Recent Reports and Press Releases

The Best Texas School Districts
for African Americans in 2007

COLLEGE STATION, TX - College Station—A report released by the Texas Educational Excellence Project (TEEP) finds that African American students continue to improve their performance in Texas. While improvements are being made throughout the state, some districts are making more impressive gains while other districts show room for much needed improvement. Statewide averages allow TEEP to pinpoint and rank the school districts that are doing the best in terms of educating African American students. This allows other districts to consider the policies and programs used by the top school districts in order to improve the quality of education and student performance. READ MORE.

The Best Texas School Districts
for Latinos in 2007

COLLEGE STATION, TX - College Station—A report released by the Texas Educational Excellence Project (TEEP) finds that Latino students continue to improve their performance in Texas. While improvements are being made throughout the state, some districts are making more impressive gains while other districts show room for improvement. Some major policy changes have occurred in Texas since the release of the last report. For example, tests have been changed from the Texas Assessment of Academic Skills (TAAS) to the Texas Assessment of Knowledge Skills (TAKS). As a result of the higher standards associated with the TAKS test,Latino pass rates have dropped. Statewide averages allow TEEP to pinpoint and rank the school districts that are doing the best job of educating Latino students. Other districts may be able to improve the quality of education and student performance by implementing the policies and programs used by the top school districts. READ MORE.

Latino Education and Public Opinion:
A View from the Latino National Survey

COLLEGE STATION, TX - College Station — The Project of Representation, Equity and Governance (PERG)and the Carlos Cantu Hispanic Education and Opportunity Endowment released a report examining Latino attitudes toward education in Texas using data from the Latino National Survey. The findings indicate that education continues to be highly salient for Latinos. In a number of surveys over the past twenty years Latinos have consistently cited education as the most important issue facing the community. There is ample evidence that this population is actively engaged in school activities, knowledgeable on a range of specific education policies and has ambitious educational goals and expectations. These results run counter to recent popular media characterizations of Latinos as disinterested or disengaged from educational issues. READ MORE.

Texas Public School Districts in the Aftermath of
Hurricanes Katrina and Rita: A Preliminary Report

COLLEGE STATION, TX - College Station—A report released by the Project for Equity, Representation and Governance (PERG) presents two analyses of the extent of collaboration Texas school districts engaged in when responding to Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. The report presents analyses using data from a survey of Texas school districts conducted in November of 2005. READ MORE.

The Best Texas School Districts
for African Americans in 2002-2005

COLLEGE STATION, TX - College Station—A report released by the Texas Educational Excellence Project (TEEP) finds that African American students continue to improve their performance in Texas. While improvements are being made throughout the state, some districts are making more impressive gains while other districts show room for much need improvement. Statewide averages allow TEEP to pinpoint and rank the 25 schools districts that are doing the best job of educating African American students. This allows other districts to consider the policies and programs used by the top school districts in order to improve the quality of education and student performance. READ MORE.

The Best Texas School Districts
for Latinos in 2002-2005

COLLEGE STATION, TX - College Station—A report released by the Texas Educational Excellence Project (TEEP) finds that Latino students continue to improve their performance in Texas. While improvements are being made throughout the state, some districts are making more impressive gains while other districts show room for improvement. Statewide averages allow TEEP to pinpoint and rank the school districts that are doing the best job of educating Latino students. Other districts may be able to improve the quality of education and student performance by implementing the policies and programs used by the top school districts. READ MORE.

The Best Texas High Schools in 2005:
A Response to Newsweek

COLLEGE STATION, TX - A report released by the Texas Educational Excellence Project (TEEP), Texas A&M University, challenges a recent Newsweek article which contained biannual rankings of the “best” high schools in the nation. TEEP contends that Newsweek’s rankings are misleading as an overall, holistic measure of high school success. READ MORE.

Click Here to View the 2002-2004 Texas School District Snapshots

COLLEGE STATION, TX - Until recently, the Texas Education Agency published a yearly “Snapshot.” The Snapshot contained general information regarding public school districts throughout the state. The Project for Equity, Representation, and Governance at Texas A&M University has gathered much of the same information for the 2002-2003 and 2003-2004 academic years, and is making it available to all interested parties. The data contained in these files (which are available in Excel format) relate to the composition of public school districts, student performance, revenue sources, and expenditures.

Latest Report on the Best School for Latino Students in Texas

COLLEGE STATION, TX - The education of minority students is a pertinent concern for education leaders and policy-makers in Texas. In recent years, minority students have made significant gains on the state exams. However, Latino students’ tests scores continue to lag behind Anglo test scores. Latino students, however, have made great strides in closing this gap. In 1996, 54.2% of Latino test-takers passed the TAAS, compared to 79.8% for Anglo students, a gap of 25.6 percentage points. By 2002, Latino students cut this gap in half to 12.8 percentage points, scoring an average of 79.7% compared to an average of 92.5% for Anglos in that year. Indeed, this is evidence of significant progress. However, these statewide gains are not evenly distributed across all districts. Some school districts have made more substantial gains while others have fallen behind. The Texas Educational Excellence Project believes that by identifying those districts that do a better job in educating Latino students, Latino test performance can be further improved. The programs and policies used by the exemplary districts may then be used as a standard by which other districts can measure and improve their own performance. READ MORE.

Latest Report on the Best School for African-American Students in Texas

COLLEGE STATION, TX - Minority students in Texas have consistently improved their scores on the Statewide TAAS exam. The 2003 TAKS exam shows that the gap between African American students and Anglo students’ scores continues to narrow. Though African American students have made significant improvements the score gap remains a serious issue. However, despite statewide disparities there are several districts that are doing excellent. The Texas Educational Excellence Project believes that in order to improve black tests scores, the school districts that do a better job of educating black students should be identified. Other districts can improve performance by applying the programs and policies of successful districts. READ MORE.

Press Release for Report on Employment Opportunities and Latino Dropouts

COLLEGE STATION, TX - A report released by the Texas Educational Excellence Project (TEEP) examines the impact of changing summer employment opportunities on Latino dropout behavior. Combining district-level dropout data from the Texas Education Agency with county-level unemployment data from the Texas Workforce Commission, the researchers find that summer unemployment fluctuations from one year to the next play a significant role in explaining the following school year's Latino dropout rate. The study looks at dropout numbers from the 97-98 to 01-02 school years. READ MORE.

COLLEGE STATION, TX - A report released by the Texas Educational Excellence Project (TEEP) finds evidence that decentralization policies at the administrative level within school districts affect overall student performance. Across the state, school districts employ various administrative structural policies some school districts centrally locate their administrators off-campus while others adopt decentralization policies and place administrators across district campuses. These policies affect minorities and Anglos differently across of school dropout and performance on the TAAS test. READ MORE.

Press Release for Report on Discipline Policy and High School Dropouts

COLLEGE STATION, TX - A report released by the Texas Educational Excellence Project (TEEP) finds evidence that school discipline policies affect minorities and Anglos differently. Across the state, school districts employ varying discipline policies--corporal punishment, suspension, expulsion, and zero tolerance policies are but a few. In 2000, these policies affected Latinos, African Americans, and Anglos differently across indicators of school dropout and performance on the TAAS test. READ MORE.

Press Release for Report on Bilingual Education and Latino Dropouts

COLLEGE STATION, TX -A report released by the Texas Educational Excellence Project (TEEP) finds a link between education programs geared toward limited English proficient (LEP) students and Latino student dropout rate. Specifically, the report finds that as the number of LEP students served by either English as a second language (ESL) or bilingual education programs increase, Latino dropout rates decrease. READ MORE.

COLLEGE STATION, TX - A report released by the Texas Educational Excellence Project (TEEP) finds that Latino students continue to increase performance in Texas. However, while Latino students have made impressive gains over the past decade, these improvements have not been equally distributed across districts. Some Latino school districts have made even more impressive gains while others have fallen behind. READ MORE.