Texas Public Schools: Ethnic/Racial, Socioeconomic, and Linguistic Composition of Student Bodies and Academic Test Performance

  • The higher a school’s percentage of Hispanic/Latino or African American students, the lower is the student body’s average academic performance as measured by the English language version of the tests (Reading, Math, and Writing).
  • The higher a student body’s percentage of White Non-Hispanics or Asian/Pacific Islander Americans, the higher is the school’s academic performance as measured by the English-language version of the tests.
  • In contrast, the higher a student body’s concentration of White Non-Hispanics, the better is the school’s academic performance for Hispanic/Latinos as measured by the English version of the tests, but the worse is this performance if measured by the Spanish version of the same tests.
  • The denser a school’s concentration of economically disadvantaged students, the poorer is the school’s academic performance as measured by the English-language version of the tests.
  • The school’s percentage of economically disadvantaged students is negatively associated with the school’s passing rates on the English-language version of the test;. In contrast, the school’s percentage of economically disadvantaged students is either not associated or positively associated with the school’s passing rates for Hispanics/Latinos on the Spanish version of the test.