High School Initiative Targets Success for All Austin Students

AUSTIN, Texas -- As part of Austin’s ongoing effort to increase high school graduation and college readiness rates, the Austin Independent School District (AISD), along with Skillpoint Alliance and Austin Voices for Education and Youth, today announced a $1.7 million investment from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The funds will support the district’s effort to develop a roadmap for the redesign of its 11 comprehensive high schools to ensure all students graduate ready for success in college and the workplace, as well as strengthen the involvement of community partners.

While Austin schools have made strong progress in recent years, not all students are achieving at high rates, particularly economically disadvantaged students and those with limited English proficiency. This investment will help the AISD create a comprehensive district-wide high school redesign plan that builds on efforts to more effectively support every student in every high school.

“This investment by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in AISD means these experts in high school change believe we are ready for this dramatic transformation,” Austin School Superintendent Pat Forgione said today. “They believe that Austin, Texas, is a community that can lead the way into the 21st century for secondary education. Unlike many communities, we are not talking about redesigning one or two schools or adding a few new small high schools. We are talking about bringing fundamental change in the way we teach our high school students across the school district. We have a Board of Trustees dedicated to increasing student achievement and college readiness. We’ve spent five years building our curriculum and instruction infrastructure. We’ve had the support of Austin’s business community, the Michael and Susan Dell Foundation and Education Austin in our work to increase college enrollment. We are now ready for this next big step.”

The investment, in collaboration with the Austin Community Foundation of the Capital Area, will help AISD establish redesign teams on each high school campus to identify strategies to create smaller, high-quality schools and to convert comprehensive high schools into smaller learning units to strengthen the curriculum and improve teaching. It will also outline district-level changes to bolster the reforms. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s investment ($1.5 million) includes support for the Stanford Redesign Network to provide technical assistance and professional coaching for administrators and teachers. AISD expects to complete its high school redesign plan during the 2005-2006 school year.

In recent years, AISD has improved its district-level organization and increased its focus on high school reform. In 2002, the district approved a college-preparatory curriculum for all students, two years ahead of the state requirement. While 87 percent of Austin’s white students in the 11th grade met the state’s graduation requirement for passing the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS) in 2005, not all students are achieving at that level. Just 45 percent of Austin’s African American students and 53 percent of Hispanic students in the same grade passed the TAKS in 2005.

“We must challenge our students to reach higher levels of achievement to be successful in college, work and citizenship,” said Steven G. Seleznow, program director for education at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. “Superintendent Forgione’s impressive record of commitment and strong leadership, along with active community partners, are setting an example for effective education reform designed to give all students the skills they need to graduate and become responsible and productive citizens.”

To strengthen partnerships among business, education and community leaders, parents, and youth, the foundation is also supporting two of Austin’s community-based organizations to further engage partners in the district’s redesign efforts:

• Skillpoint Alliance -- $125,000 to help track the progress of the reform efforts, target the technology sector’s involvement in high school improvement, and partner with the business community to strengthen college and workforce preparation.
  
  
• Austin Voices for Education and Youth -- $75,000 to engage the community in school reform efforts and help increase high school student participation, particularly at low-performing schools.

AISD has received great community support for improving its high schools. The AISD proposal to the Gates Foundation was supported by the Greater Austin Chamber of Commerce, Austin AARO, the Greater Austin Hispanic Chamber, and the Urban League. The Michael and Susan Dell Foundation has funded a College Readiness program in all AISD high schools.

"Our support of college readiness programs at AISD has been very rewarding because it has resulted in increased numbers of students taking the SAT and applying for and being accepted into college," said Zeynep Young, Central Texas program director of the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation. "It's now very gratifying to see new donors stepping up to support AISD in a significant way. Children, regardless of their financial background or ethnicity, deserve a high-quality, public education and preparation for college or the workforce. We believe these types of programs provide that very necessary foundation."

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and its partners are focused on increasing graduation rates by supporting the creation of new high-quality high schools and the transformation of existing low-performing high schools into more focused and effective schools. To date, the foundation has invested about $1 billion on efforts throughout the nation to support high school improvement, including the creation of more than 1,500 high-quality high schools in 40 states and the District of Columbia. As of this fall, more than 550 of these new and transformed high schools have opened. The foundation has invested more than $40 million in Texas schools and districts, including the Texas High School Project, a statewide public-private partnership launched in 2003 to create 75 new and redesigned high schools that focus on high standards, better teaching, and personal attention to more effectively prepare students for college and work. 

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The Austin Independent School District, led by Superintendent Pat Forgione, has a student enrollment of 80,000 students, 20,000 of whom are enrolled in high school. Nearly 60 percent of the students come from low-income families. The district began an intensive process two years ago to address the challenges facing its high schools.

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Skillpoint Alliance is a non-profit organization that builds relationships between industry, education, and communities that lead to college and career success for Central Texans, while meeting employers’ needs for a qualified workforce. Our goal is to create innovative solutions that leverage existing infrastructure in the K-16 and adult-job training systems. As an intermediary, Skillpoint strives to improve education and workforce efforts through collaboration and alignment of self-interest among the corporate, education and public sectors. We are industry led, education-focused and community-based.

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Austin Voices for Education and Youth  mobilizes the community to strengthen schools and expand opportunities for Austin's youth. The organization was founded in July 2003, and is a merger between two existing efforts: Community IMPACT! Austin, which was a nonprofit organization committed to providing opportunities for young people while strengthening neighborhoods; and Austin Voices for Public Schools, a school reform group that was in the process of becoming a nonprofit organization. Austin Voices for Education and Youth represents an effort to “blur the lines” between the learning that young people do in schools and in communities, and to create stronger links between the local public schools and the community they serve.