Round Rock ISD reports midyear gains, outlines plans to boost college, career and military readiness

Round Rock ISD officials on Jan. 7 reported midyear progress toward the district’s college, career and military readiness (CCMR) goal but said more work is needed to reach the board’s 94% target for the cohort tracked to 2026. Superintendent Dr. Aziz and district teaching-and-learning staff presented data, program changes and next steps to trustees.

The update explained how CCMR is measured and why the metric is "lagging" — the state verifies data after the school year ends — and gave midyear figures for several cohorts. Natalie, a teaching-and-learning presenter, said the district’s local midyear figure for the class of 2025 is about 91%, while the class of 2026 stood at about 70% as of Jan. 7, 2026.

"The 2026 goal for us, overarchingly, as a district, is that 94 percent of our graduates, graduate college career or military ready," Dr. Aziz told the board. He and staff broke CCMR into component measures — advanced coursework (AP/IB), dual-credit and OnRamps, college-readiness tests (SAT/ACT/TSIA2) and career-technical education (CTE) measured by industry-based certifications (IBCs) — and reported midyear performance for each.

District staff reported the following midyear data and targets: advanced-course credit attainment at 52% (midyear toward a 56% goal); college-readiness (SAT/ACT/TSIA2) at roughly 64% for the senior class of 2026 toward an 80% goal; and CTE/IBC attainment for the senior cohort at about 17.5–18% versus a 20% goal. Presenters noted that TEA (Texas Education Agency) changes to how IBCs and concentrator/completer status are counted have raised the bar for some cohorts.

To expand access and accelerate progress, the district described a set of policy and program changes. Those include a mandatory seventh-grade "4-year planning" course to help students and families map pathways and make informed choices, wider dual-credit and ACC partnerships that let students accumulate college credit while finishing high-school coursework, and the district’s college-pathways program that the presenters said is designed to allow students in comprehensive high schools to earn associate degrees without sacrificing extracurricular experiences.

District leaders also described plans to use the recently acquired City E building to host applied programs — including electrical trades, cosmetology, and a proposed semiconductor lab in partnership with Austin Community College (ACC) and a potential industry partner — with an early aim of launching work in the 2027–28 school year.

Trustees asked detailed follow-up questions. Trustee Amy Weir pressed district staff to clarify alterations to recognition criteria for the class of 2026 and how those changes affect students' ability to earn items such as stoles; staff responded that TEA policy changes affected cohort comparability. Trustee Melissa Ross raised concerns about the effect of a new ninth-period schedule and the seventh-grade course on elective access; district staff said adding the ninth period increases elective capacity overall and that pilots and survey instruments will track unintended consequences.

The district said it will continue pilot work (middle-school pilots at Hernandez and Chisholm were cited), collect transition-survey data, provide adult supports and "buddy" systems for students new to advanced coursework, and return to the board with final, state-verified data when available.

What’s next: district leaders said they will continue implementation pilots, convene family- and community-facing planning, and report final CCMR numbers after TEA's verification process. Trustees signaled interest in more detailed equity and impact data as the district expands access to advanced coursework and CTE pathways.