Texas Charter Schools: Low Graduation Rates

The Class of 2016 saw Graduation Rates of 62% in Charter Schools compared to 90% in Traditional Public Schools

Texas students in charter schools are not necessarily faring better than their peers in traditional public schools. With significantly lower graduation rates and lower accountability ratings reported by the Texas Education Agency, the state’s planned expansion of charter schools is troubling. In an additional analysis to IDRA’s annual attrition study released in October, IDRA examined the annual dropout and longitudinal graduation rates in Texas charter schools from 2009 to 2016.

Key findings show:

• The Class of 2016 saw graduation rates of 62 percent in charter schools compared to 90 percent in traditional public schools.
• While some charter schools serve some of the students in highest need, analysis of TEA data for 2016-17 statewide reveals that there is very little difference in the percentage of students served who are considered at risk of dropping out: 50 percent in traditional schools compared to 52 percent in charter schools.
• Nearly one out of every five charter campuses (22.9 percent) failed to achieve “met standard” or the lower “alternative standard,” compared to about one of every 25 traditional public schools.
• Texas public schools serve 5.4 million students, while charter schools serve only 273,000. State funding for charter schools increased at a much faster rate than for public schools in the last decade, with an 8 percent increase for traditional school compared to a 236 percent increase for charters.