Education Research
Center

Black students in Texas experience the highest suspension rates among all racial groups and consistently perform below their peers on state assessments. Research shows these two problems are connected. This brief identifies urban schools in Texas that have achieved high academic performance while maintaining proportional suspension rates for Black students.

Using state and federal data from 2020–2021, researchers found that only 87 of 3,988 urban schools in Texas (2%) met both benchmarks. These schools, called DEEP schools (Disciplinary Excellence and Exemplary Performance), were mostly located near the Texas-Mexico border and in and around Houston and Dallas. They had more diverse teachers than average, but most did not have full-time counselors, social workers, or psychologists. These results show what Black students in Texas can achieve and point to where more support is needed.

Community colleges are a key pathway to higher education, but many students live too far to attend. This brief explores how driving distance to public colleges affects college enrollment and degree completion in Texas. It highlights that Hispanic, Black, and lower-income students are most impacted when access is limited.

Using data from all Texas public high school graduates (2013–2017), researchers found that students living more than 30 minutes from a community college are less likely to enroll or complete degrees. While White and higher-income students often select four-year schools, Hispanic, Black, and lower-income students are more likely to forgo college, thereby widening degree gaps up to eight years after graduation.

Kwok, A., & Macfarlane, K. O. (2025, February). Strengthening early-career teachers: Effective components of teacher induction programs (Overview Brief No. 32). EdResearch for Action; Annenberg Institute for School Reform at Brown University. https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED671234