Principal Monica Ordaz and teachers at César Chávez Elementary have worked to transform their school into a place where students want to be every day rather than feel obligated.
Their efforts are reaping results for students. The FWISD school showed the most growth in student academic proficiency in Fort Worth this year.
César Chávez Elementary is among four campuses in the city spotlighted as a bright spot in a new report from the nonprofit Fort Worth Education Partnership. Released Monday, the report examines the schools’ progress in STAAR tests and steps each campus took to improve student academic outcomes.
The featured schools — three of which are FWISD campuses — are:
- Alice Contreras Elementary, which saw consistent, multiyear outperformance in reading and math; 55% of students met grade level in reading and 51% in math.
- The Leadership Academy at Maude Logan Elementary saw a 33-percentage point jump in reading and a 14-point increase in math between 2019 and 2025. The campus has 53% of students proficient in reading and 31% in math.
- IDEA Edgecliff College Prep had the most substantial outperformance in proficiency for an open enrollment school in the city; 61% of sixth to eighth graders were proficient in reading and 48% in math.
The analysis accounted for key factors, such as low-income and bilingual student populations, to determine the bright spots, said Leila Santillán, the partnership’s chief operating officer.
“They’re really showing that it’s possible for all students to achieve at high levels,” Santillán said.
César Chávez Elementary saw a 25 percentage point increase in students meeting grade level on reading and a 9 point bump in math on this year’s STAAR, or State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness. Now, 56% of students are proficient in reading and 39% in math.
“It just didn’t happen overnight,” said Ordaz, who has led her school for 13 years.
Much of the work, she said, began before the COVID-19 pandemic. César Chávez Primary was on the cusp of hitting its stride before the virus upended the world.
Ordaz credits César Chávez Elementary’s improvements to a consistent focus on student growth that permeates from pre-K through fifth grade.
Teachers work together to ensure they prepare students for their next grade level. They closely track data on students and make adjustments to their instruction in real time, Ordaz said. Sometimes that means adjusting lessons to ensure teachers are providing students a bridge to their next grade level.
Teachers also set goals for their grade level and focus on it all year, Ordaz said. They work together. They learn what’s working and not. They share their classroom systems.
“It really helps to improve the craft of the teacher and the skill set of the students,” she said.
This kind of collaboration requires trust, Ordaz said. It took years to build up that faith among teachers, support staff and campus leaders. At the same time, Ordaz ensured her staff was supported as the school worked to improve.
“There are high expectations, but there’s also high support,” Ordaz said. “Culture trumps strategy.”
Culture was crucial for academic success across the quartet of schools, Santillán said. The ingredients for success are available at all schools, but these four stand out for how leadership brought them together for students.
“It’s not just what a school has in place, but how the elements are used together,” Santillán said.
Ordaz and Santillán agreed the formula for success at the bright spot schools can be replicated across Fort Worth.
“And it should,” Ordaz said. “This is how school should be.”
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, which supports the Fort Worth Education Partnership, 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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