Arcadia Park El, Dallas TX - Test Scores & Data

Original Research by School Decision on Arcadia Park El

Arcadia Park Elementary is a small, early-grade school serving prekindergarten through sixth grade in southern Dallas. The student body is roughly nine in ten Hispanic, with the large majority qualifying for free or reduced-price lunch. The school draws students from a neighborhood where housing has modestly declined in value year over year, situating it in an economically stretched pocket of the city.

The school is part of Dallas ISD, which in May 2026 approved a major bond to replace aging campuses and remove portable classrooms, a shift that will reshape facilities across the district over the next several years. The district has also widened access to advanced coursework through an opt-out enrollment model and adopted a new math curriculum aimed at deeper mastery rather than test prep.

On the Texas state assessment (STAAR), Arcadia Park's results reflect academic pressure across multiple grade levels. In mathematics, third graders showed very limited proficiency, while fourth grade results were too small to report. Fifth grade math proficiency sat around half, and sixth grade closer to two in five. English language arts results were broadly similar: third grade around two in five proficient, fourth grade at roughly one in three, and grades five and six each around two in five. Science proficiency in fifth grade was lower, under one in three. Social studies proficiency, by contrast, showed stronger results, with nearly four in five students meeting the "approaches" threshold, though mastery levels across all subjects remained quite modest. The school's overall proficiency index places it above the midpoint among Dallas County districts on this measure, a modest strength in a high-poverty setting.

The testing pattern reflects the school's primary challenge: large swings in enrollment by grade level, with some grades tested on Spanish-language STAAR exams and others on English, suggesting a dynamic and possibly shifting student population. A parent may want to look into with the school whether this reflects a deliberate bilingual program, newcomer cohorts, or grade-level variation in English learner status, as this context shapes what the test results mean for an individual student's placement.

The school lacks data on chronic absenteeism, discipline incidents, or staffing. No graduation rate applies, as the school does not serve high school grades. The school's strength lies in its location within a district now investing heavily in physical plant and in an equity-centered shift toward broadened honors access. For families in this neighborhood seeking early elementary instruction rooted in a large urban district with real commitment to facility modernization and advanced coursework access, Arcadia Park offers stability and institutional support, though the state test results signal that academic attainment gaps are real and substantial.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 314%

School 14% · District 19% · ▼ 5 pts below district

▼ 26 pts below state median · ▼ 21 pts below county median

Grade 550%

School 50% · District 46% · ▲ 4 pts above district

▲ 9 pts above state median · ▲ 12 pts above county median

Grade 638%

School 38% · District 32% · ▲ 6 pts above district

▲ 4 pts above state median · ▲ 8 pts above county median

English language arts

Grade 342%

School 42% · District 50% · ▼ 8 pts below district

▼ 4 pts below state median · ▲ 5 pts above county median

Grade 432%

School 32% · District 52% · ▼ 20 pts below district

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

Grade 539%

School 39% · District 58% · ▼ 19 pts below district

▼ 15 pts below state median · ▼ 11 pts below county median

Grade 638%

School 38% · District 48% · ▼ 10 pts below district

▼ 14 pts below state median · ▼ 6 pts below county median

Science

Grade 529%

School 29% · District 13% · ▲ 16 pts above district

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

This schoolDALLAS 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 6Lower-income39%Higher-income33%6 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 5Lower-income48%Higher-income80%32 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income39%Higher-income33%6 pp gap