Summary:
The Hallsburg Independent School District (Isd) is a small, single-school district in Waco, Texas, serving 131 students from Pre-K through 6th grade at Hallsburg School, a rural elementary school where 62.6% of students are economically disadvantaged and class sizes are small with an 11.1 student-teacher ratio.
Hallsburg School shows extreme year-to-year volatility in test scores, a classic sign of a very small school where a single cohort of 15-20 students can dramatically shift percentages. For example, 6th-grade Math proficiency swung from 60% in 2024-2025 to just 7.69% in 2025-2026. The school's 3rd-grade Math is a consistent strength, with 53.33% proficient in 2025-2026, outperforming the state average of 44.33%. However, Math performance collapses after 3rd grade, with 4th, 5th, and 6th-grade proficiency rates of 13.33%, 7.69%, and 7.69% respectively—all far below state averages. Reading proficiency is below state averages across all grades, with the widest gap in 5th grade (15.38% vs. 58.47% state). The district ranks 857th out of 951 in Texas (10th percentile) and holds a 1-star rating for three consecutive years.
The most critical finding is a sharp drop in Math performance after 3rd grade, suggesting potential issues with curriculum or instruction for more complex concepts like multiplication and fractions. The 5th grade is a "perfect storm" of weakness, with the lowest scores in both Reading (15.38%) and Math (7.69%) in 2025-2026, and only 5% Science proficiency the prior year. Despite a favorable student-teacher ratio and moderate spending of $11,785 per student, academic outcomes remain in the bottom 10% of the state, raising questions about resource deployment for this high-poverty population. Targeted interventions for upper elementary grades, especially 5th grade, appear urgently needed.
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