SAN ANTONIO – City Education Partners has created a powerful tool for the community, providing a closer look at how students across San Antonio are performing on the STAAR math and reading tests.
The report focuses on the academic performance of students in schools and organizes the data by city council district. City Education Partners CEO Dalia Flores Contreras reminds us that there are 17 school districts and over 12 charter schools in the San Antonio area.
“We’re focused on ensuring that every kid across every council district in San Antonio has access to a high-quality education,” Contreras said. “It was a way for us to have a citywide view, using a common assessment, so that we could get a pulse of how our is city faring. Are there discrepancies or gaps between how some council districts are performing versus others? And what would we do about that, knowing that education is such a powerful driver for the future of children’s lives?”
Overall, the data shows that 46% of 3rd- to 8th-grade students citywide are reading at or above grade level. In math, only 31% of students are performing at their grade level. The data also reveals a citywide teacher shortage of 71% and indicates another problem: 25% of students are chronically absent.
“Nobody should look at that data and say, ‘Well, that is somebody else’s problem,’ because we will rise as a city, and we will fall as a city,” Contreras said.
The lowest-performing schools were in districts 2, 3, 4, and 5, where less than 40% of students were proficient in reading. The highest-scoring schools were in districts 8, 9, and 10.
Contreras said the data shows how economic disparities can affect children’s futures. However, it can also highlight the positive ways some schools are excelling despite the challenges they face. She said this can push the community to ask, “What are these schools doing that’s working for them, and how can that be replicated in other communities?”
“Cotton elementary is a school that has proven what’s possible. They are serving students that have a diverse population, multiple different needs, a high need community. And they’re achieving at high levels,” she said.
Families are encouraged to download the report to see how their schools and districts are performing.
“They’re not just numbers on a paper. Every single data point in that dataset are children,” Contreras said. “They’re children in our city. They’re walking into schools today, excited about their future, and the data is going to determine what doors open and close for them.”