Summary
Swift Elementary is a PK-6 public school in Arlington, TX, serving 517 students within the Arlington Independent School District (Isd), where over 83% of students qualify for free or reduced lunch. The school is currently ranked in the bottom 5% of all Texas elementary schools, a dramatic decline from its peak at the 61st percentile in 2017-2018. This places it far below nearby schools like Duff Elementary (81st percentile) and Hill Elementary (62nd percentile), even though they serve similar communities.
Despite its overall struggles, Swift has shown past strengths that have since faded. For example, the school once ranked in the 56th percentile for English Language Learner (ELL) students in 2023-2024, but that performance dropped to the 24th percentile in the most recent data. Similarly, "At Risk" students ranked in the 63rd percentile in 2021-2022, a bright spot that has not been sustained. A grade-by-grade look at math scores reveals a peculiar pattern: while 3rd, 4th, and 5th-grade proficiency rates are very low (9%, 25%, and 19% respectively), 6th-grade math jumps to 35%, close to the district average. This suggests a possible effective teacher or a strong cohort of students in that grade.
Interestingly, Swift's per-student spending ($10,225) and student-teacher ratio (13.5) are in line with peers, including higher-performing Duff Elementary ($9,679) and similarly struggling Wimbish World Language Academy ($13,447). This indicates that the school's challenges are not primarily about funding or class size, but likely relate to instructional quality or school culture. For parents, the key takeaway is that Swift has a history of pockets of excellence that have not been maintained, and understanding why those bright spots faded could be crucial to the school's future improvement.
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