AUSTIN, Texas—Today Superintendent Meria Carstarphen released a 30-minute "movie" presenting the annual report on the district’s goals, achievements and challenges. The film provides data and information on the state of the school district and reports on the performance scorecard as seen through the lens of staff and students, including some guest presentations.

“AISD is one of the highest performing urban districts in the state and even the nation. We have continued to improve in the face of tougher accountability requirements, dwindling resources and changing demographics,” Carstarphen said. “While we haven’t achieved all of our goals and targets, it is clear that we have established a solid foundation for all student groups, we continue to improve, and we are well positioned to achieve new state accountability expectations while preserving what Austin values by educating the whole child.”

Key highlights include:

Academic Performance

• Compared to the other 20 large urban Trial Urban District Assessment districts in the National Assessment of Educational Progress Trial Urban Assessment, AISD students ranked first for grade 8 on the 2011 NAEP in mathematics and second for grade 4; AISD students ranked third in reading at grade 8; and second in reading at the grade 4 level. AISD students who are African-American, Hispanic, economically disadvantaged, English-language learners, and/or in special education students performed well.
• AISD has successfully transitioned from the TAKS testing system to the new STAAR and End of Course state accountability exams. For 2012, the TEA released indicators for districts to establish a baseline for future years. In the first year under the new testing system, 110 of AISD’s 123 schools met the state standard and 55 schools earned academic distinctions under new, stricter expectations, while ten schools did not meet state standards.
• More students are prepared for college. The percent of students taking advanced and dual credit courses has risen from 27.1 percent to 31.2 percent in 2012 and the number of students taking the SAT and ACT college entrance exams rose from 71.7 percent to 77.7 percent. After a six percentage point increase in 2011, the number of seniors applying to two and four year colleges dropped four percentage points in 2012.
• AISD’s goal is for every student to graduate from high school, and today graduation rates have reached an all-time high of 82.5 percent. To help reach this goal, alternative graduation pathways have been created, such as the Premier in-district charter programs at Lanier and Travis high schools and Twilight schools. These efforts are helping to bring down the dropout rate, which has declined by nearly three percentage points over the last four years to 9.5 percent.

• Results in performance show that the graduation rate for African-American students has increased by 13.9 percentage points to 79.6 percent. The graduation rate for Hispanic students has increased by 14.7 percentage points to 78.6 percent. The graduation rate for economically disadvantaged students has increased by 17.7 percentage points to 78.9 percent. The dropout rates have declined by several percentage points for these historically vulnerable students.

• AISD is shifting from a culture of testing to one that emphasizes the whole child, every child. The district started SEL two years ago with 27 schools. SEL is now in 73 schools this year, and the goal is to have SEL in all schools at every grade level in two years.  The district is also adopting programs to combat discrimination and bullying through implementing the No Place for Hate initiative in every campus and every department in the district by the end of the school year.

• In 2013, there was a 65 percent reduction in the overall number of discretionary removals throughout the district. During the past four years, the district has decreased discretionary removals for African-American, Hispanic and economically disadvantaged students by between 76 and 81percent at the high school level.

• The district achieved its goal of improving attendance by one percentage point, which not only helps AISD’s performance, but it also has generated an additional $5.3 million in state funding. The district unified its efforts with its Every Day Counts campaign and E3 Alliance’s Missing School Matters Campaign.

Budget

• Austin ISD continues to earn recognition for its commitment to financial accountability. For 2013, the district received a Superior Achievement rating and the highest possible score in all 20 indicators for the Financial Integrity Ratings from the Texas Education Agency.The district also earned a debt rating of AAA from Moody’s Investor’s Service, AA+ from Standard & Poor’s and AA+ from Fitch Ratings.

• The district will need to make tough tradeoffs to find the right balance between needs and, based on actual spending, a $25 million budget shortfall. As part of the district’s multi-year budget planning, AISD is preparing for flat or declining revenue at the same time that there are more funding requirements, such as costs related to the new graduation requirements under House Bill 5. AISD will be looking for permanent funding streams, including considering a tax ratification election.

Facilities

• In May 2013, Austin voters approved nearly $490 million in bond funding to repair and renovate school buildings, upgrade technology, renovate science labs, expand and renovate libraries, purchase new buses and improve energy conservation. However, the Travis County Taxpayers Union has challenged the bond election in court, and no bond funds can be released until the lawsuit is decided in the district’s favor, hopefully next year.

To view the State of the District Movie, visit www.austinisd.org/sod.