statplate

Texas schools · updated through the class of 2024

Texas says 75% of its Black graduates are “college-ready.” Fewer than half enroll in a Texas college.

Readiness on paper has split from college in practice, in the state's own campus records. The findings below start there.

40506070201620182020202220247545“ready”: 75%enrolled: 45%
Black graduates statewide, classes of 2016–2024, 38,000–44,000 students a year. “Enrolled” counts Texas colleges only and runs through 2022, the newest linked data. Read the full story

How is your school doing?

9,000 campuses and 1,200 districts, every student group, 2012–2025, with a confidence range on every small-group rate.

248Black graduates a yearfinish high school in Montgomery County without ever taking the SAT or ACT, even as test-taking rises across Texas.28pointsseparate Black and White third-graders in math the first time Texas measures them. Schools inherit the gap; on average they neither widen nor close it.14high schoolshave Black students outscoring their White classmates on Algebra who still complete advanced courses far less often.

The pipeline: why so few software developers are Black or Hispanic

Every school stage, per 100 students, from third-grade math to the workforce, with the interventions that moved numbers like these.

Walk the stages

Where Black graduates go to college, and where they don't

Share of Black graduates enrolling in a Texas college, by county.

OchiltreeOldhamParkerRainsRandallRobertsRockwallSan SabaSomervellStephensStonewallTerryTitusUpshurUvaldeWardWilliamsonWiseZavalaArcherArmstrongBastropBlancoBrooksBurnetCampCastroCochranConchoCoryellCraneDawsonDeWittDimmitEdwardsFayetteFranklinGarzaGonzalesGrayGrimesHallHansfordHillHowardHutchinsonJim HoggJohnsonKentKerrKnoxLa SalleLive OakLubbockMcLennanMasonMidlandMontgomeryNavarroNolanBriscoeBrownCaldwellCameronCarsonCassCherokeeClayCokeCollinCollingsworthComalOrangeParmerReaganRealRed RiverRobertsonRunnelsSabineScurryShackelfordShelbySmithStarrSterlingSuttonSwisherTaylorThrockmortonTom GreenTravisTylerVan ZandtVictoriaWashingtonWheelerWichitaWillacyWoodAndersonAtascosaAustinBaileyBaylorBeeBexarBordenBosqueBrazoriaKimbleKinneyLamarLampasasLavacaLeeLibertyLimestoneLipscombLovingLynnMcCullochMartinMaverickMenardMilamMillsMooreNuecesPalo PintoPolkReevesSan AugustineSchleicherShermanTarrantTrinityWalkerWhartonWilsonYoungAndrewsBanderaBellBrazosCallahanChildressColemanColoradoCrosbyDeltaDuvalErathFloydFrioGillespieGlasscockGoliadGreggGuadalupeHartleyHaysHockleyHuntJasperKarnesKingLambLeonLlanoMadisonMedinaMitchellMorrisCottleCrockettCulbersonDallamDallasDentonDickensEastlandEllisFallsFanninFisherFort BendGraysonHaleHamiltonMotleyNacogdochesNewtonHardemanHardinHarrisHarrisonHemphillHendersonHidalgoHopkinsIrionJackJacksonJeff DavisJim WellsJonesKendallPecosPresidioRefugioRuskSan JacintoSan PatricioTerrellUptonVal VerdeWallerWebbWilbargerWinklerYoakumZapataAngelinaAransasBowieBrewsterBurlesonCalhounChambersComancheCookeKlebergMcMullenMarionMatagordaMontagueDeaf SmithKenedyEctorEl PasoFoardFreestoneGainesDonleyGalvestonHoodHoustonHudspethJeffersonKaufmanPanolaHaskellPotter
too few students
See where your county ranks

The Texas findings

Most are statewide; a few use one Houston-area county as the local case study.

  1. 1Why so few software developers are Black or Hispanic.5.4% Black, 6.1% Hispanic. The tiering behind those numbers is visible at age 8.5 in 100
  2. 2Varsity pays now. The jackpot almost never comes.Black players are 70% of the NBA and 15% of classrooms. The famous going-pro odds are wrong, and too grim.1 in 900
  3. 3Texas's future workforce is Hispanic. Its pipeline isn't ready.Fewer than four in ten of the state's largest student group clear any tested college-readiness bar.
  4. 4“College-ready” doubled. College-going fell.Readiness on paper rose while college enrollment fell, for every group in Texas.
  5. 5Prepared, but not placed.At equal test scores, White students still complete advanced courses about 6 points more.6 pts
  6. 6COVID cut algebra proficiency in half. It hasn't come back.Black students went 40%, 20%, 26%. No group has recovered.
  7. 7It's not just money.Black students statewide score below low-income students of all races combined.26 vs 29
  8. 8One gap closed fast. The other hasn't moved since 2012.The readiness gap converged. The test-score gap is stuck near 31 points.
  9. 928 points by the first test.The gap is fully formed at age 8 and stays flat through 8th grade.28
  10. 10Is it a math problem? Two answers, both true.Against White peers: no subject bias. Against the college-ready bar: overwhelmingly math.96 pts
  11. 11SAT participation rose across Texas and fell in Montgomery County.Black participation climbed 9 points statewide while the county dropped 9.
  12. 12Where counties stand.Fort Bend County leads Texas on Black college enrollment. Suburbs beat the urban cores.Fort Bend

About these numbers. Every one is the Texas Education Agency's own, checked against the official PDFs. County and state rates pool whole counties, so one small school can't drive them. The methods page has the rest.