Texas Public High Schools Research Articles

Dually Noted: Examining the Implications of Dual Enrollment Course Structure for Students’ Course and College Enrollment Outcomes

Dual enrollment (DE)—where students earn college credits during high school—is expanding rapidly. To facilitate DE, institutional actors across K-12 schools and colleges must build or repurpose structures across separate organizations to determine course offerings, assignments, modality, and composition. Yet the organization and implications of those structures remain a black box. Using statewide administrative data from Texas, we describe DE coursetaking and course characteristics for traditional Texas public high school students and examine how DE course characteristics predict students’ course performance and subsequent college enrollment. Our descriptive analyses illuminate striking differences between academic and career and technical education DE, both in students’ backgrounds and course structures. Our regression analyses illustrate how several malleable DE course characteristics predict student outcomes.

Girls Just Want to Run: How Campaign Coverage Impacts Political Ambition

Girls Just Want to Run: How Campaign Coverage Impacts Political Ambition

Reproductive Coercion Victimization and Associated Mental Health Outcomes Among Female-Identifying Young Adults

ABSTRACT Reproductive coercion is a serious public health problem. Victimization has been associated with poor mental health outcomes, including symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and depression in clinical and college samples. We build on these findings by examining the association between reproductive coercion victimization and mental and behavioral health outcomes, including depression, PTSD symptoms, anxiety, and drinking behaviors in a diverse community-derived sample of female-identifying young adults (mean age = 20; SD=.72). Participants (n = 368) were originally recruited as part of a study on dating violence in seven Texas public high schools. Participants completed an online study that included demographic questions and measures that assessed the variables of interest. Results of regression analyses showed that reproductive coercion victimization predicted depression, anxiety, and PTSD symptoms, after controlling for race, sexual orientation, and age. The findings also revealed that victims of reproductive coercion were more likely consume more drinks per drinking occasion compared to their non-victimized counterparts. These results add to the growing literature that experiencing reproductive coercion is a risk marker for poor mental and behavioral health. To develop targeted prevention and intervention programs, future research should examine potential mechanisms underlying this relationship.

Industry-recognized certifications for college- and career-readiness

Industry-recognized certifications (IRCs) are designed by businesses, industrial groups, and state agencies to enable students to demonstrate their skills related to a specific profession and to enable industries to know whether potential employees are qualified for specific jobs. To understand the value of these certifications, Matt Giani analyzed data from more than a million Texas public high school graduates. The data showed some positive relationships between IRCs and students’ future earnings and college enrollment and persistence, but the links are sometimes weak and vary depending on the IRC earned. And most students earning an IRC did not move on to work or postsecondary study in areas aligned with their credentials.

Silence in the Stacks

School libraries in the United States of America have recently experienced an unprecedented number of external censorship attempts. Some censorship attempts, however, quietly occur when the school librarian engages in self-censorship, removing or refusing to purchase materials they consider to be controversial. This collection analysis study explored the extent of self-censorship in 90 Texas public high school libraries based on the exclusion of 55 controversial books in their collections, examining (1) possible relationships between a school’s characteristics and the absence of controversial books, (2) the extent to which the librarians are engaging in self-censorship, and (3) the controversial topics least likely to be included in collections. Findings suggest campus enrollment and district size were moderate to strong predictors of the number of expected books in a school library. More than half of the school libraries had the number of books one would expect based on their district size and campus enrollment. Books with transgender or LGBTQIA+ content were less likely to be found in school libraries, whereas titles featuring profanity, drinking, and drug use were most likely to appear, regardless of campus, district, and city size.

Differences in the Percentages of Students Enrolled in Dual Credit Courses over Time: A Texas, Multiyear Analysis

This study aimed to determine the degree to which differences were present in the percentages of all students who enrolled in a dual-credit mathematics course in Texas public high schools by their economic status (i.e., economically disadvantaged and all students). The percentages for both groups of students were compared for the 2014-2015 and the 2015-2016 school years. Inferential statistical analyses revealed statistically significant differences in the percentages in dual-credit mathematics course enrollment for all students and students who were economically disadvantaged in both the 2014-2015 and the 2015-2016 school years. For both years, economically disadvantaged students had a lower enrollment rate in dual-credit mathematics courses than all students' percentage enrollment in dual-credit mathematics courses. Implications of these findings, as well as recommendations for future research, were discussed.

School‐Based Leadership Talent Development: An Examination of Junior Reserve Officers’ Training Corps Participation and Postsecondary Plans

In 1972, the Marland Report included leadership as a domain of giftedness in the first federal definition. Although federal and state descriptions of gifted and talented services still include identifying and developing leadership talent, in many states, services are not mandated or funded. Consequently, leadership development is often left to extracurricular programs (e.g., student organizations, athletics). The Junior Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (JROTC) provides school-based military-focused leadership education and opportunities to apply emergent leadership skills. This qualitative study examined leadership talent development in JROTC and the postsecondary paths participants chose. A self-report survey was distributed to graduating seniors enrolled in JROTC in Texas public high schools. The findings highlighted characteristics of students who chose to pursue military-focused education or careers after high school and themes about their leadership development experiences in JROTC. Students benefitted from opportunities for career-related identity exploration, a culture that supported leadership development, and psychosocial skills coaching.

Report highlights enrollment patterns of students with disabilities

A new report on the outcomes of students with a disability enrolled in college may have implications for potential ways for colleges and universities to best serve students with disabilities. The report from Regional Educational Laboratories Southwest examined cohorts of Texas public high school graduates, both with and without disabilities, and evaluating their enrollment and completion outcomes. The data came from cohorts who graduated from high school in Texas between 2006 and 2010.

Positive reading attitudes of low-income bilingual latinos

Many assume low-income, emergent bilingual Latinos have poor reading attitudes. To investigate this issue, we surveyed 1,503 Texas public high school students through stratified cluster sampling to determine their reading attitudes. Most represented Latinos and mixed-race Latinos/Whites who heard Spanish at home and whose mother tongue was Spanish. Sources included the valid and reliable Rhody Reading Attitude Assessment (RRAS), demographic questions added to the RRAS, and campus summary data. Frameworks were social justice and linguistic funds of knowledge. Significant overall-reading attitude differences appeared in individual and school background variables. Regarding the former, the Latino/White blended group displayed significantly higher reading attitudes than Whites. Though insignificant, those who spoke Spanish and Spanish/English as mother tongues and those hearing Spanish and Spanish/English combinations at home demonstrated higher reading attitudes. Advanced program students had significantly higher reading attitudes than peers in other academic programs. Though insignificant, those in English as a second language (ESL) programs had higher reading attitudes than peers who self-identified as in regular programs. Regarding school-background variables, schools with the highest percentages of emergent bilinguals and students qualifying for free or reduced-price lunch had significantly higher reading attitudes. Though insignificant, schools with 98.7% or higher Latino populations had the highest overall reading attitudes. Our findings challenge misperceptions of nondominant students.

School Accountability, Postsecondary Attainment, and Earnings

Abstract We study the impact of accountability pressure in Texas public high schools in the 1990s on postsecondary attainment and earnings, using administrative data from the Texas Schools Project. Schools respond to the risk of being rated Low Performing by increasing student achievement on high-stakes exams. Years later, these students are more likely to have attended college and completed a four-year degree, and they have higher earnings at age 25. However, we find no overall impact of accountability pressure to achieve a higher rating, and large negative impacts on attainment and earnings for the lowest-scoring students.

College-Readiness Rates in Texas

In this study, we examined the college-readiness rates of Black, Hispanic, and White Texas public high school graduates using archival data from the Texas Education Agency Academic Excellence Indicator System. An examination of the state college-readiness rates across a 3-year period was conducted to determine the extent to which academic achievement gaps had increased, decreased, or remained relatively large and stable among Black, Hispanic, and White high school graduates in Texas. For the 3 years of data, college-readiness rates of White students were higher than the college-readiness rates of Black and Hispanic students in reading, math, and both subjects by large margins. Of the 27 statistical analyses of college readiness, statistically significant findings were present, revealing 19 large effect sizes, one near-large effect size, one moderate effect size, and six small effect sizes. Although Black and Hispanic students increased their college-readiness rates, White students also increased their college-readiness rates in reading, math, and both subjects to maintain the status quo for student academic achievement.

Academic Accountability In Texas Public Schools: 2003-2007

This study examines factors affecting test scores in a sample of thirty-seven Texas public high schools from 2003 to 2007 since the implementation of the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act of 2001. The schools were chosen based upon similar tax rates and district sizes. The Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS) test was implemented in 2003 to measure the performance of Texas public high school students. Schools are rewarded for high performance based upon the student scores on the TAKS test, which is administered once per year. Much of the debate on student and school accountability has centered on the importance of student performance on the standardized TAKS test. Those who oppose testing say that teachers and administrators may simply narrow the curriculum and teach the test. Proponents of testing feel that accountability will give administrators and teachers incentives to help students learn. As a result, many school districts in Texas have increasingly put pressure on teachers to improve test scores.

Students Left Behind: Measuring 10(th) to 12(th) Grade Student Persistence Rates in Texas High Schools.

The No Child Left Behind Act requires states to publish high school graduation rates for public schools and the U.S. Department of Education is currently considering a mandate to standardize high school graduation rate reporting. However, no consensus exists among researchers or policy-makers about how to measure high school graduation rates. In this paper, we use longitudinal data tracking a cohort of students at 82 Texas public high schools to assess the accuracy and precision of three widely-used high school graduation rate measures: Texas's official graduation rates, and two competing estimates based on publicly available enrollment data from the Common Core of Data. Our analyses show that these widely-used approaches yield inaccurate and highly imprecise estimates of high school graduation and persistence rates. We propose several guidelines for using existing graduation and persistence rate data and argue that a national effort to track students as they progress through high school is essential to reconcile conflicting estimates.

Acoustical compromises: Working with a design team for maximum isolation at minimal costs in high school music facilities.

Texas Public High Schools place a large emphasis on their music and drama programs, often providing facilities for their students that are far superior than many 4-year college and universities. These high school facilities include several rehearsal rooms for band, choir, orchestra, percussion, ensembles, mariachi and individual practice. In addition, they also often have a drama classroom, a black box theater, and a Performing Arts Center. When working with the design team on these projects, there are often many obstacles to work around in order to provide the best scenario possible for the end user. These “obstacles” often include (but are not limited to) school district codes, budgets, the “convenience” factor, city codes, and space planning. This paper will showcase many high school music facilities through the south and southeast and the compromises and obstacles that were overcome with the end result goal as satisfying the music department.

Minority Talent Loss and the Texas Top 10 Percent Law*

OBJECTIVE: To examine how knowledge about the Texas top 10% law influences college enrollment decisions of high achieving students minority and nonminority students. DATA AND METHODS: Using a representative survey of graduates from Texas public high schools in 2002, we compare self-reported and transcript-verified class rank and estimate probit models to assess the likelihood that top-ranked minority students know about the law. RESULTS: Family socioeconomic status largely explains why highly ranked black and Hispanic students know less about the top 10% law than comparable whites, but parents' lack of fluency in English is a significant information barrier for college-bound, top 10% Hispanic students from predominantly minority high schools. Nearly one-fifth of college-oriented black and Hispanic top 10% seniors who did not know about the law failed to enroll anywhere. CONCLUSION: Inadequate information about the top 10% law undermines enrollment of talented minorities in higher education.

Minority College Aspirations, Expectations and Applications under the Texas Top 10% Law

The Texas legislature passed the Top 10% Law in 1996 guaranteeing automatic admission to any Texas public college or university for seniors who graduate in the top decile of their high school class. Using data on a representative sample of seniors (N = 12,029) enrolled in 96 Texas public high schools, we examine whether and how this law affects the educational aspirations and expectations of graduating seniors, as well as whether they apply to college. Hierarchical generalized linear models demonstrate that the knowledge of a percent plan has played an important role in raising the sights of students who might not otherwise consider college. This effect is particularly pronounced for minority students, although peer family and high school context play pivotal roles.

Higher Education Policy as Secondary School Reform: Texas Public High Schools After Hopwood

The higher education diversity programs that Texas enacted after Hopwood v. University of Texas banned affirmative action had unexpected positive consequences for the state’s high schools. The Texas top 10% law, the Longhorn Opportunity Scholarship and Century Scholarship programs, and the Towards Excellence, Access and Success Grant program each explicitly linked postsecondary opportunities to high school performance and clearly articulated that link to students across the state. As a result, these programs worked as K–16 school reforms, using college opportunities as incentives to improve educational outcomes at the high school level. Using panel data describing Texas high schools between 1993 and 2002, the author demonstrates that Texas’s post- Hopwood higher education policies redistributed college-related activity at public high schools and boosted high school students’ academic engagement.

The Relation Between Perceived Parenting Practices and Achievement Motivation in Mathematics

In this study, perceived parenting styles and parental involvement were examined to determine if they predicted student motivation. The two views of motivation examined included achievement goal theory and self-determination theory. Algebra I students (N = 140) in a Southeast Texas public high school completed self-report surveys. Multivariate analyses indicated that perceived authoritative parenting was positively related to both a mastery goal orientation and higher relative autonomy. Permissive parenting was negatively related to a mastery orientation and positively related to a performance approach orientation. Authoritarian parenting was positively related to a performance approach orientation only. Also, behavioral involvement was positively related to both a performance approach and performance avoidance goal orientation. Generally, future research should include measures that are specific to the beliefs and attitudes of adolescents and that address more specific aspects of parenting styles.

The Impact of Comparisons on the Satisfaction of Interscholastic Coaches of Girls’ Sports

According to previous work in the coaching field, job satisfaction has been found to be an important work related variable, critical to retention and turnover of female coaches [Chelladurai, P., and E. Ogasawara. (2003). “Satisfaction and Commitment of American and Japanese Collegiate Coaches.” Journal of Sport Management 17, 62–73; Sagas, M., and F.B. Ashley. (2001). “Gender Differences in the Intent to Leave Coaching: Testing the Role of Personal, External, and Work-Related Variables.” International Journal of Sport Management 2(4), 297–313]. The current study provides a better understanding of the work environment of coaches of girls’ sports by combining satisfaction and comparisons used in this process. Male and female coaches (n = 202) employed full-time at Texas public high schools completed a questionnaire containing the Job Descriptive Index [Smith, P.C., L.M. Kendall, and C.C. Hulin. (1969). The Measurement of Satisfaction in Work and Retirement. New York: Rand McNally.], the Job In General (Ironson et al., 1997), a referent comparison instrument, and demographic information. The findings indicated significant satisfaction differences based on gender and comparison other.

Incidence of injury in Texas girls' high school basketball.

We studied the incidence of injury in girl's varsity basketball to characterize injury demographics in high school athletics. We defined a reportable injury as one that occurred during organized practice or competition, resulted in either missed practice or game time, required physician consultation, or involved the head or face. We prospectively evaluated the athletes on team rosters during the 1993 to 1994 season from 100 randomly selected Class 4A and 5A Texas public high schools that employed full-time certified athletic trainers. The 890 student athletes from 80 schools ranged in age from 14 to 18 years. Four hundred thirty-six injuries were reported for a rate of 0.49 per athlete per season. Injury risk, calculated on the basis of exposure time, was 0.4% per hour per athlete. Although game time accounted for only 12.5% of exposure time, it represented one half of the total injuries. Sprains and strains (56%) were the most common injuries, followed by contusions (15%) and dental injuries (14%). Injuries to the ankle (31%) and knee (19%) were by far the most common. There were 34 severe injuries defined as requiring surgery or hospitalization, for a rate of 0.038 per athlete per season. Knee injuries were by far the most likely to require surgeries, and ACL injuries accounted for 69% of the severe knee injuries.