Westwood Elementary

Westwood Elementary in Palestine, TX, serves 404 students in grades 3 through 6 and is part of the Westwood Independent School District (Isd), a district ranked in the bottom 5% of Texas. The school faces significant challenges, with over 80% of students qualifying for free or reduced-price lunch, and its academic performance has been persistently low, placing it in the bottom 10th percentile statewide for the 2025-2026 school year. This marks a sharp decline from the 44th percentile just a few years earlier, and the school now scores 10-20 percentage points below state averages in both Reading and Mathematics.

What makes this situation particularly concerning is that nearby schools with similar or even higher poverty rates are performing much better. For example, Oakwood Elementary has an 88% poverty rate but ranks in the 35th percentile, while Cayuga Elementary and Slocum Pk - 8 both rank in the top 22% of districts. This suggests that factors beyond poverty, such as instructional strategies or school culture, are critical. Additionally, Westwood Elementary spends $11,253 per student, which is higher than several better-performing nearby schools, indicating that funding is not the primary issue.

The school's struggles are systemic, affecting all student subgroups, including a dramatic drop in Gifted and Talented performance from the 78th percentile to the 6th percentile in just three years. Science performance is especially alarming, with only 19% of 5th graders proficient in 2024-2025, compared to 33% at Oakwood Elementary. While the challenges are substantial, the success of other high-poverty schools in the region demonstrates that improvement is possible, but it will require urgent, district-level changes to reverse the downward trend.