Summary
Speer Elementary in Arlington, TX, is a PK-6 school serving 682 students in the Arlington Independent School District (Isd), located in a high-poverty area where over 95% of students qualify for free or reduced lunch. The school has consistently ranked in the bottom 10-15% of Texas elementary schools over the past decade, with academic outcomes significantly below district and state averages across all subjects and grade levels. However, there are notable exceptions: the school shows relative strength in serving its English Language Learners, who ranked in the 46th percentile statewide, and its Gifted and Talented students, who ranked in the 42nd percentile, both earning 2 stars in subgroup rankings.
One of the most striking comparisons is with Butler Elementary, located just 1.5 miles away. Butler has a 32.79% poverty rate and consistently ranks in the top 15% of the state, while Speer has a 95.31% poverty rate and ranks in the bottom 10%. This stark contrast highlights the strong correlation between socioeconomic status and academic achievement, but it is not a simple case of "good school vs. bad school." Speer spends $10,030 per student, which is higher than Butler's $8,929, suggesting that funding alone is not the primary issue. The challenge lies in the additional support systems needed to address the needs of a student body facing high levels of economic disadvantage.
Performance at Speer is inconsistent across grades and subjects. For example, in the 2023-2024 school year, 3rd-grade Reading proficiency was 53.85%, above the district average of 37.83%, but the same cohort's 4th-grade Reading score dropped to 21.31% the following year. This volatility suggests that student success may depend heavily on specific teachers or classroom environments rather than a consistent school-wide system. The most dramatic weakness is in 5th-grade Science, where only 5.81% of students were proficient in 2024-2025, compared to 21.18% in the district and 29.57% statewide. Nearby magnet schools like Wimbish World Language Academy and Jones Fine Arts / Dual Language Academy draw students from across the district and have lower poverty rates, further illustrating the concentrated challenges Speer faces as a traditional neighborhood school.
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