As 2022-2023 school year accountability scores remain under wraps due to litigation, The Dallas Express is spotlighting some of the campuses where students have historically been unable to receive a quality education.
Back in October, Dallas ISD Trustee Maxie Johnson was designated The Dallas Express’ Bad Apple of the Quarter for the flagging student achievement scores clocked in his education district during the 2021-2022 school year. Some 8,160 students were enrolled at underperforming campuses in Johnson’s district that school year. Such schools received Ds and Fs from the Texas Education Agency (TEA) for student achievement outcomes.
One of the poorer performing schools in his district that school year was Franklin D. Roosevelt High School of Innovation. The campus was responsible for the education of 741 students, the overwhelming majority of whom were students of color. Some 55.1% of them were designated as Hispanic, and 41.7% were African American, according to the TEA. More than 95% qualified as being economically disadvantaged.
Student achievement outcomes at the campus were especially alarming, falling well below the district’s already lackluster metrics. Districtwide, only 41% of students scored at grade level on their STAAR exams during the 2021-2022 school year, and almost 20% of students in the district’s graduating Class of 2022 failed to earn a diploma in four years despite the hard work of the school district’s dedicated educators.
At Franklin D. Roosevelt High School, only 18% of students, on average, scored at grade level on their STAAR exams: 19% in reading, 6% in math, 22% in science, and 33% in social studies. The campus also only clocked a 67.2% on-time graduation rate. Additionally, only 40% of qualifying students met the state’s “College, Career, and Military Readiness” criteria.
As previously reported by The Dallas Express, there has been growing support for school choice legislation in Texas, with more and more families already pulling their children out of traditional public schools, seeking alternatives like charters and private schools, and even opting to pursue homeschooling.
The issue has framed some of the upcoming Texas House Republican primary races following the Texas Legislature’s failure to advance school choice legislation during the regular session and four subsequent special sessions.