Summary:
The Ferris Independent School District (Isd) in Ferris, Texas, serves approximately 3,010 students across five schools—Ferris High School, Ferris J H, Lucy Mae McDonald Elementary, Lee Longino Elementary, and Hazel Ingram Elementary—with a high level of economic disadvantage affecting nearly 80% of students district-wide.
The district's standout schools reveal a mixed picture. Ferris High School is a bright spot with a 97% graduation rate and strong Biology proficiency (74.34%), but its Algebra I scores, while dramatically improving from 13.21% to 38.98% in one year, still lag behind the state average. Ferris J H is a paradox: its accelerated 8th graders achieve 80% proficiency in Algebra I, yet the majority of its students struggle deeply, with 6th, 7th, and 8th grade math proficiency rates of just 19.82%, 23.35%, and 28.30%, respectively. Lee Longino Elementary stands out for its 4th grade math (54.24% proficient, above the state average), but its 5th grade science is very weak at 17.65%. Lucy Mae McDonald Elementary shows low 3rd grade math proficiency (31.63%), while Hazel Ingram Elementary serves Pre-K through Kindergarten and has no test scores, but has the highest poverty rate at 86.87%.
The key takeaway is a "math divide" that runs through the district: a small group of accelerated students at Ferris J H excels, but most students in grades 3-8 fail to meet grade-level math standards, creating a pipeline problem that feeds into Ferris High School's historically low Algebra I scores. The district ranks in the 43rd percentile in Texas, and per-student spending varies from $10,655 at the middle school to $14,244 at Lee Longino Elementary. While the high school's improvement and graduation rate are encouraging, the inconsistent performance across schools and subjects suggests that student success often depends on specific teachers or grade-level teams rather than a cohesive district-wide strategy.
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