Building and Strengthening Linkages between Traditional and Nontraditional Education Systems in Austin, TX

An American Youth Policy Forum Field Trip — December 3-5, 2002

The state of Texas is undergoing profound changes in the racial/ethnic and age compositions of the population. Reflecting nation-wide trends, Texas will experience an aging of the overall population base while maintaining a substantial number and percentage of young persons who will be increasingly from non-Anglo racial/ethnic groups. In the next 40 years, the Anglo population is expected to go from a majority 53.1% to between one-fourth and one-third of the population; during that period, Hispanics will become the majority ethnic group.

The purpose of the AYPF study mission to Austin , Texas was to gain insights into how policies and practices are improving educational options in both traditional and nontraditional education for the burgeoning youth population in Texas . The study mission was jointly sponsored by the American Youth Policy Forum and the National Youth Employment Coalition. Members of the Austin Group, a volunteer group of organizations, agencies and individuals dedicated to providing quality educational options and resources for vulnerable youth, also participated.

The field trip provided an opportunity to:

• learn about the state education accountability system, particularly as it affects alternative institutions—schools and programs for formerly out-of-school youth—and its implications for traditional and nontraditional education and students. 
• meet with representatives of the Texas Education Agency (TEA) and the Austin Public School Independent School District (AISD), as well as with experts involved in the achievement of youth “at-promise” and experts in public education policy.
• visit alternative schools, including Garza Independence High School affiliated with AISD and the American YouthWorks (AYW) Charter School affiliated with a community based organization, and other options for “at-promise youth.

Texas Accountability System

Field trip participants received first-hand and reinforcing perspectives on the Texas Accountability System from John Stevens, Executive Director, Texas Business Education Coalition (TBEC); Harrison Keller, Project Director, Education Policy, Charles A. Dana Center ; TEA and AISD administrators; and school practitioners.

According to Stevens, the Texas “high-stakes” accountability system has evolved over time (since the late 1970s), the result of an ongoing dialogue involving the business community, the public and the education system. The strategy was to take the system from where it was (essential low levels of expectations) and to increasingly raise standards as various benchmarks were met. Also, unlike other accountability systems at the time, schools would be held accountable for each group of students separately (economically disadvantaged, African American, Hispanic, white, etc.) and in specific subject areas. Some practitioners thought this was not possible, but as each student performance mark has improved (in 1994, 56% of students passed the Texas Assessment of Academic Skills (TASS), by 2001, 80% passed), the achievement gap between student groups has narrowed. Also, TASS results are going up along with NAEP (National Assessment of Educational Progress) scores. On NAEP, whites ranked high and so did African Americans compared to students in other states. The business community advocated for more testing and accountability at the high school level. The new testing system (Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS)) will have more impact on the high school level. According to Stevens, “This shows that carefully crafted policies can drive improvement of all students.”

Don W. Long, with the TEA's Student Assessment Division shared a chronology of testing/assessment in Texas (see box). He stressed that the idea that every student can achieve excellence is still a novelty and the TEA leadership is striving to make this a reality. Not only have the tests increased in rigor paralleling revised expectations and student performance, but the assessments have expanded to a number of content areas. The following are among strategies the state is undertaking:

• Student Success Initiative, which is driving student improvement into high schools and creating a college-prep curriculum as the “default” or system-wide model
• Instructional Leadership Development, a four-day training program for administrators in understanding student performance data
• Alignment of text books and instruction with the tests
• Professional development for teachers in how to understand a reading inventory
• Required notice to parents on how each student is performing
• Support to failing students, including a grade placement committee to develop strategies for students who have failed the tests twice to succeed, and to accelerate learning. If a student fails three times, an education plan must be designed to get the child up to grade level. The plan is to include a review of all classes and circumstance needed to help student reach goals.
• Dropout prevention initiative

Timeline of Testing in Texas

• 1979 Texas Assessment of Basic Skills (TABS). The legislature passed a bill requiring basic skills competencies in math, reading and writing for grades 3, 5 and 9. Because there was no state-mandated curriculum at that time, the learning objectives for the TABS were created by committees of Texas educators. Although TABS was not a “diploma-denial test,” 9th graders who did not pass the test were required to retake the exam each year there after while in schools. Because results were reported, the TABS test was the beginning of “high stakes” accountability for school districts.
• 1984 Texas Educational Assessment of Minimum Skills (TEAMS) test. The legislature altered the working of the Texas Education Code requiring the assessment program to measure “minimum skills” rather than “basic skills competencies.” TEAMS replaced TABS in school year 1987-86 and sought to increase the rigor of the state assessment and added individual student sanctions for performance at the exit level. TEAMS tested math, reading and writing in grades 1, 3, 5, 7, 9 and 11, with the 11 th grade testing as the “exit level” assessment. The class of '87 was the first in which students were required to pass the exit level exam to receive a diploma.
• 1990 Texas Assessment of Academic Skills (TAAS) Test. A new state law required the implementation of a new criterion-referenced test and shifted the focus from minimum skills to academic skills reflecting an assessment of the state-mandated curriculum, the Essential Elements. TAAS assessed higher-order thinking skills and problem-solving in math, reading and writing for grades 3, 5, 7, 9 and 11 exit level.
• 1992-93. TAAS transitioned from a fall to a spring testing program. In 1993-94 the assessment was expanded to include grades 3-8 in reading and math; the writing test was moved to grades 4 and 8, and the exit level was moved from grade 11 to grade 10.
• 1993. The legislature enacts creation of a new statewide-integrated accountability system that includes the rating of campuses and districts. The inclusion of TAAS in the accountability system, the public release of performance results, and the exit-level requirement for graduation makes TAAS the most “high stakes” assessment in Texas history.
• 1994. The passing standards at grades 3-8 were aligned with the standard established at the exit level creating the Texas Learning Index, allowing comparisons of achievement across grades while maintaining the same passing standards for exit level students.
• 1995. Social studies and science are added to the 8th grade TAAS test.
• 1999 Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS). The legislature passed bills ending social promotion and creating a more rigorous testing program. TAKS is developed and aligned with the state-mandated curriculum, the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills. Students in grades 3 (reading) , 5 and 8 (reading and math) are to demonstrate proficiency on a state assessment test and achieve passing grades in order to advance to the next grade level. At the 11th grade, students must pass the TAKS test in addition to receiving the required number of credits in order to receive their high school diploma.
• Spring 2002 is the last administration of the TAAS test.
• Spring 2003 is the first live administration of the TAKS test, generating scores that count for students.

The inclusion of high stakes exit exams in the accountability system (see box) has raised concerns about the number of dropouts and the impact of the assessment system on student graduation rates. According to Joey Lozona, Dropout Coordinator, not until 1987 did the state education agency begin to collect information on dropouts. In the previous year, there had been a land-mark study on Texas dropouts, indicating a 45% rate for Hispanic students and a 33% rate for all students. Shortly thereafter, legislation was passed to collect data on dropouts and hire a dropout coordinator.

Dropout rates have been put into the accountability system—not to exceed a 6% total of each student group. [1] Between school year 1993-94 and August 2002, student performance improved and dropout rates declined (5.6%). The goal is to reduce the 9th through 12th grade longitudinal rate to 3.8 by 2004-05.

Lozona conceded that reports by IDRA (Intercultural Development Research Association) and the National Longitudinal Study have shown much higher dropout figures than those reported by the state. IDRA reports longitudinal attrition for 2000-01 for African Americans at 46%, for whites at 27%, Hispanics at 52% and 40% for all students. [2] For more accuracy, Lozona indicated that longitudinal rates are needed and now the state has more precise processes of reporting school leaving data by matching student identification data from district to district. Beginning in 2004, the annual dropout rate for each grade (9th through 12th) will no longer be used as a school indicator of performance; instead, the completion rate of the 9th grade cohort that graduates 4 years later will be used.

Lozona described the following strategies being pursued to lower the dropout rate and indicated, “The assumption is that students, teachers and administrators will rise to the expectations set for the m. When we set clear expectations, districts will work to meet them.”

Among strategies used:

• Adopting high expectations. Dropout prevention and recovery efforts are predicated on the fundamental premise that all students can learn and succeed in school.
• Using professional development to help teachers and administrators more effectively reach all students.
• Recruiting new, particularly minority teachers and administrators in areas (grades and geographic) with the highest incidences of dropout rates.
• Eliminating educational policies and practices that act as barriers to student success.
• Adapting organizational structures in the schools that provide a learning continuum from year-to-year, grade-to-grade and campus-to-campus. These structures address diverse academic, social and special needs of students, and configure variables of time, place and personnel in ways that promote students success.
• Providing appropriate assessment and instructional strategies on an on-going basis to obtain appropriate feedback for necessary modifications of methods and pacing of instruction.
• Establishing partnerships with parents, community-based organizations and businesses to minimize external barriers to student success.
• Identifying and supporting statewide best practices in dropout prevention and recovery efforts.

Harrison Keller, Project Director for Education Policy with the Charles Dana Center , University of Texas at Austin , provided additional context on education reform, assessment and accountability for public schools in Texas . According to Keller, the current policy environment in Texas is defined by funding limitations for public education; enrollment increases in the public schools of 70,000 students each year; no state income tax; and political leadership in opposition to raising taxes. Further, the legislature meets only 140 days every year.

Texas education reform has been based on a platform of standards and accountability which goes back to 1984. A consistent focus on standards-based education, spearheaded by the business community has kept the focus on track through governor changes. According to Keller, the business leaders gave educators cover to (a) set low standards, with progressive increases in expectations; and (b) to hold schools accountable for how the y serve all subpopulations, including a focus on how well the y serve the lowest performing population and dropout and attendance rates.

The policy went forward initially based on low standards that about 80% of schools could not meet. As the TASS comes to an end, a large number of schools now excel based on this measure. According to Keller, “There was a time when you could predict scores based on poverty and race. Strategies enacted in the state have greatly reduced the correlation between these factors and race.”

In spring 2003, the TAKS will be administered. This test is better aligned with the state curriculum and will be applied to grade levels not addressed previously, including high school. There will be an 11h grade exit test.

According to Keller, TAKS implementation comes at a time when curbs are put on social promotion at 3rd grade, and thee is implementation of the federal No Child Left Behind Act which may create points of tension with the Texas accountability system. For example, the way transfer options are framed: if at a low-performing school, one group of students is doing poorly but other groups are doing well, all, not just the low-performing group, can transfer to higher performing schools.

Keller feels that the state is not ready for accountability measures to be applied to the high schools, citing poor articulation between the financing of the schools and what we expect them to do. Beginning in 2004, the recommended high school program (college prep) will be the default curriculum for high school. Implementing this curriculum will put additional pressures on teachers, and the school finance system will not be able to support these goals especially in a state with a strong tradition of local education control. More qualified and well trained math and science teachers will be required to implement the new curriculum. According to Keller, “We've built the six-lane highway into a swamp.” The result will be a big push toward alternatives—charter schools, vouchers for private education, and concurrent dual enrollment programs.

Texas Charter Schools

AYPF participants also met with Susan Barnes, Assistant Commissioner, Charter School Division, Texas Education Agency, who explained the charter school legislation in Texas .

As of December 2002, 226 charters had been awarded by the State Board of Education with 28 revoked or returned. Other routes to charters exist through the local districts, (e.g., home-rule school district charters, of which few if any have been implemented); the campus or campus-program charter (e.g., the Houston Independent School District has created a charter school “district” of three elementary schools feeding into one middle school and as many as 14 other campus or campus-program charters); and the open-enrollment charter (public schools released from much of Texas education law and regulation in return for improved student success). Open-enrollment charters were capped at 100 with the exception of an unlimited number of open-enrollment charters with a “declared intention to serve 75 percent or more students at risk of failure or dropping out of school (75 Percent Rule charter schools). [3] These are the students who have failed the state assessment, are several grades behind, pregnant, homeless, low-income, etc. According to Barnes, due to the caps, the 75 Percent Rule charters have shown the greatest growth in recent years. [4] Recent legislation has included the 75 percent schools within the cap on open-enrollment charters (now set at 215) and now provide for the unlimited development of charters implemented by public colleges and universities.

Charters fall under the same state laws governing accountability and public information data systems as other public schools (e.g., TAAS testing, end-of-course examinations and accountability ratings), but they are released from laws governing personnel, salaries, certification, with the exception of federal laws, e.g., special education.

According to Barnes, charters are lagging behind performance of school districts/regular public schools in student performance, but are showing improvement. (The percent of students passing the English-Version of TAAS for all charter schools, at-risk charter schools and school districts in 2002 was 64.2 percent, 59.6 percent and 85.5 percent, respectively. [5] ) The first year charters must participate in the testing, but are not rated until after the second year of operation. Charters can be closed for low levels of student performance after three years.

Barnes shared her concerns regarding a policy conflict with the federal No Child Left Behind (NCLB) law requiring that the state have one accountability system for all schools. In the past, Texas has had an alternative accountability system for alternative schools. Charters with large numbers of over-age students will be required to show Annual Yearly Progress dictated by NCLB. This policy needs review to acknowledge the value added growth that many of these schools provide these students.

Austin Independent School District (AISD)

The meeting with AISD officials was an opportunity to learn how this school district is implementing education reforms and addressing issues of teacher quality, curriculum improvement, school finance and state accountability requirements.

AISD has an enrollment of 78,490 students. Of these, 14.4% are African American; 2.7%, Asian; 51.7% are Hispanic; .3% Native American; and 31.0% are white. Superintendent of Schools Pascal D. Forgione has been in office for three years and has placed a strong emphasis on improving academic achievement. The district is in the process of aligning its curriculum with the new TAKS, and the Superintendent has developed a Blue Print Initiative to deal with low-performing and under-performing schools.

According to the District Advisory Council of the Austin School District (October 2002), in 2002, AISD tripled its number of TEA exemplary and recognized schools since 1999 (to 48 of 103 schools). It reduced its number of low-performing schools to three from 14 rated in 1999. [6] No schools have been designated low performing based on dropout rates. In reading and mathematics, all groups of AISD students continue to show progress in passing the TAAS. From 1999 to 2001, AISD's dropout rate decreased by 57.3% (from 1,235 to 527 students). The largest reductions by student subgroups were made in African American, from 2.8 to 1.7%; and Hispanic, from 3.3 to 2.2%. [7]

Mel Wexler, General Counsel for Legal and External Affairs, indicated that the School Board's two chief goals are: (1) closing the achievement gap, and (2) preparing all students for college and careers. A new high school plan has been developed that provides a college prep curriculum, with supports to ensure student success. Under Project Advance, a college counselor/advisor will be assigned to every high school and special effort will be made to target the students in the 1.5 to 2.5 GPA range.

Additionally, the District is putting into place:

• Cultural Connections—culturally relevant pedagogy and professional development that will enhance teaching and learning for all children. The goal of these efforts is to help close the achievement gaps between students of varying economic backgrounds, and between white students and students of color.

• Principles of Learning—based on the work of Lauren Resnick of the University of Pittsburgh . AISD is going into its fourth year of relationship with the University in implementing this instruction and learning approach. The goal is to help teachers begin to close the achievement gap. Principles is designed to create a learning community among teachers based on:
  • Clear expectations so that every student understands what they must learn and why, and, what they need to do to produce quality work.
  • Accountable talk—students can explain what they are learning and how it applies to their lives.
  • Academic rigor—examining student work and moving it up a bar or more.
• Curriculum alignment initiative—providing an education planning guide for teachers for all skills and knowledge at each grade level with resources needed to teach. This provides teachers with the necessary context for what was taught the previous and next school year.

• Family Learning Guide—allows for parents and the wider public to understand the education and curriculum for children at each grade level.

• Take Time to Learn—part of the District's dropout prevention and reduction effort, which has significantly lowered AISD's dropout rate from 3.7 percent to 1.1 percent since 1999. Students who begin a pattern of spotty school attendance and frequent tardiness in the elementary years typically fall behind academically, have trouble catching up, and are at-risk of becoming dropouts in secondary years . Also, many students come from countries with no compulsory attendance laws. The Take Time to Learn initiative reaches out to parents in numerous ways — public service announcements, bus and movie theater advertisements, posters, and children's bookmarks. These efforts are focused on prevention and support other interventions ongoing at all campuses, such as phone calls, letters, and visits to homes of chronically tardy and absent students, and truancy court filings if the behavior is not corrected.

Dropout Prevention and Recovery

According to F. Linelle Clark, Dropout Prevention/Reduction Coordinator, dropout prevention must start at the pre-K level and be a part of systemic efforts to ensure the attendance and achievement of all children as they progress through the grades. She then provided background on the District's dropout prevention plan that developed from the work of a 52-member task force, which considered a litany of strategies to combat the dropout problem. The Task Force also reviewed current activities of the District to identify those that needed to be improved and expanded, including strategies for credit recovery. The members discovered that there were many adults touching students' lives at school (counselors, assistant principals, social workers), but few of these people talked to each other to evaluate or share what works, or just to recognize that a student may be having problems. They realized that a successful dropout prevention plan must involve teams of adults on every campus.

As a result, Impact Teams have been created. Through them, AISD is helping to create a sense of community to help solve many of the problems affecting attendance and early school leaving. The role of the Impact Team at the campus site is to anticipate problems and provide flexible situations so that young people can persist in their education. Teams activate strategies for prevention, intervention, recapture, and are responsible for case management for referred students. New teachers are to look to the Impact Team as their resource. Clark noted that the team concept is a business model for productivity. Educators typically do not have these business models in place.

The prevention strategy focuses on attendance, improved academics and behavior, since they are correlated. Intervention involves listening closely to young people about the reasons for poor attendance or school leaving. Reasons may include the need for child care services, the need to work to support a family, or poor literacy skills. An effective strategy may mean ensuring that these students get the strongest teachers or are connected with a caring adult at the school. It may also mean that a more appropriate school setting should be found that can respond to the young person's needs.

Ed Leo, Area Superintendent described work going on with three high schools and the emerging recognition of the need for greater flexibility in the structure of schools and the way teaching, instruction and services are delivered. He indicated that teachers are being more cooperative and sensitive to student attendance and dropout problems because of the tie to the accountability rating. In many settings, school staff is now focused on intervention and recovery.

He mentioned efforts at Lanier High School , which provides a range of student support services including:

• Communities in Schools. CIS staff works closely with the school encouraging faculty and staff to refer students in need of services.
• Dropout Intervention Specialists work to improve student attendance and minimize the risk of a student dropping out.
• Lanier Exitos focuses on connecting students to school-related activities that will provide them with successful experiences and feelings of accomplishment. Exitos staff assists students in resolving attendance problems and offsetting language barriers. Staff also coordinates volunteer activities for Spanish-speaking parents who provide assistance to students, staff and faculty.
• Saturday Credit Recovery (for freshmen), helps students stay up with their school work.
• Saturday School , from 8 a.m. to noon , is a detention setting where students come with school work and make up unexcused absences.
• Lanier GEAR UP, encourages students from economically disadvantaged families to consider undergraduate programs upon high school graduation.

In additional, there are a number of district-wide programs that can be used to bolster prevention and intervention efforts, e.g. Peer Assistance, PALS, Peer Mediation, Conflict Resolution/Management, Partners in Education, and mentors from churches and the community. Also, city government provides time off for employees who mentor.

According to Clark , if prevention and intervention strategies do not work, recapture efforts require having suitable alternative placements to engage these young people. For these reasons, the District is supportive of alternative schools such as Garza Independence High School and the American YouthWorks charter school. Also, the state has developed a virtual school with coursework that students can complete at home and a visiting social worker.

Richard Halpin, executive director, American YouthWorks, confirmed a shift in school district philosophy toward greater cooperation with community-based organizations in recapture efforts. According to Halpin, two years ago, District representatives began to consider ways of allowing students to transfer to alternative placements rather than dropout. He cautioned, however, that for this approach to work, appropriate transfer options must exist—among these, charter schools with high academic standards. The approach seems to be working since staff from some AISD high schools collaborate with AYW to identify “transfers” and ensure their placement in programs where they can continue their education.

According to Clark , calculation of the dropout rate reflects a series of definitions and formulas provided by the state. Originally, schools were deemed low performing based on an overall dropout rate of 5.5 percent (also for students in particular cells). This however, is not the graduation rate. Also, it was important to not just look at the 5 percent school group but those with 4 percent and 3 percent rates as well. Clark also noted that few states (Texas and Florida) have dropout rates as part of their school accountability plan. The NCLB has created new incentives such that student achievement results and dropout indicators will now trigger school choice options.

District Challenges

AISD representatives described a number challenges facing the school system.

1. Under Texas school finance equity rules, often referred to as “Robin Hood” funding, AISD is considered a Chapter 41 (wealthy) school district and must share a proportion of its property taxes with other districts. In 2002-03, AISD was required to send $144 million of its locally raised tax revenue to less affluent Texas school districts. According to district representatives, AISD is the only urban Chapter 41 district in the state; it also has a diverse student body that is 52% low income. They indicated that the needs of these students are not considered in the equity laws. According to one official, the public response to the “Robin Hood” plan has been fairly muted to date, but he anticipates a backlash next year as the impact is felt on individual campuses.
2. Texas teachers can opt out of social security; however, AISD is one of only 14 in the state (and one of only two Chapter 41 districts) that contributes to social security for its employees. This means that staffing costs are higher; also teacher contributions to social security mean less take-home pay. These factors impact the District's ability to continuously improve, keep pace with rising standards and expectations, and attract new teachers.
3. Other challenges identified related to state mandates (many unfunded) plus those of the federal Education Department, such as having fully accredited teachers in all classrooms. It is difficult to find enough fully accredited teachers, particularly in areas such as bilingual education.
4. The teacher supply issue is further complicated by the cost of living in Austin . AISD is in competition with central Texas districts which have lower costs of living, not with more comparable cost areas like Dallas and Houston. Policies, however, are under development to create more affordable housing for teachers, firefighters, police and nurses in the state.

Garza Independence High School

“The real difficulty in changing the course of any enterprise lies not in developing new ideas but in escaping old ones.” John Maynard Keynes, British Economist (1883-1946)

“Rigor doesn't mean doing more of the same.”

“It's not about the teaching, it's about the relationships.”

“It doesn't cost more money to provide an environment like this, with respect for individuals.”

“These kids aren't dropouts; they're academic drop-ins.”

“At the federal, state and local levels, schools like this should be praised, rewarded and acclaimed, but they are not.” Vickie Baldwin, Principal, Garza Independence High School

The above statements capture the energy and creativity AYPF field trip participants observed at Garza Independence High School and in the attitude of its creator and principal, Vickie Baldwin. The latter statement also captures the frustration that many alternative educators face when trying to break the mold of public education to create learning environments that are more conducive to the needs of young people.

According to Baldwin , the school opened five years ago and has graduated 603 students.

Prior to that time, she had spent a year as Principal in Residence at the US Department of Education. She returned to Austin and convinced the Superintendent to let her take on a small school in Austin . She was given five months to design this school. She indicated that typically “alternative” schools have negative reputations and traditionally are put in the worst parts of town, given few resources, and few experienced teachers. She would only agree to undertake the task if she was not forced to take disenfranchised teachers from other schools.

The Garza High School that AYPF field trip participants visited is no second rate operation either in appearance or in philosophy. The building is clean, warm and welcoming. It is a beautiful renovation of a school built in the 1930s. We were met by Fire Academy program cadets representing a new program instituted in this highly innovative environment. The students in this program will have first chance at acceptance to the city's Fire Academy .

Garza Independence High School opened in January 1998 and is an open enrollment, academic alternative high school for juniors and seniors (students must have a minimum of 10 credits to enroll and 24 to graduate). It is the only year-round school in AISD with a cycle of 8 weeks on and 2 weeks off. Students can apply and enroll anytime as long as there is available space, whether they are presently enrolled in school or have not attended school for some time. The high school is fully accredited. Students complete all local and state requirements, including passing the TAAS/TAKS, to graduate with a high school diploma. The intent of the school is to help students earn their high school diplomas in a self-paced environment designed to remove many of the traditional barriers to high school success.

The school has three counselors for about 400 students. One counselor is supported through funds from the federal Safe and Drug Free Schools program. A Child Care Center is on site, funded through a grant and is run by a separate provider. Students and staff can bring their children here.

The school has flexible scheduling. Hours are 8:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. with three-or four-hour class blocks (8:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. ; 1:00 – 4:00 p.m. and 2:00 – 6:00 p.m.). Students have the option of choosing between morning and afternoon schedules and can accelerate or decelerate their time to completion. They can devote their time to one subject all day or up to three subjects. Students are expected to progress through their courses in a timely fashion, but may take extra time, as needed, to master concepts or accelerate through the course work as they desire. Each course is divided into blocks (A, B and C), making it easy for students and teacher facilitators to keep track of progress. Students are asked to master 85 percent or above of material in each block and are given opportunities to redo, modify, and retake assessments before moving on to the next block. Students are always asked to be and do their best. According to one student, “Without realizing it, you're in honors classes.”

Individual students indicated how the flexible scheduling and attendance policies allow them to continue their education. For example, Alex works full time. Originally he had to work to help his family; he now lives on his own. On Thursdays and Fridays, he attends school only in the morning taking one course.

The self-paced instruction is based on a written curriculum and projects aligned with TAKS. Students develop long-term academic goals and self-motivational skills to succeed. All students can access the curriculum on the website. Students may choose assignments that are meaningful to them and have authentic application for their lives. Portfolio development encourages student self-assessment and allows them to reflect on their growth over time. To graduate, all students collect samples of work from various courses, and complete a letter detailing why they came to Garza, what they will do after graduation, providing advice to Garza students and staff. Parents, former teachers, counselors, etc, are invited to review the portfolio.

The structure of curriculum and instruction is not fully apparent to the visitor until one can see it in action in a classroom.

In Mr. Samosa's classroom, classical music was playing softly in the background while he circled the room facilitating the work of students working independently on three different levels of Spanish, as well as chemistry, Algebra 1, 2 and Geometry. Mr. Samosa is a first-year teacher who previously worked at a small R&D science business. When asked how he manages students involved in so many different content areas, he indicated that multi-tasking is very much a part of the school's philosophy and that is what you need to be successful here. (We later learned that staff development is designed by committee and all staff is trained to be solution focused.)

In another classroom, a teacher was facilitating the instruction for students in U.S. Government, Geography and Horticulture. Another composite class visited included students working on World History, Geography, Business, Computer Science, TASS Tutoring, etc. Another classroom visited was more traditional in the sense that all students were working on one subject area with the art teacher, an adjunct professor at Austin Community College (ACC), and receiving dual enrollment credits.

Among the students we met was Becky who is taking Physics and Aerobics at ACC, the latter because there is no physical education program at the high school.

Students can graduate any time they complete their program—although there is a formal graduation ceremony each June, with a “star walk.” This is the time when the whole school pauses and applauds the graduate's “walk” accompanied by their parents through the halls of the schools to the sound of noisemakers, the blowing of bubbles, and other accolades. This is one more manifestation of the many strategies implemented to reinforce self-esteem and show students how their effort is valued. AYPF field trip participants witnessed two “star walks” during our visit. Denise, whose “star walk” we witnessed only needed one and a half credits to graduate. She could not have been accommodated at any other school.

We learned that 86 percent of graduates in 2002 were college bound; there is a student-to-teacher ratio of 20:1; and an average of 2.5 students per computer. Dual enrollment is encouraged at Austin Community College , with some courses taught on site by ACC instructors. Students are thereby able to earn college credit prior to graduation. An on-site college counselor helps students with dual enrollment. Because of this arrangement, many graduates go on the ACC.

The school has no band, no football team and few social activities. It is an academically focused school and the only AISD high school that requires community service. Yet there are outlets for student expression and leadership. Some students are involved in Peer Assistance Leadership (PALS), a leadership development youth empowerment program where they mentor elementary and middle school students.

Field trip participants discussed student life with a number of students. They stressed that one must be motivated to succeed here. In the words of one student, “Since you choose to come here, you want to do the work. At traditional schools, you have to be there.” They stressed that this is not the school for everybody. We learned, however, that for the less motivated, there is opportunity for lots of one-on-one goal setting and support.

When asked how Garza differs from regular public schools, students offered the following:

• It's small, you are treated like an adult, you get respect
• It's focused on what you need (teachers get to know the students well and care about them)
• It's about the individual attention (not what everybody wants); students take courses and have options that they like.
• There are tutors, reading specialists and counselors to help and direct.

Megan volunteered that she had spent three horrible years at another Austin High School where “ they only care about you if you screw up. It's like a war zone with lots of adults going around talking into walkie talkies.”

The visit to Garza concluded with a conversation with Principal Baldwin about her vision for the school and how it fits within the larger structure of AISD and the state's accountability system.

She indicated that she wants to prove that she can do what Richard Halpin does at his CBO-affiliated alternative school, but within a bureaucratic, institutional environment. She conceded that this is difficult given the dictates from federal, state and local district sources. To succeed has required a lot of “higher level” thinking on her part—a role which sometimes puts her at odds with standard policy, e.g., to provide instruction in each course separately, to provide student textbooks. She stressed that many of the innovations driving how her school works have been derived from students. For example, she did not institutionalize the year-round schedule— the students instituted it. They are in school 193 days, a month more than non-extended year schools. She says it just a matter of how you distribute the time. These decisions are made collectively with the students; she has a student cabinet to advise her. She relayed that there is no teachers' union and no collective bargaining in Texas . Consequently, it is easier to infuse changes in the time and structure of learning.

Garza received an accountability rating of “Acceptable” (there are three ratings for alternative schools: low performing, needs peer review; acceptable; and commendable). One criterion for rating is student attendance. Based on this criterion alone, her school will never be in the highest category. The course structure is intentional and meant to be flexible for the attendance of students. This puts this approach in direct conflict with the accountability criterion. She has 396 students who were basically non-attendees at their old schools, but who now attend 75% of the time, and a dropout rate of 2.8%.

The required end-of-course exams represent another area of incompatibility with the structure of her school. For example, because students attend year-round, can enter any time during the year and determine the pace of their progress, a student may complete Algebra I in October, but cannot take the end-of-course exam until May. Meanwhile, Garza students SAT scores are higher than the state and the district average. She finds these contradictions discouraging for educators who want to step outside of the box, create new structures and take risks.

American YouthWorks

The next section of the field trip furthered the dialogue on recapturing disengaged youth and dropouts but with a focus on opportunities provided by community-based organizations. It featured a visit to the American YouthWorks Charter School , and a meeting with its founder, Richard Halpin, who provided an overview of AYW. Travis County Judge Sam Biscoe was also present and discussed strategies for investing in young people that are in the interests of taxpayers as well as the young people themselves.

Judge Biscoe stressed the importance of having a number of paths for developing and reclaiming young people as they move to adulthood. Not to do so, he explained, results in greater costs to taxpayers in loss of human potential and costs for building and maintaining jails. In Travis County that cost is about $40 per day or about $14,600 per inmate per year. With 2,500 persons in custody daily that comes to about $35 million per year, with costs and numbers increasing forever. For juveniles, the average daily cost is $125. Today about 200 youth are in custody in Travis County . If sentenced by the Texas Youth Commission, they will come back to Travis County looking for jobs and stable employment. If they were uneducated and unskilled when they left, they come back with the stigma of also being an ex-felon and with experience with hardened criminals. What to do? Nontraditional approaches are in order.

According to Biscoe, we must spend money more wisely in support of interventions for youth and not just create feeders to the adult prison system. He indicated that, “Like welfare, incarceration has become generational, involving sons, fathers, grandfathers, and more recently, daughters.” It's time to “Elevate the talk to action.” He cited programs like Gateway Construction Project at the Travis County Jail which provides skills and pathways to work and to community college [8], as well as programs like those of AYW. “If it were my money, I would spend it this way,” he said. When politicians see programs that are really making a difference in the lives of young people providing indicators of success, such as jobs, college and financial independence—not dependence on welfare— they become risk takers and advocates of investments in youth programs.

American YouthWorks is a community-based organization that annually serves over 1,000 high school dropouts ages 17 to 21. AYW began in 1978 when it established the Creative Rapid Learning Center , Austin 's first program to serve high-school dropouts and the first to offer under-educated and under-employed adults viable alternatives to welfare or crime. AYW offers a number of interrelated programs in support of its mission to help young people finish their education and to pursue self-sufficiency.

Among AYW programs are the:

• Charter School . In 1996, AYW was designated as one of the first open-enrollment charter schools in Texas . It is the only charter school in the state that works exclusively with dropouts. Students are between 16 and 21 years old.
  

• RGK Foundation Downtown Youth Center for Health , in partnership with People's Community Clinic, provides health services to students, their partners, and uninsured youth and young adults between the ages of 17 and 25 in Travis County . All services are offered at low cost and no one is turned away for inability to pay. A staff of five includes two peer health advisers who help young people learn how to access health services and practice preventative health measures.
  
• Computer Corps (C-Corps) and Community Technology Centers (CTCs ). C-Corps is an AmeriCorps/ Youthbuild program that offers opportunities for young people ages 16 to 25 to serve as mentors and teachers of technology at the AYW Community Technology Centers (CTCs) and other community based sites.   Member activities include: refurbishing donated computers and recycling them back into the community, providing basic computer applications training to individuals at AYW CTCs, applying PC and multimedia skills to design websites, and providing other support services for community organizations. The CTCs provide technology education, career development, and entrepreneurial skill building to the Austin community, focusing on “ the hardest to reach and teaching the hardest to teach." Current offerings include beginning to advanced courses in software, hardware, web design, and multimedia.
  
• Casa Verde Builders—an award-winning, project-based education program providing participants with hands-on construction skills and applied academics by building single-family, energy-efficient, affordable housing in East Austin communities. CVB members work to improve neighborhoods while pursuing their high school diploma or GED.
  
• Environmental Corps (E-Corps)—allows youth, ages 17 to 25, to contribute to the restoration and preservation of parks and public lands in Texas . While playing this vital role in the community, students also pursue their educational goals, such as attaining a GED or high school diploma, or to pay off student loans.

There are about 110 to 125 young people ages 17 through 25 years old in the three AmeriCorps-affiliated programs—Computer Corps, Environmental Corps and Casa Verde Builders. Each youth receives a stipend and a $4,700 education award after 12 months in the program.

According to Halpin, at AYW, “young people are treated with dignity and respect. There's no victimology here.” Participants help to determine services to be provided, and through service, become assets to their community. Through partnerships with AYW, members of business can take an active role in the formation of the workforce of the future.

Through the combination of multiple funding sources, Halpin has found a way to support comprehensive programming for disengaged youth. Here, the focus is on creating interventions to recapture dropouts and early interventions for youth who are about to become dropouts. The program takes pregnant students and those who want to work while furthering their education. Flexibility, the provision of options and elimination of barriers to reaching this goal is the focus of the school.

Halpin indicated that until six years ago, the state education agency did not provide funds to support programs for dropouts, but with the advent of charter school legislation, a funding mechanism was provided to cater to the needs of these young people.

Opponents of the charter law said that these schools would take away students from the public schools, but the representative for Austin Independent School District (AISD) spoke to the value of new strategies for recovering dropouts, including the development of new school structures. When Garza Independence High School was being designed, planners came to AYW to learn. AYW continues to have good relations with AISD and receives a number of student referrals come from the public schools. According to Halpin, “This is not a competitive issue. Young people who come here are lost to the public schools.”

The goals of charters are to try out innovations and some things they have done are being adopted by regular schools. There is some transfer—especially for small schools, but it continues to be a funding issue for charters that do not get the same amount of funds as the public schools at $4500/students. (Note: Richard Halpin, Please clarify???)

Whereas funds from the federal Workforce Investment Act can only be used for services provided to dropouts (i.e., youth that are not in formal education programs), according to Halpin, “with public education funds, you don't have to wait until young people dropout and can capture funds for youth who are on the way out. This is a case where a public policy strategy to build in greater flexibility and choice in public education has worked to solve a local problem.”

The Charter School

Now in its sixth year, the charter school offers a comprehensive set of services including self-paced GED preparation and high school diploma classes, employment training, health services and career/personal counseling. Students can go to school from 8 a.m. - 12 noon and work from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. or vice versa. The goal is to expand enrollment from the current 360 to 750 students spread across two campus sites by the tenth year of operation. Public education funds account for about 25 percent of funds to support the charter's program; the remainder comes from funds raised through the CBO.

The composition of the school is approximately 60% Hispanic, 30% Caucasian and 10% African American. About 60% of students are economically disadvantaged. The school is open year round from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. and is sited in a convenient downtown Austin location. All services are free. Over 20% of the students enrolled in the Charter School are co-enrolled in AYWs AmeriCorps and YouthBuild Programs.

Rebecca Benz, Chief Officer of the Charter School provided a tour of the school and responded to field trip participants' questions about curriculum, teaching methodology, student needs, and assessment and accountability measures. According to Benz, this is a nontraditional setting that also has structure and accountability. There is a strict attendance policy. If a student misses more than four days, they receive no credit for that session. Students are motivated to be here; it is a last resource for some.

The school covers all the courses required by the state education department. The educational methodology, however, is based on Project-Based Education (PBE) and Service-Learning, focused on creating real world products and encouraging youth to understand the correlation between education and the application of knowledge. Integrating community service activities into the curriculum encourages youth to strengthen their connections with the community and develop an ethic of service. In 1999, the school was recognized as a National Service Learning Leader School by the Corporation for National and Community Service.

The nexus of the hands-on, service learning focus of the AYW programs is easily visible. In one example witnessed, youth had developed a water shed model using topography maps for presentations at elementary schools on the importance of the water shed and the effects of pollutants on it. The model contains houses and schools on it and is suitable to various scenarios involving detergent, trash, oil spills, and simulation of a rain storm to track the path of pollutants to the river. According to Jennifer, who left a regular high school with 3000 students last April because she felt she "wasn't getting what she needed there," this hands-on experience has helped her to understand the environment. She now wants to be a landscape professional. The elementary school "kids [she works with] like it because it's interactive and hands on."

Of the current 360 students enrolled in the charter school, 44 are in self-paced GED instruction with two teachers serving as facilitators and a counselor (the remaining students are in teacher taught diploma classes). Each student has an individualized curriculum plan per course based on the total time he/she plans for program completion. Students work in modules and master chapters before progressing. The self-paced instruction allows students to progress at their own pace, concentrating on the specific areas the y need to complete for graduation (e.g., one 21-year-old student who needed six credits completed required units and tested out in three months for the diploma). It also frees up instructors to provide one-on-one tutoring, focusing on the special needs of students, particularly those that are behind grade level and those with learning disabilities who need support beyond text-based instruction. The software completes 80% of the assessment and grading for teachers.

The self-paced curriculum used is Odyssey Ware by Pathway publishers which provides courses for 9th through 12th grades in 30 subjects. Among the students observed was one studying “Kepler's Laws of Planetary Motion.” The lesson provided visuals and text explanations with vocabulary, cues for meanings of word, word options, and short tutorials.

Of the GED students, about 60% enter the program below grade level. Students typically increase about two grade levels in nine weeks through the intensive four-hour per day targeted intervention and one-on-one instruction. Some group courses are provided, including a required Service Learning class and a community meeting once a week.

The majority of students in the charter school are in teacher-taught classes where the ratio of teachers to students is approximately 1:18 . A number of students are dual enrolled in the local community college in courses that count toward a high school credential. AYW is currently implementing the Quantum Learning program, a powerful teaching and learning methodology developed by the Learning Forum based on 20 years of brain research and adult learning theory. Quantum Learning empowers students to become lifelong learners through mastery of learning and life skills applicable to any course at any level.

Field trip participants visited a class in government and economics where students were devising a service learning project focused on voter registration. Using the Quantum Learning strategy—learning from what you already know to what you want to know— they were learning the amendments to the Constitution. The teacher told field trip participants that he could ask the students to memorize the amendments, but the Quantum Learning approach was to use auditory, visual and kinetic learning strategies. He indicated that most of the students are kinetic learners; they want to touch and be physical with history.

In addition to the classroom methodologies offered, employment focused services are provided through a WIA contract for students that meet low-income and barriers to employment criteria (juvenile offenders, poverty, young parents, etc.). These funds support the AYW's Career Center , which offers job development, the career connections course and job/work readiness initiatives. Follow-up services are provided to the young people for one to two years after leaving the program. Child care funds provide for additional assistance (e.g., transportation, work clothing, food).

The Counseling Services program assists students with special education needs and those involved in self-paced instruction. Each counselor works with a particular case load until students graduate, providing career information, mediation and anger management, referrals to social services; and conducting new support groups each nine weeks based on student identified topics (e.g., parent relationships). Of the five counselors, four have their masters of social work and one is a chemical dependency counselor. All are licensed.

Because many students have experienced barriers to healthy living and have no health plans, comprehensive health and prevention services are provided. The city provides immunizations at the clinic. Freshmen have a required health class and a health careers program is offered with internships.

AYW works with a number of community partners including La Raza and the school system, weaving together average daily attendance funds (for education) with YouthCorps (Corporation for National Service), Workforce Investment Act and other sources of funds to support these interventions.

According to Benz, the diploma students will be held to the same standards as other students in the state in passing the TAAS (soon to be TAKS) state test. She anticipates this requirement will have a huge impact on their program. Because many young people come to the school years below grade level, it takes them longer to succeed. It may take some of them as long as four years to pass the high school exit exam. She indicated that there is a much greater interest among students in the diploma program which also offers opportunities for work-based learning, than in the GED program. “Students realize that the high school diploma is a stronger entry to work and college.”

When students were asked how this school compared to the regular high schools they had attended, several pointed to the availability of many more options at AWY. According to one student, “Teachers and staff come to you and you can go to them. If I want to find a job, they'll help me.” Another student valued access to counselors to talk with when they need help. Several said they never saw or knew the counselors in their public schools. “Here, the principal knows every student by name. Classes are much smaller than in public school, there is one-on-one attention, and help with lessons.” Students also cited access to a range of services, including health services. Some students indicated that they learned about AYW through the irregular public schools who know that AYW takes pregnant students, those who want to work, and those who feel that large impersonal schools are not where they belong.

Casa Verde Building Program

In the Casa Verde Building Program, young people learn to work with alternative building materials, such as straw bale, which is fire and bug proof. Straw bale is an insulator, but also serves as siding and is weight bearing. We learned that bale houses, which have been around for almost a century, are becoming more common as people recognize the benefits of using field waste as a building material. Straw bale houses have been built at very low costs.

Young people in the program are involved in research and development building techniques. According to Richard Halpin, they are not taught standard 2 X 4 framing but use finger joining frames; the assumption is that they can get framing skills in a work setting when they need it. The more important goal of the program is to provide opportunities for developing employability skills, such as being on time, following directions and working in teams. More typically, youth will go to work in places like Home Depot where a general knowledge of the building trades is important, or use this experience as science background for college. Similarly, young people in the Environmental Corps learn environmental science while engaged in service and hands-on activities.

AYPF participants visited the neighborhood, Lincoln Gardens (known locally as the Hog Pen and, until recently, a place to buy illegal drugs) where approximately 30 two- and three- bedroom houses have been built through the Case Verde Program. The Casa Verde houses have galvanized steel roofs and porches designed to facilitate neighborhood communication. A five-star energy efficient house has been built with solar panels and choice of deck made from recycled plaster or wood chip. The houses sell between $95,000 and $115,000.

In addition to helping to revitalize the neighborhood by building energy-efficient affordable homes, youth participants have cleaned up the creek, the part of the neighborhood the city used as a dump, and painted out graffiti. According to Halpin, it took three years in partnership with the police, the local church and other community institutions to clean up the neighborhood and to bring it back from malevolent neglect. This has been a community-centered approach to community revitalization.

Community Technology Center

Next, field trip participants visited the Community Technology Center and met with director Janet Blake. Blake bought what had been the neighborhood crack house and turned it into a center that provides access to computers for neighborhood children and adults. The after school program serves children from five schools, providing tutoring sessions and other enrichment activities each weekday afternoon from 3 to 7 p.m. Parenting classes are also offered and a house across the street is under development for infant care. Computer classes are offered for adults on Saturdays. Construction work on the house was donated by AYW. AYW and the city of Austin donated and assembled equipment for the playground. Computers were donated by IBM.

Blake indicated that there were no sidewalks in the neighborhood until four years ago. She and others worked hard to petition the city to put a bus stop in front of the Center—previously, there was no bus stop in the neighborhood.

Conclusion

The field trip was an opportunity to learn about the history and development of policies in Texas to improve student achievement and the quality of curriculum and instruction, including the Texas accountability system that subsequently became the model for the federal No Child Left Behind legislation. It was an opportunity to hear about the impact (actual and potential) of these policies from individuals at different points on the policy development and implementation continuum, including teachers, school and district administrators, researchers and education analysis, and business leaders.

From our brief visit, it was clear that:

• Systems change of this magnitude is a massive undertaking that takes time, sustained effort, and strong support from the business community and good communication with all stakeholders.
• Policies must be continuously revisited and adjusted based on changes within the system and its component parts.
• The true impact of efforts to set higher standards and institute accountability measures, while also creating interventions for students and improving the capacity of teachers, schools and systems, will not be immediately known. The final test of success will be evident as these reforms move into the high schools, resulting in young people who can meet high standards of learning but also high graduation rates for all students, especially those who have not done well in the Texas public schools in the past.

The field trip was an opportunity to learn how districts, schools and community partners and institutions react to pressures for higher standards by: (a) developing strategies to engage learners, reduce the dropout rate and recapture students who have already left school, (b) creating new funding streams and more flexible structures for learning; and (c) developing partnerships with alternative learning settings to expand the number of options for student success.

Contact Information

Vicki Baldwin
Principal Garza High School
Austin Independent School District
1600 Chicon Street
Austin , TX 78702
(512) 414-8600
vbaldwin@austin.isd.tenet.edu

Susan Barnes
Associate Commissioner
Charter School Division
Texas Education Agency
1701 North Congress Ave.
Austin , TX 78701
512-463-9575
sbarnes@tea.state.tx.us

Rebecca Benz
Chief School Officer
American YouthWorks
216 E. Fourth Street
Austin , TX 78701
512-236-6906
rbenz@ail.org

Honorable Samuel T. Biscoe
Travis County Judge
314 West 11 th Street, Suite 520
Austin , Texas 78701
sam.biscoe@co.travis.tx.us

Janet Blake
True Light Day Care Center
1300 Fort Branch
Austin , Texas 78721
512-928-1287
927-8281 (Fax)

Charlie Briggs
Executive Director
Texas Commission on Volunteering
and Community Service
P.O. Box 13385
Austin , TX 78711
(512) 936-4113
charles.briggs@twc.state.tx.us

F. Linelle Clark, Ph.D.
Dropout Prevention/Reduction Coordinator
Office of the General Counsel for Legal & External Affairs
Austin Independent School District
1111 W. 6 th Street
Austin , TX 78703-5399
(512) 414-9882
lclark@austin.isd.tenet.edu

John Fitzpatrick
Executive Director
Capitol Area Training Foundation
(Vice President of the Austin Chamber of Commerce and School Board Member)
P.O. Box 15069
5930 Middle Fiskville Rd., Ste. 507.1
Austin , Texas 78761-5069
(512) 323-6773 X 110
jfitz@catf-austin.org

Richard Halpin
Executive Director
American YouthWorks
216 E. Fourth Street
Austin , TX 78701
(800) 472-3395
(512) 472-8220
rhalpin@ail.org

Harrison Keller
Project Director, Education Policy
Charles A. Dana Center
UT-Austin Development Building
2901 N. IH-35, Suite 2.200
Austin , TX 78722-2348
512/475-9715
harrisonk@mail.utexas.edu

Don W. Long
Manager
Student Assessment Division
Texas State Education Agency
1701 North Congress Ave.
Austin , TX 78701
dlong@tea.state.tx.us

Joey Lozano
Deputy Commissioner for Dropout
Prevention and Initiatives
Texas State Education Agency
1701 North Congress Ave.
Austin , TX 78701
JLozano@tea.state.tx.us.

Mr. John Stevens
Executive Director
Texas Business Education Coalition (TBEC)
400 West 15th Street, Suite 404
Austin , TX 78701
512 480-8050 X 202
johnstbec@aol.com

Melvin E. (Mel) Waxler
General Counsel for Legal and External Affairs
Austin Independent School District
111 W. Sixth Street
Austin , TX 78703
512/414-6425
mwaxler@austin.isd.tenet.edu

Reverend J.R. Williams
True Light Baptist Church
1300 Fort Branch Boulevard
Austin , Texas 78721
512-926-7986
927-8281 (Fax)

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[1] There are many ways to calculate the dropout rate—some are more controversial than others. The Texas Education Agency describes the dropout rate as the number of dropouts summed across all grades, 7-12, divided by the number of students summed across all grades 7-12. Specifically, it is calculated as the number of students who dropped out during the school year divided by the number of students who were in membership at any time during the school year. A cumulative count of students is used in the denominator as well as the numerator. This method for calculating the dropout rate neutralizes the effects of mobility by including in the denominator every student who enrolled at the school throughout the school year. (Retrieved 9/23/2003 from http:www.tea.state.tx.us/perfreport/account/2002/glossary.html)

[2] IDRA calculates attrition by (1) dividing the high school enrollment in the end year by the high school enrollment in the base year; (2) multiplying the results from Calculation 1 by the ninth grade enrollment in the base year; (3) subtracting the results from Calculation 2 from 12th grade enrollment in the end year; and (4) dividing the results of Calculation 3 by the result of Calculation 2. (See Attrition Rates in Texas Public Schools by Race-Ethnicity 2000-1. Retrieved 9/22/03 from http://www.idra.org/Research/long2001.htm .

[3] Fur the r revisions to the education code governing charter schools in 2001 eliminated the 75 Percent Rule designation, capped the number of charter schools the State Board of Education may grant at 215 and allowed for an unlimited number of specialized charter schools sponsored by public senior colleges and universities (House Bill 6, 77 th Texas Legislature, in Texas Open-Enrollment Charter Schools Fifth Year Evaluation: Executive Summary , July 2002, p. 1. School of Urban and Public Affairs, University of Texas at Arlington, Center for the Study of Education Reform, University of North Texas, Center for Public Policy, University of Houston, Texas Center for Educational Research).

[4] In 2000-01, of the 2000 charter school campuses, one-third (67) served 75% or more at-risk (i.e., economically disadvantaged) students while two-thirds (133) served less than 75% at-risk students. For that school year, the percentage of economically disadvantaged students in charter school (54%) was slightly higher than the state average (49%); however, charter schools had lower percentages of limited English proficient (4%) and special education students (8%) compared to state averages (14% and 12% respectively). (Ibid, pp. 4-5)

[5] 2002 Comprehensive Annual Report on Texas Public Schools (Ch. 13, report 02).

[6] Campuses are evaluated on TAAS results and dropout rates to assign accountability ratings of: Exemplary; Recognized; Acceptable; and Low-performing.

[7] See Austin School District website at www.austin.isd.tenet.edu .

[8] The field trip group later met with John Fitzpatrick , Executive Director, Capitol Area Training Foundation, the intermediary that implements Construction Gateway. According to Fitzpatrick, the program provides young people with exposure to six construction trades, offering 10 credits toward an Associate degree and OSHA certification. About ½ of enrollees are incarcerated or in boot camp for more than a felony. Recidivism for young people who go into this program is 12-13% compared to about 50% for non-enrollees.

American Youth Policy Forum   1836 Jefferson Place NW,  Washington DC 20036
Telephone 202-775-9731      |      Fax 202-775-9733      |     Email aypf@aypf.org