After the Texas Education Agency released results showing students’ academic performance has declined statewide, a new report shows most students in Fort Worth are not meeting grade-level standards.
The nonprofit organization Fort Worth Education Partnership, with a stated mission to “support, invest in, and coordinate opportunities that increase access to a high-quality education for Fort Worth children,” released a report showing that overall only 35 percent of students in Fort Worth perform at grade level.
The report examined students in third through eighth grade, assessing their performance on state standardized tests in Fort Worth public schools—both traditional and charter.
The highest-performing school was Overton Park Elementary in southwest Fort Worth, with 86 percent of students meeting grade level. The lowest-performing school was Clifford Davis Elementary in southeast Fort Worth, with only six percent of students meeting grade level.
According to the report, reading scores on the STAAR test—the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness—have dropped three percentage points since 2022. Now, only 43 percent of students in Fort Worth public schools can read at grade level.
Additionally, test scores showed that only 32 percent of students were proficient in math for their grade level, 23 percent in science, and 24 percent in social studies.
Fort Worth Independent School District spokesperson Jessica Becerra told the Fort Worth Report that the district continues to focus on students’ academic growth.
“We remain steadfast in our commitment to academic growth for all students. Our interim assessments indicate that students are making progress, and we are confident in the direction we are heading,” said Becerra.
The report comes just months after the TEA reported student results from the 2024 STAAR test showing that students’ performance from across the state has declined compared to 2023. Additionally, the percentage of third through eighth-grade students meeting grade level in the assessed subjects was a failing 26 to 54 percent.
Tarrant County GOP Chair Bo French told Texas Scorecard, “Government bureaucracy in almost every case is more interested in growing itself than it is producing results. Our public schools are no different. In every other industry on the planet, free markets make the products better and less expensive. We should apply those same principles to our schools.”
“It is time we create the best product for our kids and stop needlessly growing bureaucracy,” added French.
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