by According to a recent report released on August 12, Fort Worth’s largest school system and pupils living in poverty showed notable academic advances around the city.
An annual study of third- to eighth-grade STAAR scores by the nonprofit Fort Worth Education Partnership reveals that 37% of 169,735 public school students are proficient in social studies, math, science, and reading. Children from public charter schools and other districts in Fort Worth are included in the analysis.
The State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness, or STAAR, show a two percentage-point increase in children meeting grade-level requirements. A student’s proficiency is demonstrated when they meet grade level.
Students are currently only two points away from surpassing the 39% pre-pandemic level in 2019.
“The city still has a long way to go, but the results are worth celebrating,” said Brent Beasley, CEO of the Fort Worth Education Partnership.
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According to Beasley, whose team has been publishing the yearly analysis since 2021, that is the first improvement they have noticed since they began producing these reports.
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The partnership’s chief operating officer, Leila Santill, said Fort Worth ISD was responsible for the majority of the upgrades throughout the city. Due to consistently poor academic performance at a now-closed school, the district is being underconsidered for a state takeover.
With a 4-point increase in competence in all disciplines and a 6-point increase in reading, FWISD’s 65,897 pupils experienced the most overall STAAR growth of any system in the city. Over 38% of the pupils in the report attend Fort Worth ISD.
Public schools are not governed by the city council. But in order for municipal officials to use their platform to push for change, the Fort Worth Education Partnership looks at results by council districts.
According to Beasley, not a single council district has even half of its children at grade level. This issue affects the entire city.
Beasley cited Districts 4 and 10 of the Fort Worth City Council as more proof of the influence of FWISD. Fort Worth ISD schools are not located in any of those northern council districts, and neither has changed. Both council districts contain Eagle Mountain-Saginaw, Keller, and Northwest schools.
Growth in the Northwest and White Settlement school districts, together with the charter networks Uplift Education and International Leadership of Texas, produced positive but lesser advances, according to Santillin.
According to Santillin, schools with 60–79% of their pupils from low-income families saw the biggest academic development.
However, she noted that of all the city’s schools, those that served students from lower-poverty backgrounds saw the least improvement.
According to Santillan, the districts with the lowest growth in kids meeting the state’s grade-level requirements were City Council Districts 4, 7, and 10. There is a greater concentration of low-poverty schools in the three council districts in north Fort Worth, which experienced less improvement or decrease.
Fort Worth, Eagle Mountain-Saginaw, Keller, and White Settlement schools are all located in City Council District 7.
According to Beasley, more citizens and civic leaders are addressing Fort Worth’s educational crisis, particularly in light of Mayor Mattie Parker’s wake-up call to FWISD on the district’s persistently poor academic performance.
He said that the largest school system in the city saw real change as a result of Parker’s address to the trustees of Fort Worth ISD. After a disagreement with its then-sector, the trustees appointed veteran teacher Karen Molinarin March as the district’s leader.
According to officials, Molinar redesigned FWISD by emphasizing reading and students and expanding on those goals.
Additionally, Beasely highlighted the mayor’s efforts to assist Clifford Davis Elementary, the lowest-performing school on the partnership’s 2024 report, by bringing together a collection of organizations, foundations, and city employees. According to him, the team came together to offer a more comprehensive summer school curriculum.
Nearly 400 youngsters were assessed for dyslexia as part of the city’s Literacy Roundup.
According to Beasley, it’s encouraging to see the community banding together and addressing these issues outside of the educational system.
Beasley encourages parents to utilize the report to speak up for their kids and discuss academic achievement with teachers.
He stated that all parents should look beyond report card grades to determine their child’s true standing. And I hope that everyone in Fort Worth will make use of this knowledge and act as an advocate for the education of every child in our city.
Highlights from report
The following are some salient features of the 2025 STAAR data report from the Fort Worth Education Partnership:
Highest performing school: 82% of children at Fort Worth ISD’s Overton Park Elementary, located in the city’s southwest, met grade level. Compared to 2024, when the partnership’s report showed 86% at that level, this is a decrease.
William James Middle School, located on the east side of Fort Worth ISD, is the lowest performing school, with only 7% of pupils reaching grade level.
District 10 in North Fort Worth is the highest-performing City Council district, with 49% of pupils meeting grade-level standards, a figure that was also recorded in 2024.
City Council district with the lowest performance: District 8, located on the south side of the city, saw 26% of students meet grade level, which is a 2 point improvement over the previous year.
Largest gains:
- Cesar Chavez Elementary 14 percentage points
- J.T. Stevens Elementary 13 percentage points
- Riverside Applied Learning 13 percentage points
The Fort Worth Report’s education editor is Jacob Sanchez. You can reach him at @_jacob_sanchez or at [email protected].
Disclosure: The Fort Worth Report has received financial support from the Sid W. Richardson Foundation.
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