Fort Worth ISD learning rates much lower than national average, report finds
Fort Worth ISD is below the national average in test scores, learning rates and student growth from 2022-2025, according to a new national report from Education Scorecard, a collaborative education study between Harvard University and Stanford University.
The study, released earlier this week, was a collaboration between professors in the Center for Education Policy Research at Harvard, the Educational Opportunity Project at Stanford and researchers at Dartmouth University. The study also found that Fort Worth ISD’s underwhelming test results and student growth have been stagnant for the last several years, and learning rates are declining faster than average.
According to the report, Fort Worth ISD’s average test scores are 2.04 grade levels below the United States average, while students learn 46% less in each grade than the U.S. average.
Compared to other districts across the country with similar socioeconomic statuses, Fort Worth ISD is also behind, the report found. Test scores and learning rates are lower and declining faster than those districts.
The study also found that Black and Hispanic students in the district are further behind than other demographics. Black students, on average, are 3.05 grade levels behind the national average, while Hispanic students are 2.07 grade levels behind. White students in Fort Worth ISD are just above the national average, at 0.37 grade levels above average, according to the report.
The Texas Education Agency gave Fort Worth ISD a C rating in its “Closing the Gaps” category, which grades districts on how well they are ensuring all student groups of successful students. TEA gave Fort Worth ISD a D rating for the 2022-23 school year. The district received a D in student achievement and an overall district grade of C.
Fort Worth ISD Superintendent Peter Licata, who was appointed to lead the district as part of a state takeover, said during a news conference in March that the district’s recent performance is both “depressing” and “offensive,” especially with students of color.
Pete Geren, Fort Worth ISD’s state-appointed board chair, said during the March news conference that improving student outcomes should be everyone’s number one priority.
“Student outcomes, student outcomes, student outcomes,” he repeated. “Most of our children cannot read at grade level. Not few, not some, not many — most … In our district, 63% can’t. That’s 40,000 of our children that cannot read at grade level.”
Geren referenced during the same March news conference the district’s previous plan to have half of students reading on grade level by 2030. Time is of the essence, he said, calling that goal “soft bigotry, low expectations.”
“The kids can’t wait,” Geren said. “We won’t wait. It’s go time.”
The Education Scorecard report also found that students in grades 3-8 were below the national average in both math and reading scores. Black, Hispanic and Asian students in Fort Worth ISD scored worse than white students in both subjects as well, according to data from the study.
Districts in the U.S. with similar socioeconomic statuses as Fort Worth ISD are also performing better. Fort Worth’s learning rate, which is measured in grade levels of skills gained per year and are averaged over math and reading, is 0.54. The national average is 1. Similar districts of the same socioeconomic status as Fort Worth ISD have a learning rate of 0.86. The Texas average is also 0.86.
Since Licata was appointed as the district’s new leader in March, he has made a series of sweeping changes focused on improving student achievement. He created the Elevate Network, which provides additional support to the district lowest-performing schools; implemented a reduction in force to reallocate resources; closed the district’s newcomer academy for immigrant and refugee students; and gave teachers across the district a 5% raise. He hopes all of those changes will improve student outcomes.
“We can’t change what we’ve been doing by moving pieces of the furniture around the room,” Licata previously told the Star-Telegram. “We have to do massive program changes, and that doesn’t mean less services. What we’re doing is more targeted, but we have to do massive program change.”
Editor’s note: Pete Geren is the president and chief executive officer of the Sid W. Richardson Foundation, which is a funder of the Star-Telegram’s Crossroads Lab. The Star-Telegram retains independence in all coverage decisions.
