Daep

Daep in Abilene, TX, is a small alternative high school within the Abilene Independent School District (Isd), serving 96 students in grades 6 through 12, and is located in a district that ranks in the bottom 20% of Texas schools. The most remarkable thing about Daep is its perfect record of keeping students in school: it has maintained a zero percent dropout rate for five consecutive years, a feat unmatched by any other high school in the area. This is especially impressive given that over 83% of its students come from economically disadvantaged backgrounds, and the school serves a population that is often at the highest risk of leaving school. While nearby comprehensive schools like Abilene High School (2.4% dropout rate) and Premier H S Of Abilene (4.8% dropout rate) struggle with retention, Daep appears to function as an incredibly effective "safety net" for students who have struggled elsewhere.

However, this success in keeping students enrolled comes with a trade-off: Daep's academic proficiency rates are consistently and profoundly low. For example, in the 2025-2026 school year, 0% of 7th and 8th graders were proficient in Mathematics, and only 5.88% of 8th graders were proficient in Reading. This places Daep in the bottom 10% of all Texas high schools, a stark contrast to the Academy For Technology Engineering Math & Science (ATEMS), a magnet school just 2.32 miles away that ranks in the 96th percentile with 90%+ proficiency rates. The school invests heavily in its students, spending $20,756 per student—more than double what Cooper High School spends—and maintains a low student-teacher ratio of 12.1, suggesting the focus is on providing intensive support rather than driving test scores.

Daep shares its campus with the Woodson Center For Excellence, another alternative school that serves a similar population but has a slightly higher enrollment and graduation rate. Interestingly, Daep is relatively more effective for African American students (ranked in the 20th percentile) compared to other subgroups, which points to specific interventions that may be working better for some students than others. Ultimately, Daep presents a paradox: it is a high-cost, low-academic-output model that excels at keeping at-risk students in school, raising the question of whether its primary mission is academic achievement or providing a stable, supportive environment that prevents dropouts.