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The Dismal Education Record of Texas

Texas leads the nation in banning books in schools. According to the Texas Monthly, last year, “Texas school districts banned 801 books in 22 school districts, often focusing on titles that deal with racial history and sexual identity.” This was unnecessary, because thousands of students in Texas are not taught to read well enough to read any controversial book. The recent National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) results found that for many students in Texas, there is only a fifty-fifty chance, or less, of learning to read at grade level. This includes students from low-income families of all races and ethnicities, and, in particular, Black and Hispanic students, a situation reminiscent of slavery times when enslaved people were often prohibited from learning to read.

NAEP is a federal program that measures student achievement at three grades (4, 8, 12) across a range of skills, subjects and variables. Student achievement at grade 8 is a particularly important educational indicator. Students who have not been taught basic skills in grade 8 may have difficulty acquiring them later. Students in grade 8 who are found to be reading at the NAEP “below Basic” level are not likely to be able to make much use of written materials in school, or later at work, or to use those skills to contribute to public finances, or in everyday and public life. Students who demonstrate Proficient or Advanced reading skills have mastered these sufficiently to put them to use in further educational and life contexts: college and university study, meaningful careers, the ability to pass on to their children the advantages they have obtained.

Of the approximately 424,600 eighth grade students in Texas, more than half are Hispanic and slightly more than a quarter are part of the minority non-Hispanic White population. According to NAEP, of the Hispanic students, 16%, test at Proficient or Advanced, while 41% are below Basic. 45% of grade 8 Black students in Texas had not been taught to read at grade level, while 17% are at the Proficient or Advanced levels. 60% of Asian students reach the Proficient level, while 8% are not reading at grade level. White students not taught to reach the Basic level in reading comprise 24% of the total, while 30% reach Proficiency or above.

This does not bode well for the futures of most of those students or for that of the state as a whole. The NAEP assessment demonstrates that educators in Texas face extraordinary challenges. Vigorous efforts to improve basic skills instruction for all students in Texas are urgently needed. Central to those efforts will be to increase investments in k-12 education. Schools must be provided with extraordinary resources in order to meet them. Money is where to begin. Some say money is not the answer. But as H. L. Mencken wrote, “When somebody says it’s not about the money, it’s about the money.” Currently, Texas is ranked 38th among the states with per student spending of $10,314, compared to eleven states spending more than $15,000 per student. For instance, schools in one of them, Massachusetts, teach 16% more of their students to be proficient readers and leaves 11% fewer than in Texas below Basic.

The goal, the purpose, of public schools as envisioned by the Founders (memorably John Adams) is to educate all children without regard to what they referred to as the station in life of their families. Indicators of those variations in family circumstances that children bring to their schools traced by NAEP are household income; advantaged and disadvantaged race and ethnicity; and parental education: in sum, their station in life. We can start with family income, which is, as it were, a pre-existing condition the effects of which schools should endeavor to remedy.

NAEP uses eligibility of the National School Lunch Program as a proxy for household income. In Texas in 2022, 35% of those students whose family income made them ineligible for the Program reached the Proficient level, while just 22% failed to reach the Basic level. The students from less prosperous families, of a different station in life, therefore eligible for the program, reached Proficiency or above less than half as often (16%) and were left below the Basic skill level nearly twice as often (42%) as their peers from higher income households. This indicates that in Texas educational resources, both within and out of school, are apparently concentrated among children from those prosperous families.

Of Texas middle school students, whose station in life is such that they report that their parents did not finish high school, 41% are below Basic in Reading and 14% are at least Proficient, while of those reporting that their parents are college graduates (presumably of any type of college), 25% do not reach the Basic level and 34% are at least Proficient in Reading. This would seem to indicate that in Texas, educational resources both within and out of school, are concentrated among children from better educated families.

NAEP also reports test results by school location: city, suburban, town and rural. Nationally, the difference for White students scoring below Basic between city and suburban school locations at grade 8 is one percentage point; for Black and Hispanic students 6 percentage points. The difference in Texas for White and Black middle school students is more dramatic: 8 percentage points for White students; 15 percentage points for Black students. While nationally, 44% of Black students in suburban schools do not reach the Basic level in grade 8 Reading, in Texas “just” 34% are below grade level expectations in suburban schools. Nationally, 18% of suburban Black students are taught Proficient reading skills, in Texas suburban schools that figure was 26%. Black students in Texas can more than double their chances of becoming Proficient readers in grade 8 by moving from a city school, where only 11% reach Proficiency, to a suburban school where 26% reach that level. Or, to put it another way, for Black students in Texas, the chances of becoming a Proficient reader are cut in half if they move from a suburban school to one in a city. Nothing similar is the case for White or Hispanic students in Texas.

The National Center for Education Statistics (sponsor of the NAEP) calculates that median annual earnings of full-time, year-round workers ages 25-34 by educational attainment in 2020 were: Less than high school, $29,800; high school completion, $36,600; some college; no degree, $39,900; Associate’s degree, $44,100; BA, $59,600; Master’s or higher, $69,700. If a typical working life may extend to 40 years, those earnings become a cumulative $1,192,000 (no diploma); $1,464,000 (high school diploma); $1,596,000 (some college); $1,764,000 (Associate’s degree); $2,384,000 (BA) and $2,788,000 (MA +). The difference in working-life-long earnings between Proficiency (potential for college degree and beyond) and below Basic (unlikely to receive a meaningful high school diploma) skills at grade 8 can amount to more than a million dollars for each person, not to mention the loss in civic participation, the increased chances of incarceration, worse health, shorter lifespans, a decrease in possibilities for cultural enrichment, all of which become a negative inheritance for the next generation.

The enrollment in grade 8 in Texas schools, by race and ethnicity, is 20,200 Asian, 225,000 Hispanic, 54,000 Black and 112,100 White non-Hispanic. The differences in achievement among the groups of students in Texas can be estimated to lead to a loss to the state’s Hispanic community of more than $92 billion over the span of a typical working life. The difference in working-life-earnings for Texas’s Black community between what those students not taught to reach Basic reading skills in grade 8 and what they would have earned if they had been made Proficient would be more than $29 billion, while for White students there would be a loss of nearly 27 billion dollars in potential earnings and for Asian students a potential loss to their community of 1.6 billion dollars over 40 years.

Such are the probable consequences, by a crude economic measure, of the state of Texas not adequately supporting the basic reading skills of nearly half its Black and Hispanic children, and a quarter of its White children. It is unfortunate that the station in life of Texas children, as expressed by household income, race and ethnicity, and parental education, is overwhelmingly influential for their education; unfortunate, and incredibly short-sighted on the part of those responsible for education in Texas.

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Four Texas Districts
The urban Texas districts for which NAEP reported results—Austin, Dallas, Fort Worth and Houston—with the exception of Austin—failed even more often than the state average to provide their students with basic reading skills. Dallas and Fort Worth failed to bring half of all their students to the Basic level in reading. Houston failed to bring 44% of its students to the Basic level. Austin was close to the state average, nonetheless, more than one-third left of its grade 8 students were without grade level reading skills. Considering those students who their districts are successful in teaching to be proficient readers, Austin succeeded with 26% (compared to a state average of 23% Proficient or Advanced), Houston with 18%, Dallas and Fort Worth each with half the state average (13%).

Turning to family income, that is, eligibility for the National School Lunch Program, as an indicator of a student’s station in life, each of the urban Texas districts left at least half of their eligible students below the Basic level in grade 8 Reading: Austin at 55%, Dallas at 54%, Fort Worth at 55% and Huston at 50%. Among the students from more prosperous families, ineligible for the National School Lunch Program, the results are spread more widely: Austin at 17% below Basic, Dallas at 31%, Fort Worth at 22% and Houston at 20%. That is, family income made a 38-percentage point difference in the percentage of Austin’s students without Basic reading skills, Dallas 23, Fort Worth 33, and Houston a 30-percentage point difference. State-wide, the difference was 20-percentage points. Austin, in particular, appears to provide public education in more or less direct proportion to family income.

Austin
Nearly half of Austin’s 2,800 Hispanic students, 48%, are not taught to read to grade level in grade 8, as compared to only 17% of the district’s nearly 1,200 White students. (The district has too few Black students to be statistically meaningful by this measure.) Forty-three percent of the district’s White students are brought to Proficiency or Advanced skills in grade 8 reading, as compared to 16% of Hispanic students. While most, 58%, of Hispanic students in Austin eligible for the National School Lunch Program are not brought to the Basic level, just 25% of those ineligible for the Program, coming from more prosperous families, do not reach the Basic level and 34% reach the Proficient and Advanced levels. Tellingly, too few of the district’s White students are eligible for the National School Lunch Program to be statistically meaningful by this measure. And while all White students tested by NAEP in Austin reported that their parents are college graduates, their Hispanic peers reported parental education levels varying from those who did not finish high school to college graduates. Of those who did not finish high school, 64% tested as below Basic, while 7% tested as Proficient (and none Advanced). Among the Hispanic students reporting that their parents are college graduates, nearly equal percentages tested below Basic as Proficient and above (29%). White families in Austin tend to be prosperous and well educated, Black and Hispanic families less so. This would seem to indicate that the quality of education on offer in Austin’s schools varies in accordance with the student’s station in life—income and parental education level—even within racial and ethnic communities.

Dallas
The Dallas school district’s enrollment is overwhelmingly Hispanic and Black. It has too few White students to be statistically meaningful by most measures. Most, almost two-thirds, (63%), of the district’s 2,000 grade 8 Black students do not reach the Basic level in grade 8 Reading, while only 5% (100 students) reach the Proficient level. Half of the district’s 7,400 grade 8 Hispanic students, (51%), are not taught to read to grade level in grade 8. 11% reach Proficiency. While 53% of Hispanic students in Dallas eligible for the National School Lunch Program are not brought to the Basic level, many fewer, 35% of those ineligible for the Program, that is, coming from more prosperous families, do not reach the Basic level and 22% (compared to 10% of the eligible Hispanic students) reach the Proficient and Advanced levels. All Black students in grade 8 in Dallas are eligible for the National School Lunch Program. 65% are not brought to the Basic level, just 3% (60 students) reaching the Proficient level. This would seem to indicate, as with Austin, that the quality of education on offer in Dallas’s schools varies by income, even within race and ethnicity.

While all of the few White students in grade 8 in Dallas reported that their parents are college graduates, their Hispanic peers reported parental education levels varying from those who did not finish high school to college graduates. Of those whose parents did not finish high school, 48% test as below Basic, while 12% test as Proficient (and none Advanced). Among the Hispanic students reporting that their parents are college graduates, 46% test below Basic and 14% as Proficient and above. There was no data concerning Black students whose parents did not graduate from high school. Among those Black students in grade 8 who reported that their parents were college graduates, 62% are found to have reading skills below the Basic level and 6% at the Proficient level. Nearly two-thirds of the Black students in grade 8 in Dallas from well-educated households are not taught grade level reading skills. There is little reason to believe that many students in Dallas who are not from prosperous families will be able to easily read controversial books.

Fort Worth
The Fort Worth school district’s enrollment is also overwhelmingly Hispanic and Black. Almost two-thirds (60%) of the district’s 1,100 grade 8 Black students do not reach the Basic level in grade 8 Reading, while only 6% reach the Proficient level. More than half of the district’s 3,600 grade 8 Hispanic students, 53%, are not taught to read to grade level in grade 8. 10% reach Proficiency. Of the minority of 566 grade 8 White students in the Fort Worth schools, just 17% are not taught Basic grade level reading skills; 37% are taught well enough to reach Proficiency, more than three times the proportion of Hispanic students and six times the proportion of their Black grade 8 classmates.

The number of Black and Hispanic grade 8 students in Fort Worth who are ineligible for the National School Lunch Program is not statistically meaningful. 54% of Hispanic students in Fort Worth eligible for the National School Lunch Program are not brought to the Basic level, and only 9% reach the Proficient level. Among Black students in grade 8 in Fort Worth who are eligible for the National School Lunch Program, 62% are not brought to the Basic level, just 6% reaching the Proficient level. This would seem to indicate, as with Dallas, that the quality of education on offer in Fort Worth’s schools varies by income, even within race and ethnicity.

Black students in grade 8 in Fort Worth reported parental education levels only for those parents who are college graduates. 61% of these middle school students had not been taught to read at grade level and NAEP found that just 8% are Proficient readers. Their Hispanic peers reported parental education levels varying from those who did not finish high school to college graduates. Of those whose parents did not finish high school, 55% tested as below Basic, while 7% tested as Proficient (and none Advanced). Among the Hispanic students reporting that their parents are college graduates, 37% test below Basic and 24% as Proficient and above.

Houston
The Houston school district leaves nearly half (44%) of its more than 13,000 grade 8 students without Basic reading skills: 5,800 students. Seventeen percent are brought to the Proficient level and one percent (132 students) to the Advanced level. 57% of the district’s Black students do not reach the Basic level in grade 8 Reading, while only 8% reach the Proficient level. Almost half (46%) of the district’s Hispanic students, are not taught to read to grade level in grade 8. 14% reach Proficiency. This compares with 17% of White students below Basic on NAEP’s grade 8 Reading test and 48% at Proficient or above. While 48% of Hispanic students in Houston eligible for the National School Lunch Program are not brought to the Basic level, just 12% reach the Proficient level. Among Hispanic students from more prosperous families, ineligible for the National School Lunch Program, 25% test below Basic and 32% reach the Proficient or Advanced levels. 61% of Black students in Houston eligible for the National School Lunch Program are not brought to the Basic level, 7% reaching the Proficient level. (All Black students in grade 8 in Houston are eligible for the National School Lunch Program. There are too few White families eligible for the National School Lunch Program to use for this measure.) Of those White students from whose more prosperous families are, as such, deemed ineligible, 56% tested at the Proficient or Advanced levels and 9% did not reach Basic. This would seem to indicate that the quality of education on offer in Houston’s schools as well varies by income, even within race and ethnicity.

White and Black students in Houston reported parental education levels only for college graduates, giving 8% below Basic and 57% Proficient and Advanced for White students with college educated parents and the opposite, 55% below Basic and 10% Proficient, for Black students in college educated households. Hispanic students reported parental education levels varying from those who did not finish high school to college graduates. Of those whose parents did not finish high school, 48% of those students test as below Basic, while 16% test as Proficient (and none Advanced). Among the Hispanic students reporting that their parents are college graduates, 38% test below Basic and 24% as Proficient and above.

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There are approximately 424,600 eighth grade students in Texas in 2022. 2022 NAEP Reading results for Texas show that 2% of the state’s grade 8 students had Advanced skills, 21% had Proficient skills, 43% are at the Basic level and 34% scored below Basic. This was 8 percentage points below the national average in the portion of students reaching Proficient and 4 percentage points more than the national average in the portion of students found to be in the below Basic category. (Texas Mathematics results are similar, with 39% of all students found to have below Basic skills.) Middle school basic skills achievement levels have dramatic social and economic consequences. As noted above, the difference in working-life-long earnings between Proficiency and below Basic reading skills at grade 8 can amount to more than a million dollars. This is not to mention the loss in civic participation, the increased chances of incarceration, worse health, shorter lifespans, the decrease in possibilities for cultural enrichment, which are, in many cases, associated with lower degrees of educational attainment, all of which become a negative inheritance for the next generation. If Texas schools taught their students as well as the national average, an additional 34,000 students would have been brought to Proficiency in grade 8 Reading. As it is, it is unlikely that the 136,000 Texas students who have not been taught Basic reading skills in middle school will be able to earn meaningful high school diplomas four years later with all that entails for their lives beyond their school years.

Michael Holzman