Westlawn Elementary

Westlawn Elementary in Texarkana, TX, is a public school serving 317 students in grades 3 through 5 as part of the Texarkana Independent School District (Isd), and it faces significant academic challenges in a community where over 93% of students qualify for free or reduced lunch.

Westlawn’s academic performance is critically low across all subjects and grades, placing it in the bottom 1% of Texas elementary schools for several years. For example, in the most recent school year, only about 5% of 3rd graders were proficient in math, and just 9% of 5th graders were proficient in reading—far below district and state averages. This struggle is not shared equally by nearby schools: Nash Elementary and Waggoner Creek Elementary perform in the 50th percentile or higher, while the magnet school Martha & Josh Morriss Math & Engineering Elementary achieves near-perfect scores. Even Highland Park Elementary, which serves a similarly high-poverty population, outperforms Westlawn in key areas like 4th grade reading.

Despite spending significantly more per student ($13,496) than high-performing peers like Martha & Josh Morriss ($8,924), Westlawn has not seen academic improvement. This suggests that financial resources alone are not enough to overcome the deep challenges tied to concentrated poverty, such as food insecurity and limited access to early education. The school’s struggles affect every student group, and the presence of a magnet school in the district may draw away higher-performing students, making Westlawn’s task even harder. Without a dramatic, targeted intervention, the school will likely continue to struggle to provide a foundational education for its students.