Established in 1989, Children at Risk is a research and advocacy nonprofit that ranks Texas public schools on an A-F scale, designating gold ribbons to schools that fare a B or higher and whose student bodies are at least 75% economically disadvantaged, Chief Impact Officer Nadia Salibi said.
According to rankings, the following four FBISD schools received gold ribbons in the 2023-24 school year:
- Holley Elementary School
- Jordan Elementary School
- Hunters Glen Elementary School
- Mission West Elementary School
While Children at Risk has seen a 50% leap in gold ribbon schools across Texas, only 17% of eligible campuses received a B or higher, Salibi said.
How it works
According to the Children at Risk methodology, the rankings are based on the following indexes:
- Student achievement: percentage of students who met grade-level expectations for state standardized tests (including State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness and end-of-course exams)
- Campus performance: test scores compared to other schools with similar socioeconomic demographics
- Growth: improvement over time of standardized test scores
The context
Twenty-three out of 73 FBISD schools that were ranked serve more than 75% low-income student populations, according to the Children at Risk data.
The following three schools received an F ranking:
- Blue Ridge-Briargate Elementary School
- Missouri City Middle School
- Willowridge High School
The schools will be placed on district-administered targeted improvement plans next school year as they have been federally ranked among the bottom 5% of Title I schools in the nation due to academic performance in the 2023-24 school year, district officials said.
Both Marshall High School and McAuliffe Middle School have improved by a third of a letter grade since the 2022-23 rankings, according to the Children at Risk rankings.
“We did see a decrease in Fort Bend [ISD] around what we call campus performance,” Salibi said. “What that's looking at is really how schools compare to similar schools of the same poverty rate. So what we hypothesized is that the low-income students aren’t doing as well in their STAAR exams as they were last year in those schools.”
Looking ahead
While state funding is necessary for campuses to implement strategies for low-income students to achieve academic success in the classroom, Salibi pointed to the need to address the poverty levels that establish difficult circumstances for students.
“Those schools where they may not have shown the highest academic gains, students are coming in also with basic needs needing to be met, and there needs to be resources and capacity invested in those areas as well,” Salibi said.
