College-Readiness Rates in Texas A Statewide, Multiyear Study of Ethnic Differences

This study examines the college-readiness rates of Black, Hispanic, and White Texas public high school graduates using archival data from the Texas Education Agency Academic Excellence Indicator System. An examination of the state college-readiness rates across a 3-year period was conducted to determine the extent to which academic achievement gaps had increased, decreased, or remained relatively large and stable among Black, Hispanic, and White high school graduates in Texas.

For the 3 years of data, college-readiness rates of White students were higher than the college-readiness rates of Black and Hispanic students in reading, math, and both subjects by large margins. Of the 27 statistical analyses of college readiness, statistically significant findings were present, revealing 19 large effect sizes, one near-large effect size, one moderate effect size, and six small effect sizes.

Although Black and Hispanic students increased their college-readiness rates, White students also increased their college-readiness rates in reading, math, and both subjects to maintain the gap in student academic achievement.