Fort Worth Mayor Mattie Parker called the Fort Worth ISD’s STAAR results “unacceptable” at the school board’s Tuesday meeting.
As previously reported by The Dallas Express, Parker and other stakeholders sent a letter to the Fort Worth ISD Board of Trustees detailing how far behind the district was in terms of student achievement outcomes when compared to other public school systems, including Dallas ISD, which also has flagging metrics.
Parker said that the “troubling” trend started well before the COVID-19 lockdowns.
“We envision a district where all students are proficient in state assessments, graduates are ready for college careers or the military, and closing the achievement gap for our minority and economically disadvantaged students. Most importantly to support our amazing teachers and administrators in our schools to do the job that we know is so difficult,” Parker said during the public comment portion of Tuesday’s meeting, Fox 4 KDFW reported.
In the letter, Parker highlighted two of the state’s most troubled districts and noted how they were able to make some gains in terms of academic performance. Houston ISD had to be taken over by the state, while Dallas ISD implemented an internal turnaround plan.
Bob Ray Sanders, the director of communications for the Fort Worth Metropolitan Black Chamber of Commerce and one of the letter’s co-signers, told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram that the school board had been implementing improvement plans for years but yielding no significant results.
“There is not much of a future for you if you don’t come out of school with a real education,” Sanders said.