Fort Worth ISD celebrates dramatic decline in number of F-rated schools
A year after 31 campuses in the district received a failure rating, the number of F-rated campuses in the Fort Worth Independent School District is now fewer than a dozen, district officials announced Wednesday.
The district released a preliminary look at its 2025 A-F accountability scores Wednesday, two days before the Texas Education Agency is scheduled to officially release its campus ratings for 2024 and 2025. The number of F-rated campuses in Fort Worth ISD is down to 11, and 63 schools gained at least one letter grade, district officials said.
The district’s school rating breakdown is:
- A: 17 this year, up from 10 in 2024
- B: 28 this year, up from 22 in 2024
- C: 41 this year, up from 39 in 2024
- D: 28 this year, up from 24 in 2024
- F: 11 this year, down from 31 in 2024
Although the district didn’t release ratings for each campus, Fort Worth ISD leaders highlighted a number of schools that made dramatic improvements. M.L. Phillips, Cesar Chavez, Versia Williams and D. McRae elementary schools all improved from an F last year to a B this year. Another nine schools improved from an F to a C.
District Superintendent Karen Molinar said the improvement is the result of steps Fort Worth ISD has taken over the past 10 months to improve academic performance. Among other things, Molinar has sent central office staff out into schools to work with small groups of students who need extra help. The district also redirected money toward literacy priorities from elsewhere in its budget.
“We’re not just talking about change, we’re making it happen,” Molinar said. “Our district is focused on literacy and math, because we know they are the foundation of long-term success for every student.”
The state’s A-F scores are based in large part on how students performed on Texas’ STAAR exams. This year, Fort Worth ISD’s scores improved compared to last year across nearly all subjects and grade levels. The only exception was fifth-grade math, where the percentage of students meeting grade level dipped from 36% last year to 34% this year. The district’s performance in seventh-grade math remained static, with just 5% of students meeting grade level.
The Texas Education Agency is expected to release A-F scores for both 2024 and 2025 on Friday. The scores for 2024 were delayed after several school districts sued the agency to block their release. Last month, Texas’ 15th Court of Appeals overturned a lower court ruling, allowing the scores to be released.
Although the official release of last year’s scores was delayed, several districts, including Fort Worth ISD, released self-calculated A-F scores that they confirmed with TEA. According to Fort Worth ISD’s unofficial 2024 ratings, the district improved from a score of 64 in 2023 to a 70 last year, an improvement from a D to a C rating. The district also saw a 36% decline in D- or F-rated campuses last year compared to 2023.
This year, Fort Worth ISD has maintained an overall C average grade, with its accountability score increasing from 70 to 73, district officials said.
Fort Worth ISD’s state A-F scores have recently put the district at risk for a state takeover. In TEA’s accountability scores for 2023, which were released last spring after being tied up in a separate lawsuit from the one involving the 2024 scores, the Leadership Academy at Forest Oak Sixth Grade received its fifth consecutive failure rating, a threshold that triggers state intervention. Under state law, Texas Education Commissioner Mike Morath is required either to close the campus or take over the entire district.
Fort Worth ISD closed the school in 2023, a fact that Morath says has no bearing on the decision about how he’ll intervene in the district. Morath is expected to make a site visit to the district next month and announce his plans sometime this fall.
This story was originally published August 13, 2025 at 6:31 PM.
