Summary
Fiest Elementary is a mid-sized school in Houston, TX, serving 856 students in grades PK through 5 as part of the Cypress-Fairbanks Independent School District (Isd), with about 71% of students eligible for free or reduced lunch. The school has shown inconsistent academic performance over the past decade, currently ranking at the 45th percentile statewide with a 2-star rating, placing it below the district average and in a cluster of nearby schools facing similar challenges, such as Owens Elementary (36th percentile) and Horne Elementary (28th percentile).
A critical weakness at Fiest is mathematics, where proficiency rates across all tested grades (3rd, 4th, and 5th) consistently fall 15-30 percentage points below nearby schools like Birkes Elementary and Copeland Elementary. For example, in 5th-grade math, Fiest scored 35.04%, while Birkes scored 56.13% and Copeland scored 65.13%. Reading scores are closer to state averages in early grades but lag in 5th grade, suggesting difficulty maintaining progress in upper elementary. Notably, Fiest spends more per student ($10,171) than these higher-performing neighbors, indicating that funding alone isn't the issue—targeted interventions are needed.
The school also shows significant disparities in how it serves different student groups. Female students rank in the 61st percentile, while male students rank in the 31st percentile—a 30-point gap that is much larger than at surrounding schools. Additionally, support for gifted and talented students has dramatically declined, dropping from the 78th percentile in 2022-2023 to the 7th percentile in 2025-2026. While Fiest has some bright spots, such as adequate early-grade reading, the most urgent areas for improvement are math instruction, closing the gender gap, and rebuilding gifted programming to better serve its diverse student body.
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