The top reported proficiency rate is 21% in English language arts. The lowest is 0% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Frank D Moates El
Frank D. Moates Elementary sits on Heritage Drive in Glenn Heights, a quietly growing residential suburb that straddles the Dallas and Ellis county lines along I-35E, roughly a short highway drive south of downtown Dallas. The neighborhood around the school is representative of the town itself: newer subdivisions, owner-occupied homes, car-dependent streets, and parks rather than a commercial main street. Glenn Heights has been expanding steadily, with active homebuilders putting up new subdivisions and a recognized pace of growth among small North Texas cities. The Dallas County portion of the city, where Moates sits, is served by DeSoto ISD.
The school serves third through fifth grade, which is the full range of grades Texas tests on the STAAR. Results from the most recent year are available and paint a mixed picture that parents should look at carefully. In reading and language arts, the school shows a modest but real improvement across grade levels, with fifth graders reaching proficiency at a rate roughly in the lower-to-mid range and fourth graders considerably lower. In math, results are quite low across all three grades, with third and fourth grade proficiency near the floor. Science is tested only at fifth grade, and the group that took the Spanish-language version of that assessment did not reach proficiency. The broader STAAR summary across all subjects shows that roughly half of students approach grade level, but far fewer meet grade level, and only a small fraction reach the masters tier. Relative to districts across Dallas County, the school's overall proficiency index falls in the bottom quartile of that group. These are the reported numbers; a parent who wants to understand the school's specific support structures, intervention plans, and year-over-year trajectory would do well to ask the school directly, since trend data covers only a single year in the available record.
One important context for reading those results: a portion of students at each grade took the STAAR in Spanish rather than English, which signals a meaningful English learner or Spanish-dominant population at the school. The data does not include a reported English learner count or IEP rate, so those specific totals are not available here. What is reported is that a large share of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, which places this in the category of a high-need campus by that measure. The student body is predominantly Black and Hispanic, with the two groups together making up the substantial majority of enrollment. The school is a mid-size elementary for its grade band.
DeSoto ISD passed a bond in May 2025, publicly reported as its first in some years, directed at renovating or replacing aging campuses and upgrading safety infrastructure across the district. The average facility age across the district is described as considerable, with the oldest campus over five decades old. That investment is a meaningful development for families weighing long-term conditions at any DeSoto ISD campus. The district has also publicly announced restructured Choice Programs for the coming school year, including Early College and P-TECH pathways at the high school level through a Dallas College partnership, and a relocated Talented and Gifted Academy now housed at Woodridge Elementary. Those options are further down the pipeline for Moates students, but they represent the academic pathway that students would enter after leaving elementary school.
The housing market around Glenn Heights shows home values somewhat below the national median and modestly above the Texas state benchmark, with values slightly off their recent peak year over year. Rents have moved upward. The area remains more affordable relative to the broader Dallas metro, which is part of what drives the residential growth that continues to reshape the town.
Moates does not serve high school grades, so graduation rate data does not apply here. The school is a regular public elementary within a growing suburban district navigating older facilities, a recent major capital investment, and below-median academic outcomes that the district is presumably working to address.
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