Here’s What’s Happening in Our Own Backyard:

In our own backyard, the statistics are changing. See the progress.

• Dallas ISD students have made progress each of the last five years on the state’s TAKS test. More importantly, with the lone exception of mathematics this school year, the percentage of students scoring at levels deemed to be college ready as determined by the National Center for Educational Achievement has gone up each of those five years.
• In 2010, ten high schools in Dallas ISD scored double digit gains in mathematics while 13 high schools posted double digit gains in science. Two high schools, A. Maceo Smith and Kimball, posted gains of more than 20 points in science.
• The percentage of African American and Hispanic students passing the high school Mathematics test increased 8.3 percent from 2009 to 2010.  In science, the percentage passing increased 8.9 percent for African American students and 11.2 percent for Hispanic students.
• Dallas ISD’s four-year graduation rate has improved nearly 10 percent during the last two years, according to criteria adopted nationally in 2008. In fact, Dallas ISD had more graduates in 2010 than in any year since 1983, and, as a percentage against overall enrollment, since 1986. The district is on track to graduate more than 7,000 students in 2011 for the first time in 28 years.
• The number of Dallas ISD students taking and passing Advanced Placement courses has steadily increased during the last 15 years. In 2010, Dallas ISD students passed 1,882 AP exams in Math, Science and English, up from 158 in 1995
• Last year, the Brookings Institution named Dallas ISD as the most improved urban school district in Texas and second most improved in the country, for gains made from 2000-2007.
• There are now 66 Exemplary and 59 Recognized schools in the Dallas Independent School District, up from 14 and 33, respectively, in 2007. Since that time, the criteria to achieve these ratings has gotten tougher, making these gains more meaningful.