Austin ISD reports gains in college‑readiness tests and dual‑language instruction

District academic leaders told trustees Thursday that two lagging indicators of college and bilingual readiness improved in 2024–25.

Dr. Mary Anne Maxwell said the district reached 51.4% TSI readiness among 11th and 12th graders for 2024–25, surpassing a 44.6 annual target. "Those are finalized," she said, noting staff continue to offer testing opportunities into the summer and that the district is accelerating supports for students who have not yet met readiness standards.

Tracy Reager, senior executive director of academics, said the April progress snapshot showed stronger TSI results in reading (about 59%) than math (about 45.8%), and that the combined measure of students meeting both sections was roughly 42.7% in the April sample. Leaders cautioned the April snapshot did not reflect make‑up SAT school‑day results taken afterward and expected end‑of‑year numbers to tick up.

On bilingual instruction, district multilingual education leaders reported that average scores on the language‑of‑instruction portion of their dual‑language walkthrough rubric rose from 1.9 (developing) to 2.2 (higher developing) on a 0–3 scale. Staff attributed gains to broadened professional learning (participation rose to roughly 90% of dual‑language teachers) and targeted coaching; they also flagged calibration gaps between campus administrators’ walk‑throughs and central MET observations and said they would add a spring calibration and emphasize visual language markers (indicator 2) in classrooms.

Academics staff highlighted successful campus practices — including partnerships with local colleges and campus‑level tutoring programs — and said they will replicate those tactics districtwide.

Next steps: staff said they will continue SAT‑day testing, expand TSI‑aligned coaching, host calibration work for administrators and focus bilingual resources on campuses with the highest concentrations of emerging bilingual students.