The top reported proficiency rate is 0% in Math.
Original Research by School Decision on Ranch Academy
Ranch Academy is a small public charter district serving grades 6 through 12 across Van Zandt County. The school operates an open-enrollment model with a self-paced, individualized instruction approach aimed at students who need credit recovery or a transition pathway back to standard schooling. The enrollment is small, with roughly even distribution across grades 9-11 and fewer students in the middle grades.
The student body is predominantly white, with a Hispanic minority and very small representation of other groups. The district does not report free-or-reduced-price-lunch counts or English learner enrollment in publicly available data. Staffing figures, attendance metrics, and special education enrollment counts were not available.
State testing data from 2024-25 shows material academic strain. Eighth-grade proficiency on state assessments was zero across math, English language arts, science, and social studies. Sixth and seventh grade testing was sparse or incomplete in the data. Looking at proficiency by performance level across the whole district, no students achieved master level in math or social studies, and the share meeting grade-level standards in math was zero. In English language arts, a small share approached or met standards but none mastered them. Science showed somewhat better performance; a meaningful share of students approached proficiency, and a smaller group mastered the standard. In social studies, a majority approached proficiency but none met or mastered it.
The district sits at the bottom quartile among Van Zandt County's districts on an overall proficiency index. Chronic absenteeism is notably high compared to county peers. Per-pupil spending is below the county median, in the lower-middle range.
The school has not received an official Texas accountability rating for 2024-25; it is listed as "Not rated" following a span of state lawsuit-induced delays in releasing A-F ratings. This absence of a formal rating means parents and residents lack an official quality snapshot from the state, a gap that may matter when evaluating whether this school fits a family's needs.
Ranch Academy's model is explicit: a self-contained credit recovery and individualized pacing environment for students in transition or at risk of traditional school pathways. It is designed for a specific population. The test results and comparative metrics suggest that the student population served faces genuine academic headwinds, and the school's current performance data does not show it reversing those trends. A parent considering this school may want to discuss directly with the school what specific supports, interventions, or evidence-based strategies are in place to improve proficiency, especially in math, and what outcome trajectories or enrollment patterns over time they can show.
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