Summary
Northern Hills Elementary in San Antonio, TX, is a mid-sized PK-5 school in the North East Independent School District (Isd) serving 501 students, with a high percentage of students (74.45%) from low-income households. The school has shown a promising upward trend, climbing from the 11th percentile statewide in 2022-2023 to the 32nd percentile in 2025-2026, indicating recent improvements are taking hold.
A key strength is the school's support for its Special Education students, who ranked in the 55th percentile statewide in 2025-2026—the school's highest-performing subgroup. However, a major concern is the dramatic decline in performance for English Language Learners (ELL), who dropped from the 61st percentile in 2023-2024 to the 5th percentile in 2025-2026. Academically, the school struggles most in Mathematics, with proficiency rates in 3rd through 5th grades ranging from 33.75% to 37.93%, which are 7-18 points below the district average. In contrast, 5th-grade Reading has shown strong improvement, rising from 30% to 52.5% proficiency. A warning sign is the Science proficiency rate for 5th graders, which was only 12.5% in 2024-2025, far below nearby schools like Longs Creek Elementary (47.32% FRL) and Steubing Ranch Elementary (42.64% FRL), which have lower poverty rates and higher overall rankings.
Interestingly, Northern Hills spends more per student ($11,040) than higher-performing peers like Steubing Ranch ($8,697) and Longs Creek ($8,939), and has a favorable student-teacher ratio of 11.7:1. This suggests that the challenge is not a lack of resources, but how they are used. The school's progress is real but fragile, with gains concentrated in Reading while Math and Science remain stubborn weaknesses. For parents, this school offers a dedicated staff and improving outcomes, but they should be aware of the need for targeted support in math and science, and the volatility in serving English Language Learners.
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