The top reported proficiency rate is 42% in English language arts. The lowest is 14% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Santa Fe El
Santa Fe Elementary sits on East Henderson Street in Cleburne, a mid-sized Johnson County city that functions as the county seat and carries a recognizable small-town texture centered on its historic downtown square. The school serves prekindergarten through fourth grade as a regular public campus within Cleburne ISD, and its enrollment puts it in a range typical for elementary schools serving its grade band.
The student body is predominantly Hispanic, with white students making up roughly a quarter of enrollment and smaller shares of Black, multiracial, and other students. The economic picture is clear: a very large majority of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, which places this among the higher-need campuses by that measure. Data on English learner designation and special education rates were not available in what was provided.
State testing results come from the Texas STAAR exam at third and fourth grade, which are the tested grades in this band. Reading and writing proficiency in fourth grade is meaningfully higher than in third, though both fall below the midpoint you might hope to see. Math results follow a similar pattern, with fourth grade performing somewhat better than third but both remaining well below half of students reaching the "meets grade level" standard Texas uses as its proficiency bar. A broader summary of all tested subjects and grades shows that while a majority of students at least approach grade level, far fewer actually meet it, and only a small fraction reach the masters level. These are soft numbers by any honest read, and a parent would reasonably want to ask the school directly about what interventions and supports are in place, how individual students are tracked, and what the trajectory looks like from year to year. Multi-year trend data was limited to a single point, so there is no way from this data to say whether results are improving, holding, or declining. An older science result from a Spanish-language STAAR administration covered only a handful of students and is too small a group to draw conclusions from.
Placed against other districts in Johnson County, Santa Fe Elementary's proficiency index sits in the bottom quartile of that comparison set. That is a fact worth naming plainly, while also noting that the school's high economic need is a strong contextual factor.
Chronic absenteeism data was not available, and no information on discipline, course access beyond the tested grades, or staffing was provided.
The broader district context matters for a family thinking ahead. Cleburne ISD has faced a facilities challenge that has now gone through two failed bond votes in a single year, publicly reported in local and regional outlets. Both attempts would have addressed overcrowding at aging elementary campuses, including buildings projected to be well over capacity as the district expects continued enrollment growth from the roughly twenty active residential subdivisions under construction in the area. That growth reflects Cleburne's genuine expansion as part of the broader Fort Worth metro orbit, with the Chisholm Trail Parkway making the city accessible to major employment centers. None of that pressure is resolved yet, and families should factor in how the district manages capacity and facility condition while those issues remain open.
On the secondary side, the district made a curriculum change beginning in the most recent school year, replacing Pre-AP course designations with district-developed Advanced courses across grades six through twelve. The district says those courses remain rigorous and GPA-weighted, but parents of current elementary students will be entering a secondary system mid-transition on that front.
Housing near the school is moderately priced relative to state and national benchmarks, with values running below the Texas median, and the local market has seen a slight softening recently. Rental cost data was not available for this specific area. Cleburne's civic infrastructure includes a solid parks system, a public library downtown, and Amtrak service, and the everyday character of the city is consistently described publicly as unhurried and community-oriented.
For a family weighing Santa Fe Elementary specifically, the academic results ask for honest scrutiny and direct conversation with the campus. The neighborhood it serves, the economic context of its students, and the district's unresolved capacity picture are all real factors that shape what this school is right now.
See more original research from School Decision →