Chapel Hill Academy, Fort Worth TX

Original Research by School Decision on Chapel Hill Academy

The most important thing a family needs to know before reading any further: Chapel Hill Academy permanently closed in August 2024. Publicly reported sources confirm that the school, operated by the Fort Worth nonprofit Lena Pope, shut down after declining enrollment and competition from other charter schools made continued operation unsustainable. Any family who encountered this profile while searching for schools needs to look elsewhere, because this school no longer accepts students.

What follows is a record of what the school was, which may help families understand the academic landscape they are entering as they choose an alternative.

Chapel Hill Academy operated as a tuition-free PK through 8th grade public charter school on Sycamore School Road in southwest Fort Worth. It was a single-school charter, run by Lena Pope, which publicly reported plans to shift its organizational focus toward mental health services and early childhood education after the closure.

The STAAR results in the data come from the final full school year before closure. Across the tested grades in English language arts, proficiency ranged from roughly a quarter of fourth graders reaching the standard up to just under half of seventh graders, with middle grades generally outperforming the upper elementary grades on that measure. Math results were weaker, with sixth grade posting the lowest reported proficiency rate among the grades that had reportable results, and eighth grade the highest, though still well below the midpoint among districts in Tarrant County. Science and social studies results at eighth grade were very low. Overall, the school's proficiency index placed it below the midpoint relative to districts in Tarrant County. These numbers describe a school that was already under academic pressure alongside its enrollment decline, and a parent considering them in isolation should know the school context was one of contraction.

A substantial share of students qualified for free or reduced-price lunch, and the student body was predominantly Black and Hispanic. Several grade levels had very small tested cohorts, particularly in grades three and five where Spanish-language STAAR results were suppressed due to the small number of students tested, so those grade-level results are absent from the record.

A graduation rate is not applicable here because the school served only through eighth grade.

Fort Worth itself continues to grow rapidly, publicly reported as one of the fastest-growing large cities in the country, with new charter school options proliferating alongside that growth. For families now seeking a PK-8 option in the area, the same competitive charter environment that contributed to Chapel Hill Academy's closure means there are a range of alternatives to evaluate. Housing costs in the zip code where the school sat run somewhat below the Texas statewide median, with rents also modest by Fort Worth standards, so the surrounding neighborhood remains relatively accessible from an affordability standpoint.

There is no further academic or program information to characterize for an institution that is no longer open.

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Academic performance

How students perform on state tests, by grade, set against the district.

Math

Grade 423%

School 23% · district not reported

▼ 18 pts below state median · ▼ 15 pts below county median

Grade 611%

School 11% · District 11%

▼ 23 pts below state median · ▼ 26 pts below county median

Grade 727%

School 27% · District 27%

even with state median · ▲ 2 pts above county median

Grade 830%

School 30% · District 30%

▼ 12 pts below state median · ▼ 8 pts below county median

English language arts

Grade 342%

School 42% · district not reported

▼ 4 pts below state median · ▼ 3 pts below county median

Grade 426%

School 26% · District 26%

▼ 23 pts below state median · ▼ 19 pts below county median

Grade 638%

School 38% · District 38%

▼ 14 pts below state median · ▼ 15 pts below county median

Grade 747%

School 47% · District 47%

▼ 2 pts below state median · ▼ 2 pts below county median

Grade 839%

School 39% · District 39%

▼ 16 pts below state median · ▼ 14 pts below county median

Science

Grade 812%

School 12% · District 12%

▼ 30 pts below state median · ▼ 26 pts below county median

Social studies

Grade 89%

School 9% · District 9%

▼ 15 pts below state median · ▼ 16 pts below county median

This schoolCHAPEL HILL ACADEMY, same grade

Graduation rate (ACGR) reflects the federally published Adjusted Cohort Graduation Rate for the most recent year available. We refresh this data annually at the close of each academic year in June. The federal source publishes a banded rate (for example, "90-94%") instead of an exact number for cohorts small enough to risk identifying individual students. The state distribution chart, where shown, plots every school in the state with a published rate or band; schools whose rate is federally suppressed are excluded. Where the federal source publishes a band rather than an exact rate, the school is placed within its band using a stable, ID-derived offset, so its position is consistent across visits.

Proficiency by household income

English language arts

Grade 5Lower-income30%Higher-income53%23 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income37%Higher-income39%2 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income47%Higher-income47%0 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income42%Higher-income33%9 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 4Lower-income22%Higher-income25%3 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income6%Higher-income22%16 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income26%Higher-income32%6 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income25%Higher-income44%19 pp gap