Sharp El, Brownsville TX - Test Scores & Data

Original Research by School Decision on Sharp El

Sharp Elementary is a small pre-K through fifth-grade school in Brownsville, located in a city experiencing rapid growth driven by aerospace, port logistics, and major development investment. The school serves a community where most students are bilingual and face significant economic hardship; roughly nine in ten students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, and nearly all students are Hispanic. The student body is drawn from a city that is actively expanding, with new residential construction and economic dynamism, but it operates within a district facing structural budget constraints.

The school's most recent state test results show uneven performance across grades and subjects. In third grade English language arts, roughly two-thirds of students tested at or above proficiency; in fourth grade that dropped to roughly half. Fifth grade reading improved to roughly two-thirds. Math results in third grade on the Spanish-language assessment showed no students reaching proficiency, though the sample was very small. Fourth-grade math performance was closer to half proficient, and fifth-grade math on the English assessment reached roughly two-thirds. Fifth-grade science data were too limited to report. Across all tested grades and subjects, the school's overall proficiency index places it in the top quartile among Cameron County district schools, a meaningful distinction in how the school compares to neighbors.

Looking at the school-wide breakdown across all subjects and performance levels, roughly four in five students reached the "approaches" level or higher (the foundational performance tier), while roughly one-quarter reached the "master" level, suggesting most students are making progress but fewer are working at the highest end. In reading specifically, roughly three in ten students reached mastery; in math, roughly one in four did. In social studies, the share reaching mastery was notably lower, around one in ten.

The school is part of Brownsville ISD, which is navigating substantial headwinds. The district faced a failed bond referendum in 2025 that would have addressed long-deferred maintenance at roughly three-quarters of its schools; without those funds, repairs to roofs, heating and air-conditioning systems, and old windows will now be addressed only on an emergency basis. The district has also consolidated schools to manage enrollment decline and budget pressure, reduced after-school academy programming due to federal funding cuts, and exists in a state funding environment where the per-student allotment has been flat for years. For the coming year, the district improved the teacher-student ratio for middle school and fifth grade from 26-to-1 to 22-to-1, a change that should reduce class sizes in this school's upper grades. Despite these constraints, the district remains the largest employer in the Rio Grande Valley.

Housing in the 78520 zip code where Sharp sits is affordable relative to state and national benchmarks, with home values well below both the Texas and national medians. Rent is also moderate, though it has risen notably year-over-year. For families looking at the school, the key questions are whether the current testing results and the upward trajectory suggested by comparisons to neighboring districts match their expectations, and whether the district's capacity constraints and ongoing facility challenges are factors they want to investigate with the school directly.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 30%

School 0% · District 21% · ▼ 21 pts below district

▼ 40 pts below state median · ▼ 36 pts below county median

Grade 450%

School 50% · District 24% · ▲ 26 pts above district

▲ 9 pts above state median · ▼ 1 pts below county median

Grade 569%

School 69% · District 61% · ▲ 8 pts above district

▲ 28 pts above state median · ▲ 22 pts above county median

English language arts

Grade 367%

School 67% · District 50% · ▲ 17 pts above district

▲ 21 pts above state median · ▲ 21 pts above county median

Grade 447%

School 47% · District 56% · ▼ 9 pts below district

▼ 2 pts below state median · ▼ 7 pts below county median

Grade 564%

School 64% · District 62% · ▲ 2 pts above district

▲ 10 pts above state median · ▲ 7 pts above county median

This schoolBROWNSVILLE ISD, 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-income0%Higher-income100%100 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income60%Higher-income78%18 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income60%Higher-income89%29 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 3Lower-income0%Higher-income67%67 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income65%Higher-income89%24 pp gap