Governor Abbott Visits Texas Educators and Students, Hopes to Improve State Ranking

Monday marked the first day of school for Texas students, and Governor Abbott decided to visit with educators and have conversations with students at Zavala Elementary School in Austin.

“With the investments in early education made this past legislative session, Texas is working to build the strongest possible foundation for our students to succeed in the classroom and beyond,” said Governor Abbott. “As a new academic year gets underway, I look forward to continuing to work with legislators to elevate the Lone Star State to become a model for educational excellence in the nation.”

The Governor has his work cut out for him.

As of 2014, Texas ranks 39^th nationally in education. According to Education Week’s annual report card of states on education, Texas made a C- grade while the country earned a C overall.

However, when it comes to math achievement levels, Texas ranks higher than the national average at the 8^th grade level, but lower at reading. As for math and reading achievement gains, Texas ranks higher at the 8^th grade level. Additionally, the graduation rate in Texas in 2014 ranked an all-time high at 88 percent.

Locally, The Texas Education Agency rated the San Angelo Independent School District as “Met Standard” for Accountability Rating for the 2014-2015 school year. The score is based on Performance Rates (74 percent), Participation Rates (100 percent) and Graduation Rates (83 percent). The overall score was 82 percent for the district.

During his campaign for Texas Governor, Abbott made a promise to improve education in Texas, especially pre-kindergarten through fourth grade.

“I want to ensure that all children finish third grade reading and [are] doing math at or above grade level,” Abbott said previously about his education initiative.

This appears to be the age group that struggles the most.

The report card for 2014 showed Texas ranks below the national average for both math and reading at the 4^th grade level by .02 percent (math) and 3.5 percent in reading. Achievement gains for both areas ranked below the national average by 2.6 for math and 2.1 for reading.

With that being said, only time will tell how Abbott’s campaign to improve education in Texas will rank this 2015-16 school year.

View Governor Abbott’s visit to Zavala Elementary below.