Houston ISD^↗ET and Dallas ISD^↗ET both improved their graduation rates between the classes of 2020 and 2024. Houston rose from 82.0% to 84.3%, a gain of 2.3 percentage points. Dallas rose from 82.0% to 84.4%, adding 2.4 points.

They were Texas's two largest districts by published enrollment in 2023-24. For the Class of 2024, Houston's graduation rate was 6.4 percentage points below the published statewide rate of 90.7%; Dallas's was 6.3 points below it. The state reported 367,549 graduates from a four-year cohort of 405,019 students. These figures describe the Class of 2024, rather than students now enrolled.

Different paths across five classes

Houston's rate was 82.0% for the Class of 2020. It rose to 83.7% in 2021, fell to 81.7% in 2022, then rose to 83.0% in 2023 and 84.3% in 2024. Its net gain across those classes was 2.3 points.

Dallas also started at 82.0%. Its rate fell to 80.1% for the Class of 2021 and 79.8% for the Class of 2022, then rose to 81.4% in 2023 and 84.4% in 2024. Its gain from the Class of 2022 trough was 4.6 points.

Reported at-risk rates

Houston's Class of 2024 rate for at-risk students was 80.5%, and Dallas's was 82.3%. The state's separately published at-risk cohort recorded 163,349 graduates from 187,893 students and a rate of 86.9%.

Dallas's at-risk rate fell from 79.4% for the Class of 2020 to 72.5% for the Class of 2021 before reaching 82.3% for the Class of 2024. The records do not establish why the rate changed.

A fixed district comparison

Among the seven named districts in this comparison—Houston, Dallas, San Antonio, Austin, Arlington, El Paso and Aldine—Austin ISD^↗ET had the highest Class of 2024 rate, at 90.2%. Its rate had been 92.8% for the Class of 2020. San Antonio ISD^↗ET reported 85.5% for the Class of 2024, and El Paso ISD^↗ET reported 82.3%.

Aldine ISD^↗ET had about 58,000 students in its published total enrollment for the 2023–2024 school year. Its graduation rate rose from 79.0% to 84.6% across the classes of 2020–2024, a gain of 5.6 points. Its rate rose by 6.2 points between the final two classes. These are reported rates for the same district; they do not identify a cause for the increase.

The comparisons cover reported records and fixed class-year endpoints. They do not fill missing subgroup cells or establish the effects of management or policy changes.

The Texas Education Agency's graduation records provide the four-year cohort measures used here.

Detailed code that reproduces the analysis and figures in this article is available exclusively to EdTribune subscribers.