As part of its Bad Apple Series, The Dallas Express is putting a spotlight on one of Dallas ISD’s struggling high schools.
W.W. Samuell High School, located at 8928 Palisade Dr., clocked some unsettling student achievement outcomes during the 2021-2022 school year.
As previously reported by The Dallas Express, Dallas ISD Trustee Camile D. White was named Bad Apple of Q3 for the 10,043 abandoned students stuck in underperforming schools in the education district she represents. Some 1,875 of those students were enrolled at W.W. Samuell High School.
The campus’ Texas Education Agency (TEA) accountability report notes that only 31% of W.W. Samuell High School students scored at grade level on their STAAR exams that school year, well below the districtwide average of 41%. The statewide average was 48%.
W.W. Samuell High School’s STAAR average was largely driven by its low reading and math scores, with 25% and 14% of students scoring at grade level, respectively, despite the hard work of the campus’ hardworking teachers and staff.
As previously reported by The Dallas Express, the campus found itself at the center of a grade and attendance manipulation scandal.
“In 2021, Ms. [Andrea] Whelan uncovered evidence of grade and attendance manipulation within the district, including at Samuell High School. … This included situations where the principal of Samuell High School was directing the changing of grades — including giving passing grades to students who performed no work,” said Austin Campbell, the attorney of the Dallas ISD whistleblower who uncovered the alleged misconduct, at a hearing last year, per WFAA.
The school’s graduation on-time rate also came in below the districtwide average. Roughly one-third of its graduating Class of 2022 did not earn a diploma in four years. Dallas ISD’s on-time graduation rate that school year was 81.1%, below the statewide average of 90%.
According to W.W. Samuell High School’s TEA profile, 84.1% of the students were Hispanic or Latino, 13.4% were black, and 1.8% were white during the 2021-2022 school year.