The number of Fort Worth and Arlington schools on the state's worst-performing list dropped for 2013-14 to 23 for Fort Worth and five for Arlington, according to a list that gives students the option to transfer to better schools.
Tarrant County has 41 low-performing schools, which is down slightly from last year's 46, according to the 2013-14 Public Education Grant list, commonly known as the PEG list.The number of Fort Worth schools was also down from 26 last year, but the district still has the second-highest number of low-performing schools on the list. The Dallas school district has the highest number of school on the list with 35.Fort Worth school district officials were not available to comment.Arlington dropped to five schools from seven.The number of schools on the list also dropped statewide, to 456 from 566 last year.The 2013-14 list is based on student results of the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness (STAAR) and the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS).Campuses ended up on the list if 50 percent or more of students failed accountability tests in two of the last three years. Schools could also land on the list if they were rated "academically unacceptable" by the Texas Education Agency in 2010 or 2011.DeEtta Culbertson, spokeswoman for the TEA, said the state list dropped by 110 schools in part because there were no accountability ratings in 2012 because the state was transitioning from TAKS to STAAR.Some educators have said the list is not a true reflection of the school's progress because it can take three years for a school to get off the list.Some area school leaders noted that this year's list doesn't tell the whole story.For example, Brewer High School in the White Settlement school district has made the PEG list for two years even though students improved on state math tests.If a school is on the grant list, districts must offer students the option to transfer to a school not on the list. Schools have until Feb. 1 to notify families of their transfer options.
Worst-performing schools
Local schools on the 2013-14 Public Education Grant list
Arlington
Lamar High School
Morton Elementary
Roquemore Elementary
Sam Houston High School
Shackelford Junior High
Birdville
Birdville High School
Richland Middle School
Crowley
Crowley High School, ninth-grade campus
Crowley Middle School
North Crowley High School, ninth-grade campus
Parkway Elementary
Sidney H. Poynter Elementary
Summer Creek Middle School
Eagle Mountain-Saginaw
Saginaw High School
Everman
Charles Baxter Junior High School
Fort Worth
A.M. Pate Elementary
Atwood McDonald Elementary
Diamond Hill Elementary
Dunbar 6th Grade School
Dunbar High School
Eastern Hills High School
Forest Oak Middle School
Handley Middle School
William James Middle School
Leonard Middle School
Maude I. Logan Elementary
McLean Middle School
McRae Elementary
Meacham Middle
Meadowbrook Elementary
Meadowbrook Middle
Monnig Middle
Morningside Elementary
Morningside Middle
O.D. Wyatt High School
Polytechnic High School
Versia Williams Elementary
Western Hills High School
Keller
Caprock Elementary
Lake Worth
Lake Worth High School
White Settlement
Brewer High School
Source: Texas Education Agency
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