This is the second entry in a seven-part series on “Reinventing the Urban School Experience” in Austin ISD through equitable, well-integrated schools. Austin, Texas is often celebrated nationally as a place of great opportunity, and we Austinites have much to be thankful. While we offer our gratitude, we also rely on our public schools as a great unifier, bringing those opportunities to become and to belong to all students. To that end, Austin Independent School District (“Austin ISD” or “AISD”) supports students with several nationally-celebrated schools, a world-class performing arts center, and pioneering programs in social-emotional learning and dual-language immersion. Austin ISD operates 129 schools proudly serving 80,100 students for the 2018-2019 school year. Our district celebrates academic achievement as our students frequently perform above state and national averages on various measures. AISD students come from all walks of life, as represented below on the 2018-2019 demographic snapshot from the district’s “About Us” page. Students come to AISD schools speaking over 90 languages at home, 27.1% are English Language Learners, 12.1% receive Special Education services, and 52.4% are classified as “Economically Disadvantaged”. An economically disadvantaged student, as defined by the Texas Education Agency, qualifies for “free or reduced-price meals under the National School Lunch and Child Nutrition Program.” In this series, we’re going to focus on the near 50/50 split of students who are economically disadvantaged/advantaged in Austin ISD. It represents a socioeconomic balance of families participating in AISD schools that is unseen in an urban Texas school district. We in Austin are, once again, in a celebrated position. We are privileged to have a district-wide conversation about socioeconomic and racial integration in Austin ISD. Enrollment in Texas urban districts skews heavily toward students of economic disadvantage. Reviewing the top 10 urban school districts in the State of Texas (map below) reveals that Austin ISD is the least economically disadvantaged among our urban districts by at least 15 percentage points, and the only urban district near a 50/50 socioeconomic balance. While other urban districts in Texas have significantly higher levels of economic disadvantage among their students, AISD’s relative balance broadens the conversation of what is possible. While districts like San Antonio ISD and Dallas ISD are “piloting” programs at certain schools to integrate their schools by socioeconomics and race, Austin ISD may have the underlying student demographics to imagine a district-wide integration program that shine hopes on AISD’s vision to “Reinvent the Urban School Experience”. Austin ISD has a clear and unique opportunity to enjoy the benefits of REAL socioeconomic and racial school integration in an urban school district. In Part 3 of this series, we’ll explore how our take a deeper look at how the district’s socioeconomic balance manifests within our individual schools. The Case for REAL School Integration in Austin ISD is a seven-part series on “Reinventing the Urban School Experience” in Austin ISD through equitable, well-integrated schools. Part 1: What is REAL School Integration? Part 2: What kind of integration opportunity does Austin ISD have? Part 3: How many Austin ISD schools are balanced by socioeconomics and race? Part 4: Why should REAL school integration be a guiding principle in Austin ISD’s recent Reinvention plan? Part 5: How are other school systems in the US addressing school integration? Part 6: By what methods could Austin ISD better integrate our schools? Part 7: With the opportunity, what would REAL School Integration look like in Austin ISD, and is it worth the challenges to achieve it? Comments are closed.
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