Purpose

This report provides information about Texas public high school (HS) graduates who enrolled in Texas public four-year or two-year colleges within 16 months of high school graduation and those who earned 1 year of college credit (30 semester credit hours applicable toward a college degree) within 24 months of first college enrollment. It provides enrollment and college credit information for Texas public high school graduates of specified academic years. Data are shown for students by gender, ethnicity, or by economically disadvantaged, special education, or limited English proficient (LEP) status.

The report shows multiple years of data for high school graduates starting with the 2011-12 academic year. To protect student confidentiality, data are not shown for districts or high schools where there are fewer than five high school graduates enrolled in college.

This report fulfills the Federal Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (ESEA) Flexibility reporting requirement.

Data Source

Data in this report come from the Texas Student Data System (TSDS) and the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (THECB). Only students who graduated from a Texas public high school and enrolled in a Texas public four-year or two-year college are included in this report. Data used in this report do not include out-of-state or Texas private higher education institutions.

For more detailed information about THECB and its data, see http://www.thecb.state.tx.us/.

Data Elements

1 Year College Credit Earned:

High school graduates who enrolled in a Texas public 2-year or 4-year college within 16 months of high school graduation and earned 1 year of college credit (30 college hours) applicable toward a degree within 24 months of first enrollment. (Please note that prior to the 2011-12 academic year, THECB did not collect college course completion data for each semester.)

Economically Disadvantaged:

Indicates whether high school graduates were designated as economically disadvantaged at the time of high school graduation. This report categorizes students as economically disadvantaged if they were:

  1. Eligible for free meals under The National School Lunch and Child Nutrition Program,
  2. Eligible for reduced-price meals under The National School Lunch and Child Nutrition Program,
  3. Other economic disadvantage, including:
    1. from a family at or below the official federal poverty line,
    2. eligible for Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) or other public assistance,
    3. received a Pell Grant or comparable state program of need-based financial assistance,
    4. eligible for programs assisted under Title II of the Job Training Partnership Act (JTPA), or
    5. eligible for benefits under the Food Stamp Act of 1977.

Emergent Bilingual/English Learner:

Indicates whether the high school graduate was designated as an Emergent Bilingual/English Learner student during the high school graduation year.

Enrolled in College:

Texas public high school graduates who enrolled in a Texas public two-year or four-year college within 16 months of high school graduation. Sixteen (16) months of high school graduation is calculated as the time period including the first fall, first spring, and second fall college semesters following the academic year of high school graduation.

Ethnicity:

Starting with school year 2009-10, college student enrollment numbers and percentages are provided by race/ethnicity based on the new October 2007 federal standard for collecting and reporting ethnicity and race data for students. A copy of the final guidance published in the Federal Register can be found at https://nces.ed.gov/ipeds/report-your-data/race-ethnicity-reporting-changes. This race/ethnicity reporting allows a person to report his/her ethnicity (Hispanic or non-Hispanic) and one or more of five race values. Hispanic-Latino ethnicity is a person of Cuban, Mexican, Puerto Rican, South or Central American, or other Spanish culture or origin, regardless of race. In this report, race values are reported for non-Hispanic persons only.

High School Graduates:

Students graduating from a Texas public high school as reported by the Texas Public Education Information Management System (PEIMS). Students graduating from the Texas School for the Deaf, the Texas School for the Blind and Visually Impaired, and Texas Youth Commission schools are not included.

Special Education Status:

Indicates that the high school graduate participated in a special education instructional and related services program or a general education program using special education support services, supplementary aids, or other special arrangements during the year of high school graduation. Special education is a program that serves students with disabilities. It offers instructional and related services for eligible students with cognitive, physical, and/or emotional disabilities.

Two- or Four-Year College:

College type indicates that the Texas public institution of higher education offers either a two-year degree (such as an Associate degree) or a four-year degree (such as a Baccalaureate degree.) A two-year degree normally requires at least two years of full-time equivalent college work. A four-year degree normally requires at least four years of full-time undergraduate college work. For the purposes of this report, if a student was enrolled simultaneously in both a two-year and four-year college during the fall semester, the student was counted as being enrolled in a four-year college.

Percentages Calculated for Student Groups

In this report, percentages are based on either:

Percentage calculations for all high school graduates enrolled in college and earning 1 year of credit (first table):

Percentage calculations for high school graduates by gender, ethnicity, economically disadvantaged, special education, or English learner categories (other tables):