why this matters is the connection between the level of educational attainment and annual earnings. More educational attainment translates into higher salaries. Money, of course, is not the sole determinant of a meaningful life. But a greater earning ability often correlates with a greater ability to make choices, more access to opportunity, and greater ability to adapt during severe economic downturns. Texas鈥� success depends on its people鈥檚 success.

Preparing young people for futures in which they have agency and opportunity is not just the responsibility of the largest school district in a region or county. Instead, it requires a common understanding that adult choices have significant impact on outcomes for young people. Our research focused on three  elements that should work together in service of young people 鈥� ecosystem, governance, and innovation. We considered the ways those elements are driving (or possibly inhibiting) progress.

We define 鈥渆cosystem鈥� as the broad coalition of organizations and community leaders focused on education and workforce outcomes across a city or region. We define governance as both the actions of the school board and the opportunistic use of legislation and public policy. Finally, we define innovation as the use of strong practice, sometimes new and sometimes not, with the goal of improving student outcomes.

In part two of this series, we will dive deeply into ecosystem and governance, two elements that are distinct but intertwined. We will explore innovation in each region in part three. Finally, we will share recommendations for leaders in Dallas, Houston, Austin and beyond in part four.

Large sets of outcome data are essential tools to understand the big picture. But behind each of these data points are young people, each with distinct experiences and insights. We can鈥檛 design strong policy or interventions without also listening to young Texans like 脕ngel Garc铆a Donju谩n, Cole Harrison, Kiara Kabbara, Vanessa Larez, and Gissel Pe帽a, who share their perspectives on high school and college in Dallas, Houston, and Austin.

Follow this four-week series here.

Anne Wicks is the Ann Kimball Johnson Director of the George W. Bush Institute鈥檚 Education Reform Initiative. William McKenzie is senior editorial advisor for the George W. Bush Institute.

Research support provided by Justine Taylor Raymond and Alex Dowdy.

脕ngel Garc铆a Donju谩n graduated from the Judge Barefoot Sanders Law Magnet at Yvonne A. Ewell Townview Magnet Center in Dallas ISD in 2021. His three older brothers also attended magnet schools, two also graduating from Townview, and one from New Tech High School. His youngest brother currently attends Sudie L. Williams Talented and Gifted Academy. 脕ngel recently moved to Germany with the Congress-Bundestag Vocational Youth Exchange Program. The Bush Institute’s Justine Taylor-Raymond sat down with 脕ngel this fall to discuss how his high school experience shaped him.

The following interview excerpt has been edited for clarity and length.

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JTR: Why did you choose a magnet school? 

AGD: I chose a magnet school, and my mom wanted us to go to a magnet school, because we had seen other family members go to our neighborhood school. My cousin was brought in to gang violence and gun violence and just general violence at that school. My mom 鈥� and all of us 鈥� didn鈥檛 want that for ourselves. But we felt a lot of that could be avoided it we went to magnet school, even if it meant my mom had to drive rather than letting us a walk down the street. I guess we all felt it was a sacrifice worth making.

You said before that 鈥渢here is stark difference between what you can expect from Townview and L.G. Pinkston High School. You shouldn鈥檛 have to apply to a magnet school because your neighborhood school doesn鈥檛 give you what you need.鈥� Can you say more about that?

Some of my peers didn鈥檛 get into the high school they wanted, and they ended up just going to their neighborhood school in ninth grade. And I鈥檝e met up with some of them now, and they feel like they didn鈥檛 do enough because they didn鈥檛 get into Townview. And now they are not getting into the college they want to attend.  I feel like it shouldn鈥檛 be the case that, because in the eighth grade you didn鈥檛 get into the right high school, that you shouldn鈥檛 be able to get into the university you want to attend. 

I feel like magnet schools should be a temporary thing. I can see the worth of a magnet school helping with equity and racial equity in urban school districts. Why not just fund every neighborhood school well? Why can鈥檛 the same resources found at a magnet school be transferred over to every neighborhood school? 

It shouldn鈥檛 be the case that, in eighth grade, you are fighting to get the resources that you want to make sure you get to where you need to be.

Follow this four-week series here.

Justine Taylor-Raymond is senior program manager for education reform at the George W. Bush Institute. 

Vanessa Larez graduated in 2018 with an associate degree from Kathlyn Joy Gilliam Collegiate Academy in Dallas ISD. She attended Southern Methodist University with support from Dallas County Promise, graduating in three years in 2021 with a degree in communications and Spanish. She is now a development and communications coordinator at Bachman Lake Together, an early-childhood program in Dallas. The Bush Institute’s Justine Taylor-Raymond sat down with Vanessa this fall to discuss how her high school experience shaped her.

The following interview excerpt has been edited for clarity and length.

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JTR: How did early college help you?

VL: Having access to college classes in high school helped me understand that you sign up for classes 鈥� and if you don鈥檛 sign up within a certain time, those classes will disappear. Or understanding that you have to read your syllabus, that the syllabus has a purpose, and you follow the deadlines and policies they have with missing a class, being tardy, or late assignments. It鈥檚 not the same as high school. What may seem like common knowledge isn鈥檛. And having access and exposure to that was important.

Do you feel like you are in a better position coming from your high school? Do you feel like going to the collegiate academy, getting your associate degree set you on a different path?

I don鈥檛 know if it set me on a different path, but it made the path easier. I feel like because I already got the two years and got exposure to things, I didn鈥檛 have to struggle and relearn those things.

Tell me about your SMU experience.

I do feel like I had a head start, but still it鈥檚 not the same. I think it was hard for me to adjust socially and that impacted how I adjusted academically. I failed my first exam at SMU. I was so shy to ask questions. It was a lecture-style class. Wasn鈥檛 too large, less than a 100 students, but I was too shy or embarrassed to talk to people next to me or ask a question if I was a little bit confused. SMU isn鈥檛 that big of a school compared to a UT, but it was big to me.

When I got to SMU, I was a part of a program called. They focused on bridging the gap for traditionally underrepresented students, like first generation college students, low-income students, students of color, students from very rural areas, students from certain religious backgrounds, etc. So, I was with other students who shared similar feelings, maybe on varying degrees, but we all had that shared experience of being underrepresented. Knowing other students like you helped and the staff leading the program were there to help you. We were paired with peer counselors, older students who had been part of the program. My sophomore year, I worked as a peer counselor. So, I feel like it still took me a while to adjust, but it would have been way worse had I not been a part of that program.

Did having access to an associate degree make a difference? Would it help others, too?

I did benefit from the head start. You give students access to free classes, but that does not mean all kids are going to succeed. The barrier isn鈥檛 just money or not having classes in front of you. Some students have to prioritize work 鈥� helping to provide for their family. Having free college classes doesn鈥檛 matter if your lights aren鈥檛 on.

Not all students got an associate degree in your high school class. What were some of the barriers for those students?

College is not for everyone, and that is totally okay. I think support at home 鈥� maybe if your parents or family don鈥檛 go to college, you don鈥檛 have that extra understanding of the value. You may already feel it鈥檚 not for you because haven鈥檛 seen anyone before you do it. So it鈥檚 not just the barriers of family needs, but also mental barriers.

I have some peers that say my dad works in XYZ field, I鈥檒l just do that because I know it will make money. That is secure. To them, college wasn鈥檛 secure. And, honestly, it isn鈥檛. College doesn鈥檛 get you the job. You get the job with the tools you got from college. But it鈥檚 still not guaranteed.

Follow this four-week series here.

Justine Taylor-Raymond is senior program manager for education reform at the George W. Bush Institute. 

Kiara Kabbara graduated from Lincoln High School in Dallas ISD in 2018. She currently attends the University of Texas at Austin and is the student body president 鈥� the first African American woman to fill that role in over. The Bush Institute’s Justine Taylor-Raymond sat down with Kiara this fall to discuss how her high school experience shaped her.

The following interview excerpt has been edited for clarity and length.

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JTR: Describe your high school experience, particularly your academic experience?

KK: I came into high school on the math side, planning to take calculus my senior year because I knew I wanted to go to college. I came in on track for that. Unfortunately, my senior year we did not have calculus. We only had AP chemistry, we didn鈥檛 have all the other AP sciences. We didn鈥檛 even have a teacher for my English class; it was a permanent substitute. So, there were many times when I wanted to go to a different level, but because of the school and the circumstances, I wasn鈥檛 able to. I couldn鈥檛 take AP calculus. I had to just try to find something else and had to settle for another class.

The majority of my senior classmates didn鈥檛 really do that well or score as high as people at North Dallas would or different parts of Dallas would on the AP tests because of the resources they have that we didn鈥檛 have. It was also on us to find SAT/ACT prep, but other schools automatically have it at the school.

On the positive side, the high school that I went to had clusters, and I was in the culinary arts cluster. I did that for all four years, like a major, and I was able to come out with a manager certificate. So whatever restaurant I apply to, I can be a manager and am bumped up for pay.

Something else I feel Lincoln did good is that they also provided a forklifting certification. From 5 p.m. to 8 p.m., people were able to train, and they had a forklifting certificate at the end of six or seven weeks. Even if college was never on their mind in the first place, at least they know they have this certification, and they can get a job anywhere. I feel like schools should implement a lot of trade or certifications. I was talking to my mom about Microsoft, because I want to be so good at Excel and Word and stuff like that. It doesn鈥檛 take long if there are optional certifications.

I can definitely count on one hand how many people in my class went to college. But for the students who didn鈥檛 go to college, at least they would have something to make sure that they were able to get by or have a job for sure.

What was the first semester at UT like?

It was crazy, because not only was I pre-med, but I was also undeclared. Socially, it鈥檚 a weird type of vibe that you get when you鈥檙e undeclared on campus, like you don鈥檛 know what you鈥檙e going to do while other people are in their business majors and taking classes. It was especially hard when it came to taking chemistry and bio for pre-med.

I absolutely love sports. I鈥檝e been playing sports, basketball, my whole life, I honestly thought that was how I was going to get to college. And so having to pick whether to go to a basketball game or study was so hard. But now I have to prioritize actually trying to understand a concept and understanding science and atoms and stuff like that because I didn鈥檛 get that in high school. My peers at UT were just acing the test. They were like, 鈥渙h we can handle this,鈥� and I was like 鈥淚 don鈥檛 understand a sentence that the teacher just said.鈥� It was a rough transition of trying to study, prioritizing, and using time management that I didn鈥檛 get in high school.

How did it impact you at UT when your high school didn鈥檛 have the same AP offerings as other high schools?

Going into college, a lot of my friends already knew the basics, like APA format, MPA of papers, and I was just being introduced to it. Certain students already have the pre-background of math or science that hadn鈥檛 been available to me. My peers knew the concept, and I was trying to learn how to read. There is a different type of jargon when it comes to college classes, especially on the pre-med track, that you just have to know. I had to learn high school stuff I missed plus new stuff from college, but my peers just had to learn the college. They were already ahead, and I had to learn how to read, understand the concept, plus everything else.

For that person who is like me in college, the transition was so different. It鈥檚 just not imposter syndrome; it was definitely real. Seeing other peers get things faster was just a little discouraging, but it just made me work harder.

You are UT student body president. Why did you decide to run?

 I wanted to run for this since my freshman year because I knew what it was like to feel different and outside as a student. I felt like student government could have helped me during that time of not knowing what to do, so I wanted to be that person on campus.

When it was time to run, I was ready. During my other three years, I always kept tabs on things I wanted to change throughout UT and that was my platform when I decided to run.

Something else that is also amazing, too, is that I am the first African American woman to hold the seat in 30-something years. That was also a very cool thing.

This is my first time ever being in student government. I wanted to step out of my comfort zone. I have ideas, and I represent others. I wanted to bring a different perspective and some dope change.

Follow this four-week series here.

Justine Taylor-Raymond is senior program manager for education reform at the George W. Bush Institute. 

Cole Harrison graduated from James Bowie High School in Austin ISD in 2021. He is now a student at Ohio State University, and he is majoring in finance and political science. He entered OSU this fall with over 30 credit hours from his AP classes at Bowie. The Bush Institute’s Justine Taylor-Raymond sat down with Cole this fall to discuss how his high school experience shaped him.

The following interview excerpt has been edited for clarity and length.

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JTR: How did your high school experience successfully support your needs and post-graduation academic goals?

CH: The most valuable part of high school is the push to take the most advanced classes, go as far as you can and see where your limits really are. Our school did a great job proving we don鈥檛 really know our limits. I was always getting support from teachers and Mr. Robinson (principal) to take the most advanced classes possible, to go as far as possible, because it pays off. I see now it has.

I am going in the ranking of a sophomore with 30-plus credits. Because of that, I can double major in two fantastic majors in four years. I am already ahead of the game, and I don鈥檛 need to worry about general education as much. I can go straight to what I am interested in because it鈥檚 saving me a whole year of just pushing through classes I don鈥檛 care to take.

I had taken the SAT, and I did OK, but I ended up doing much better later. First time I took it, I knew I could do so much better. I was kind of hesitant about doing prep because they said we could get hundreds of points of improvement with a little bit of studying. I was skeptical. But I went after school for a few days, only 30 minutes to an hour. And next time I took the SAT, I scored something like 140 points better with only 10 hours of studying. Those SAT scores really helped my college search and gave me access to upper-tier colleges.

Justine Taylor-Raymond is senior program manager for education reform at the George W. Bush Institute. 

Gissel Pe帽a is a graduate of YES Prep West in Houston in 2019, and she is currently an undergraduate student at Texas Woman鈥檚 University. YES Prep West provides intensive college prep for high school juniors and seniors, including a focus on understanding the college application process. The Bush Institute’s Alex Dowdy sat down with Gissel this fall to discuss how her high school experience shaped her.

The following interview excerpt has been edited for clarity and length.

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AD: What was one of the most important things you learned at YES Prep West?

GP: One of my main learnings was how to write the emails because I think a lot of people don鈥檛 realize that emails regarding something school or job are supposed to be professional. I remember the teacher showing us examples of what a professional email looks like. We had to send emails to the teachers that were writing our college recommendations, and she gave an example of how to do that. And we had to write a professional letter between us students so we could get the practice in. She would remind us that it鈥檚 important how you approach your teachers or professors. They have a whole bunch of students. You want to make sure that there鈥檚 something about your email that might make them realize that this person is genuinely interested in this topic, and I should probably respond to them. 

What is it like for you in college?

It鈥檚 been really hard. I鈥檝e been having to work a lot because I鈥檓 helping out a lot financially at home now. I know that I want to become a teacher, I know that that鈥檚 my plan, and I鈥檓 going to finish college. But I had to make it very clear that it might not be on time. Yes, you are expected to graduate in four years, but that鈥檚 just not the case for everyone.