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Austin ISD trustees accept monitoring report showing steady TSI gains and persistent gaps
Summary
The Austin ISD Board of Trustees on Feb. 13 accepted a monitoring report on Goal 3 (college, career and military readiness) that shows districtwide progress on the Texas Success Initiative (TSI) for 11th and 12th graders, highlights campus-level pockets of success, and notes continuing gaps for emergent bilingual and special education students.
The Austin Independent School District Board of Trustees on Feb. 13 accepted a monitoring report on Goal 3 — college, career and military readiness (CCMR) — after a presentation by district leaders showing steady progress on TSI benchmarks amid continuing subgroup disparities.
The report, presented by Superintendent Segura, Doctor Angel Wilson (assistant superintendent of secondary schools) and Ashley Binnicker (executive director of secondary outcomes), measured 11th- and 12th-grade TSI completion as the district’s goal progress measure 3.1 and noted that 49.9% of 12th graders have met TSI criteria districtwide while a smaller share of 11th graders have done so ahead of the spring SAT school day. "This is the first year that we're doing this with eleventh graders included," Ashley Binnicker said, noting the new emphasis on earlier measurement.
District leaders framed the work as part of broader initiatives — Early College, dual credit and integrated test preparation — and highlighted three campuses with notable gains: Northeast Early College High School, Navarro Early College High School and Ann Richards School for Young Women Leaders. The presentation credited consistent professional learning communities, targeted interventions tied to baseline diagnostics and partnerships with external tutors and programs for those successes.
Trustees pressed for details about how some campuses are resourced. Trustee Quintana asked, "How do they pay to have that course?" when discussing Ann Richards’s embedded SAT preparation. Binnicker said the campus embeds a STARS course and sometimes contracts outside tutors in the spring; Superintendent Segura added that campuses commonly use district CCMR funds and foundation support to cover additional programming. The report also noted disparities: emergent bilingual students and students receiving special education services remain below district averages and require expanded, targeted interventions.
Board action: Vice President Whitley Chu moved to accept the monitoring report and Trustee Quintana seconded. President Boswell called for a vote; the motion was approved on the dais. The board’s acceptance formalizes that trustees had a satisfactory strategic conversation with the superintendent and deeper understanding of how current student outcomes align with district goals.
The district outlined next steps including sharing best practices across campuses (PLCs and CCMR campus advisories), adjusting testing timelines (strategic TSI testing for algebra II and English II), expanding TSI demo experiences and continuing partnerships for small-group tutoring. Trustees and staff noted the timing of the March SAT school day as a forthcoming data milestone, with campuses scheduling SAT dates on either March 4 or March 26 and district leaders expecting results in late April.
The monitoring report and related on-campus practices will be monitored going forward; trustees asked administration to follow up with specific budget and resource flow details for campus-level SAT and tutoring support.
