In 2012, the Houston Endowment, with data from the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, began to promote “The Number,” a simple calculation that nonetheless summarizes nicely how Texas is doing educationally. “The Number” represents the percentage of Texas eighth-graders who achieve a postsecondary certificate or degree in-state within 11 years. We find that only 10 percent of economically-disadvantaged students have received a postsecondary credential compared to 29 percent of their more affluent peers. A Houston Endowment study notes that a national sample of eighth-graders shows that they “substantially outperform” their Texas counterparts, with 29.3 percent achieving a postsecondary credential within 11 years. Considering that some well-regarded studies predict that over 55 percent of Texas jobs will require some type of postsecondary credential by 2020, these figures do not represent a pathway for increasing economic prosperity and quality of life.
Posted on: Sun, 27 Apr 2014 13:17:11 +0000
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