Fort Worth’s largest school district and students in poverty saw significant academic improvements across the city, according to a new report released Aug. 12.
The nonprofit Fort Worth Education Partnership’s annual analysis of third- to eighth-grade STAAR performance shows 37% of 169,735 public school students are proficient in reading, math, science and social studies. The analysis includes children in various districts and public charter schools across Fort Worth.
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That is a 2 percentage-point gain in students meeting grade-level standards on STAAR, or the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness. Meeting grade level shows a student is proficient.
Now, students are just 2 points shy of beating the pre-pandemic level of 39% at that level in 2019.
The results are worth celebrating, but the city still has a long way to go, said Brent Beasley, CEO of the Fort Worth Education Partnership.
“That’s the first improvement we’ve seen since we started doing these reports,” said Beasley, whose group has issued the annual analysis since 2021.
Leila Santillán, the partnership’s chief operation officer, attributed the citywide improvements to Fort Worth ISD, which she said accounted for the largest share of gains. The district is under consideration for a state takeover because of persistently low academic performance at a now-shuttered school.
FWISD’s 65,897 students saw the largest overall STAAR growth of any system in the city, including a 6-point jump in reading and a 4-point bump in proficiency across all subjects. Fort Worth ISD accounts for more than 38% of students in the report.
City Council does not oversee public schools. However, the Fort Worth Education Partnership examines outcomes by council districts so city leaders can use their pulpit to advocate for change.
“There is still not one council district where even half of the kids are at grade level,” Beasley said. “This is a citywide concern.”
Beasley pointed to Fort Worth City Council Districts 4 and 10 as further evidence of FWISD’s impact. Neither of those northern council districts have Fort Worth ISD schools, and both remained static. Eagle Mountain-Saginaw, Keller and Northwest schools are in both council districts.
Positive, smaller gains came from growth in the Northwest and White Settlement school districts as well as from the charter networks Uplift Education and International Leadership of Texas, Santillán said.
The strongest academic growth came from schools where 60%-79% of students came from low-income families, Santillán said.
“In contrast, across schools in the city, schools serving lower-poverty student populations improved the least,” she said.
City Council Districts 4, 7 and 10 had the smallest growth in students meeting the state’s grade-level standards, Santillán said. The trio of council districts in north Fort Worth have a higher concentration of low-poverty schools, which saw smaller gains or declines.
City Council District 7 includes Fort Worth, Eagle Mountain-Saginaw, Keller and White Settlement schools.
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Beasley said more residents and community leaders are tackling Fort Worth’s education crisis, especially after Mayor Mattie Parker issued a wake-up call to FWISD over persistent unacceptable academic performance.
Parker’s speech to Fort Worth ISD trustees led to tangible change in the city’s largest school district, he said. Trustees split with their superintendent at the time and later hired veteran educator Karen Molinar in March as the district’s leader.
Molinar revamped FWISD by centering students and literacy and building off those priorities, officials have said.
Beasely also spotlighted the mayor convening a group of nonprofits, foundations and city staff to help Clifford Davis Elementary, the lowest performing school on the partnership’s 2024 report. The group came together to provide an expanded summer school program, he said.
The city’s Literacy Roundup screened nearly 400 students to determine whether they were at risk of dyslexia.
“It’s nice to see the community coming together and tackling these things outside of the school system,” Beasley said.
Beasley wants parents to use the report and to advocate for their children and talk to educators about academic progress.
“All parents need to go beyond grades on report cards and find out where their child really stands,” he said. “And I hope all of us in Fort Worth will use this information and be advocates for the education of all our community’s children.”
Highlights from report
Here are some key points from the Fort Worth Education Partnership’s 2025 STAAR data report:
Highest performing school: Fort Worth ISD’s Overton Park Elementary in the southwest area of the city had 82% of students meeting grade level. This marks a decline from 2024 when the partnership’s report recorded 86% at that standard.
Lowest performing school: Fort Worth ISD’s William James Middle School in the east side of the city had 7% of students meeting grade level.
Highest performing City Council district: District 10 in north Fort Worth saw 49% of students meeting grade-level standard, the same number reported in 2024.
Lowest performing City Council district: District 8 in the south side of the city saw 26% of students meeting grade level, a 2 point gain from last year.
Biggest gains:
- Cesar Chavez Elementary – 14 percentage points
- J.T. Stevens Elementary – 13 percentage points
- Riverside Applied Learning – 13 percentage points
Jacob Sanchez is education editor for the Fort Worth Report. Contact him at jacob.sanchez@fortworthreport.org or @_jacob_sanchez.
Disclosure: The Sid W. Richardson Foundation has been a financial supporter of the Fort Worth Report.
News decisions are made independently of our board members and financial supporters. Read more about our editorial independence policy here.
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