Summary:
The Cushing Independent School District (Isd) is home to a single high school, Cushing School, which serves grades 6 through 12 with a total enrollment of 298 students. This rural Texas district serves a predominantly low-income community, with over two-thirds of students eligible for free or reduced lunch, and offers a favorable student-teacher ratio of 11.3 to 1.
Cushing School stands out for its exceptional student retention, boasting a 97.1% graduation rate and a 0.0% dropout rate for the 2023-2024 school year. The school also demonstrates a clear strength in science, consistently outperforming the state average in Biology on STAAR EOC exams. However, this success is sharply contrasted by a significant and systemic challenge in mathematics, where proficiency rates across all grade levels fall dramatically below state averages—for instance, 0% of 6th graders were proficient in math compared to the state's 38.57% in 2025-2026. The district itself is ranked 545th out of 951 in Texas, placing it in the 43rd percentile with a 2-star rating, though the school has maintained a 3-star rating for the past three years.
The most interesting takeaway is the "graduation paradox": the school excels at keeping students in school and on track to graduate, yet its academic performance, particularly in math, is very low. This suggests a strong focus on social support and credit recovery over high-stakes test performance. The stark contrast between strong science scores and weak math scores points to a potential disparity in curriculum or instruction. With a favorable student-teacher ratio, the school has a solid foundation for targeted intervention, but the key challenge will be to analyze and improve math instruction to match the success seen in science and graduation rates.
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