Rocketship Explore El, Fort Worth TX

Original Research by School Decision on Rocketship Explore El

Rocketship Explore Elementary is a charter school in Fort Worth's Eastside serving prekindergarten through fourth grade. The school opened in 2023 as the second campus of Rocketship Public Schools Texas, a tuition-free public charter network. It sits in a fast-growing region where housing and rental costs have climbed sharply as Fort Worth has become one of the nation's fastest-expanding cities.

The student body is small, with enrollment spread across six grade levels. Most students come from low-income households; a substantial majority qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. The enrollment is predominantly Black, with a meaningful share of Hispanic students and small numbers of white and Asian students. Data on English learner and special-education populations were not available.

Academic performance in the most recent state assessment cycle was markedly low. In third and fourth grade mathematics and English language arts, proficiency rates were in the single digits across all tested grades and subjects. For context, the school's overall proficiency index places it in the bottom quartile relative to other districts in Tarrant County. The school's scale scores suggest students are performing well below the proficiency threshold that Texas sets. A parent may want to look into this further with the school directly, understanding both what instructional approach and supports are in place and what the school's own data and trajectory suggest about academic gains over time.

The school is part of Rocketship's national model, which emphasizes personalized learning, blended instruction pairing in-person teaching with online learning platforms, and parent partnership. The charter network opened its first Fort Worth location in 2022 in the historically under-served Stop Six neighborhood, then expanded with Explore. This represents a new school option in areas where traditional public school choice may have been limited.

The Eastside location places the school in a working-class neighborhood where most families rent rather than own. Housing values in the broader area are moderate relative to statewide benchmarks, though rents have risen as the city booms. American Airlines, Lockheed Martin, and healthcare systems anchor the regional economy, and public transit connects the area to downtown and the airport via Trinity Metro bus and rail service, though personal transportation remains primary for most families.

State testing data for earlier school years and demographic details on special populations were not available, so a clearer picture of the school's instructional progress or specific support services would require a direct conversation with school leadership.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 312%

School 12% · District 11% · ▲ 1 pts above district

▼ 28 pts below state median · ▼ 27 pts below county median

Grade 48%

School 8% · District 7% · ▲ 1 pts above district

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

English language arts

Grade 38%

School 8% · District 27% · ▼ 19 pts below district

▼ 38 pts below state median · ▼ 37 pts below county median

Grade 412%

School 12% · District 15% · ▼ 3 pts below district

▼ 37 pts below state median · ▼ 33 pts below county median

This schoolROCKETSHIP PUBLIC SCHOOLS, 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 3Lower-income7%Higher-income9%2 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income20%Higher-income0%20 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 3Lower-income0%Higher-income27%27 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income13%Higher-income0%13 pp gap