Re: TJ tanks as Asians overrun school
Posted by:
T
()
Date: April 23, 2013 05:03PM
Bottom Line:
Dallas' TAG school has cultivated a diverse student population and at the same time maintained high standards of education and achievement. Although white and Asian students are overrepresented at the school, while black, Hispanic, and American Indian students are underrepresented in proportion to state and district populations, the makeup of the school enables and almost guarantees students to interact with peers from different backgrounds. This is also reflected in the numbers of economically disadvantaged students: 31.3% in 2006, 30.7% in 2012. The district should work harder to prepare especially American Indian students but also black and Hispanic students for success at the TAG school. Finally, the report doesn't provide application vs. matriculation statistics and so the public is unable to judge the proportion of applicants vs. enrollees from the various demographic groups.
There are many other factors that go into a student's success: parental involvement, teacher to student ratio, attitude of the administration, funding, etc. But this school shows that you can have a high achieving *and diverse* population of students in both cultural and economic terms; and at that, TJ fails miserably.
The numbers:
Enrollment:
2006: White: 40.4%, Hispanic: 30.3%, African American: 23.7%, Asian/Pacific Islander: 5.1%, Native American: 0.5%
2007: White: 41.8%, Hispanic: 28.4%, African American: 23.9%, Asian/Pacific Islander: 5.5%, Native American: 0.5%
2008: White: 43.1%, Hispanic: 28.2%, African American: 23.0%, Asian/Pacific Islander: 5.7%
2009: White: 42.7%, Hispanic: 28.4%, African American: 21.3%, Asian/Pacific Islander: 7.6%
2010: White: 40.2%, Hispanic: 30.1%, African American: 20.1%, Asian: 9.6%
2011: White: 42.5%, Hispanic: 30.0%, African American: 16.7%, Asian: 10.8%
2012: White: 41.7%, Hispanic: 28.3%, African American: 16.3%, Asian: 12.9%, Pacific Islander: .8%
Looking at those numbers, white and Hispanic enrollment is holding steady, while African American enrollment has been dropping precipitously and Asian (including Pacific Islander) enrollment increasing at a rate almost in reverse proportion to the drop in African American enrollment. I would regard that as a disturbing trend, but we need one more factor: community demographics. If blacks are moving away from the area and Asians moving in, then the change would appear reasonable. The data doesn't have county stats, but does have district and state. The school demographics in relation to the district numbers are horrible. District demographics:
2006: White: 5.3%, Hispanic: 62.7%, African American: 30.8%, Asian/Pacific Islander: 1.0%, Native American: 0.3%
2007: White: 5.0%, Hispanic: 64.2%, African American: 29.6%, Asian/Pacific Islander: 0.9%, Native American: 0.2%
2008: White: 4.8%, Hispanic: 65.3%, African American: 28.7%, Asian/Pacific Islander: 1.0%, Native American: 0.2%
2009: White: 4.6%, Hispanic: 66.5%, African American: 27.6%, Asian/Pacific Islander: 1.0%, Native American: 0.2%
2010: White: 4.6%, Hispanic: 67.7%, African American: 26.4%, Asian/Pacific Islander: 1.2%, Native American: 0.2%
2011: White: 4.6%, Hispanic: 68.2%, African American: 25.0%, Asian: 1.1%, Pacific Islander: 0.1%, American Indian: 0.4%
2012: White: 4.7%, Hispanic: 68.7%, African American: 24.4%, Asian: 1.1%, Pacific Islander: 0.1%, American Indian: 0.4%
Texas state demographics:
2006: White: 36.5%, Hispanic: 45.3%, African American: 14.7%, Asian/Pacific Islander: 3.1%, Native American: 0.3%
2007: White: 35.7%, Hispanic: 46.3%, African American: 14.4%, Asian/Pacific Islander: 3.3%, Native American: 0.3%
2008: White: 34.8%, Hispanic: 47.2%, African American: 14.3%, Asian/Pacific Islander: 3.4%, Native American: 0.3%
2009: White: 34.0%, Hispanic: 47.9%, African American: 14.2%, Asian/Pacific Islander: 3.6%, Native American: 0.4%
2010: White: 33.3%, Hispanic: 48.6%, African American: 14.0%, Asian/Pacific Islander: 3.7%, Native American: 0.4%
2011: White: 31.2%, Hispanic: 50.3%, African American: 12.9%, Asian: 3.4%, Pacific Islander: 0.1%, American Indian: 0.5%
2012: White: 30.5%, Hispanic: 50.8%, African American: 12.8%, Asian: 3.6%, Pacific Islander: 0.1%, American Indian: 0.4%
Analysis:
White population, both district and state, has remained steady as has TAG school enrollment. But related to state and especially district population, white students are vastly overrepresented.
Hispanic population in the district has remained steady and slightly increased in the state (6% and 5.5% respectively); TAG school enrollment has remained steady indicating a slight Hispanic underrepresentation. Either way, school enrollment falls far below demographic representation.
African American population, both district and state, has slightly declined (6.4% and 1.9% respectively) as TAG school enrollment has declined more sharply (by 7.2%). This shows a more serious African American underrepresentation. However, overall African American representation falls between state and district population.
Asian population (including Pacific Islander) has remained steady at district and state, whereas enrollment has increased by 8.6%. Asian students have been way overrepresented for the whole survey period (2006-2012).
Native American/American Indian population has barely increased at district and state, and there is no enrollment at the school.