A+ Academy

The A+ Academy district in Dallas, TX, consists of two schools: A+ Academy Elementary (serving PK-6) and A+ Secondary School (serving 7-12), both serving a student population with very high levels of economic disadvantage.

There is a stark contrast between the two schools. A+ Secondary School is the standout performer, showing strong resilience and success. It boasts an exceptional 98.8% graduation rate and a remarkably low 0.1% dropout rate. In high school, it significantly outperforms the state in Algebra I (63.01% vs. 54.03%) and U.S. History (78.03% vs. 70.17%), and matches the state average in Biology. Its state ranking has improved to the 50th percentile, earning a 2-star rating. In contrast, A+ Academy Elementary is in academic crisis, consistently ranking in the 1-star range (16th-19th percentile). A particularly alarming data point is 5th Grade Science, where only 3.7% of students were proficient compared to the state average of 29.57%. Reading scores across elementary grades are also consistently low, hovering in the 20-30% range.

An interesting pattern emerges at the secondary level: while high school EOC scores are strong, middle school (7th and 8th grade) STAAR performance is much weaker. For example, only 14.88% of 8th graders were proficient in Math (vs. 47.24% state). This suggests a "middle school dip" where students struggle before recovering in high school. Notably, A+ Secondary School achieves better results with slightly lower per-student spending ($10,481 vs. $10,957) and a better student-teacher ratio (17.4:1 vs. 20:1) than the elementary school, raising questions about resource allocation and instructional strategies across the district.