La Frontera: Student Achievement in Texas Border and Nonborder Districts

By: Edward F. Sloat, Reino Makkonen, Paul Koehler

This Regional Educational Laboratory (REL) report offers policymakers a data-rich profile of the education environment in the region of Texas, along the U.S.-Mexico border, known as La Frontera. The report contrasts the characteristics of border and nonborder districts in the state from both demographic and student achievement perspectives. The study on which the publication is based sought to answer three questions:

• How do Texas border and nonborder districts differ in location and size, student demographics, teacher data, and community economics?
• Where significant differences exist between border and nonborder districts, what does the recent literature say about the relationship between these variables and student achievement?
• How does student performance on Texas's statewide standardized student assessment differ between border and nonborder districts?

Information about the REL system and other REL publications can be found at the National Regional Educational Laboratory Program website.