Fact-check: Is Abbott campaign right Texas has 90% high school graduation rate?

Nusaiba Mizan, Austin American-Statesman
·5 min read
160
  • Oops!
    Something went wrong.
    Please try again later.

Gov. Greg Abbott: Texas' public high school graduation rate is at 90% overall

PolitiFact Texas ruling: True

Here's why: Gov. Greg Abbott's reelection campaign lauded education in Texas, with a May 15 video touting Blue Ribbon public schools, U.S. News ranking four Texas high schools among the top 50 STEM high schools, and the Texas public high school graduation rate.

"Governor @GregAbbott_TX has lead education to a brighter future," Abbott's campaign Twitter account @TexansforAbbott's tweeted, "That's why Texas' public high school graduation rate is at 90% overall."

Does Texas have a 90% high school graduation rate? State data supports the Abbott campaign's statistic.

Texas data on high school graduation rates

PolitiFact Texas reached out to Abbott's campaign but did not hear back. However, the video credited the Texas Education Agency for the graduation rate statistic.

Of the students who started ninth grade in 2016-2017, scheduled to graduate in 2020, 90.3% graduated within four years, according to a 2019-2020 report by the agency. This percentage is called the four-year longitudinal graduation rate, because it measures how much of a starting ninth grade class completes high school within four years.

The remaining 10% might have continued school, received a high school equivalency certificate, or dropped out. Abbott's statistic checks out.

Some demographic groups have better graduation rates than others. Economically disadvantaged students graduated 6 percentage points lower (87.5%) than those who were not (93.5%). Compared to state averages, there were lower graduation rates and higher dropout rates for students in special education programs and students identified as learning English as a second language.

Graduation rates as a campaign point

Abbott and his predecessor Rick Perry have long rallied around their work on education and touted Texas' high school graduation rate.

In 2018, Abbott said Texas ranked among the nation's top five states for its high school graduation rate. PolitiFact Texas found that to be True. In 2015 and 2013, PolitiFact rated statements by Perry to be Mostly True that Texas' high school graduation rates were third-highest in the nation. In 2011, Texas tied with five states for that title of No. 3.

Texas was ahead of the national average graduation rate at 86% in 2018-2019, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. It was among eight states with a 90% or higher graduation rate.

In the mid-2000s, Texas took an aggressive approach to turning around high schools that were not graduating at least 60% of its senior class, said Jacob Kirksey, assistant professor of educational psychology, leadership and counseling at Texas Tech University. Many states including Texas saw gains around this time because of the No Child Left Behind Act. High schools later also adopted career- and college-readiness models. The state education system under Abbott continued this effort that began during Perry's leadership.

"Compared to other states, I think Texas is not afraid to make changes and to try things out, which I think is a really important and powerful perspective to have in policy," Kirksey said. "At the end of the day, Texas is improving on all metrics with respect to graduation rates and attrition rates."

Our ruling

Gov. Greg Abbott's campaign tweeted "That's why Texas' public high school graduation rate is at 90% overall," accompanying a video touting K-12 and higher education wins.

That matches data from the Texas Education Agency, so we rate this as True.

How we choose and rate claims

PolitiFact Texas is a partnership between the American-Statesman and the nonprofit PolitiFact. It works to present the truth without agenda or bias. Journalists set aside opinions to uphold independence and fairness in the fact-checking process.

We look for statements to check online, in TV transcripts, in press releases, and more. When we choose what to fact check, we consider if the statement is rooted in verifiable fact, if the claim could be misleading, if the statement is significant, and if the statement could be repeated and passed on.

Once a reporter reports on the claim, they can suggest a rating to their assigning editor. The rating is ultimately decided by a panel of three editors.

Read more

Our Sources

Contact Nusaiba Mizan at nmizan@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter at @nusaiblah.

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Fact-check: Is Abbott right Texas has 90% high school graduation rate?