Cross Roads El, Malakoff TX - Test Scores & Data

Original Research by School Decision on Cross Roads El

Cross Roads Elementary serves the rural area around Malakoff in western Henderson County, Texas, as one small school in a small district. The school enrolls students from pre-kindergarten through fifth grade, with a student body of roughly that size distributed across the grade band. About three-fifths of the school's students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. The student population is predominantly White, with smaller shares of Hispanic and Black students.

The school's most recent test results, from spring 2025, show uneven performance across grade levels and subjects. In third grade, students demonstrate stronger foundations: in mathematics about four-fifths meet or exceed proficiency, and in English language arts about three-fifths do. By fourth grade, however, proficiency drops sharply. In mathematics, fewer than half of fourth graders meet the standard, and in language arts the share falls to about one quarter. Fifth grade shows a modest rebound in reading, where about two-thirds of students reach proficiency, but mathematics proficiency remains around two-fifths, and science proficiency is especially low, with only about one-fifth of students meeting that standard. Across all tested areas, the school's proficiency index places it above the midpoint among the eight districts in Henderson County, though absolute performance lags in several key areas.

The overall pattern suggests strength in early elementary literacy and math foundations but a notable learning cliff in grades four and five, particularly in mathematics and science. When averaged across subjects and grades, the school meets or approaches proficiency for about four-fifths of students at the "approaches" threshold, which is a broad baseline; fewer than one-quarter master grade-level content at the highest level. In language arts across grades, about one-fifth of students master the standard; in mathematics, about one-fifth do. Science mastery is under one-tenth. A parent may want to look into this further with the school to understand what supports exist for students who plateau in the upper elementary grades and whether the school has identified specific content gaps driving the fourth-grade decline.

Malakoff itself is a small, rural, blue-collar town shaped by energy-sector employment, about seventy miles southeast of Dallas. Housing is established and affordable, with a median home value in the low hundred-thousands range and a high rate of homeownership. The community centers on a handful of blocks near North Terry Street and West Royall Boulevard, with a post office, grocery, coffee shop, and library within walking distance of the downtown core, but the town is car-dependent and offers little nightlife or street-level activity. Cedar Creek Lake nearby anchors outdoor recreation. The broader economic base includes education, health care, and production work, alongside the historical presence of the Malakoff Power Station, which has long supported skilled trades. The town has advertised planning activity such as a comprehensive plan and food truck park, but no large new residential subdivision growth was evident in available searches.

Cross Roads ISD is a small district; Cross Roads Elementary is its elementary campus. No recent district-level strategic changes or policy shifts were found in available research, so the school's standing and direction may best be understood by speaking directly with school and district leadership.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 385%

School 85% · District 85%

▲ 45 pts above state median · ▲ 40 pts above county median

Grade 437%

School 37% · District 37%

▼ 4 pts below state median · even with county median

Grade 539%

School 39% · District 39%

▼ 2 pts below state median

English language arts

Grade 361%

School 61% · District 61%

▲ 15 pts above state median · ▲ 11 pts above county median

Grade 424%

School 24% · District 24%

▼ 25 pts below state median · ▼ 29 pts below county median

Grade 570%

School 70% · District 70%

▲ 16 pts above state median

Science

Grade 520%

School 20% · District 20%

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

This schoolCROSS ROADS 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-income50%Higher-income75%25 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income15%Higher-income33%18 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income61%Higher-income76%15 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 3Lower-income88%Higher-income88%0 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income30%Higher-income43%13 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income28%Higher-income44%16 pp gap