As the Texas Legislature outlawed practices of diversity, equity, and inclusion on Texas college campuses in 2023, the success of White students was accelerating while the success of African American students was in decline. These were two findings of the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board in a Dec. 1, 2024, report to the Texas Legislature. Between 2022 and 2023, the four-year graduation rate of White students in Texas increased from 51 percent to 53 percent, while the six-year graduation rate for African American students decreased from 51 percent to 48 percent.
Success in 2023, as measured by six-year graduation rates, was higher for Women than Men (70 percent compared to 60 percent), Asian students compared to White students (84 percent compared to 73 percent), and Hispanic students compared to African American students (60 percent compared to 48 percent).
In the first of three biennial reports to the legislature mandated by SB 17, the coordinating board explained that the “figures should be considered baseline numbers or a precursor to future SB 17 reports” since data is not yet available to measure student success in 2024, the first year of the law’s official implementation.
“However, these broad trends do not fully capture each of the different racial/ethnic backgrounds by sex,” says the report. “To better understand these dynamics, future reports could disaggregate student success outcomes by both sex and race/ethnicity, examining the interaction between these two characteristics. Disaggregating the data in this way would allow for more granular analysis, to more accurately identify differences within racial/ethnic groups.”
“Future reports could leverage predictive modeling to control for external factors such as socioeconomic status, high school rank, and college readiness.”
Download the full report in pdf format below: “Senate Bill 17: Biennial Study.” Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, Dec. 1, 2024.
Texas State University Chapter of AAUP 
Leave a comment