The top reported proficiency rate is 13% in Math. The lowest is 0% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Richard J Wilson El
Richard J. Wilson Elementary serves students in pre-kindergarten through fifth grade in Fort Worth, Texas. The school enrolls a small student body within its grade span, with roughly even cohorts across most grades. The student population is overwhelmingly Hispanic, and a very substantial share of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, reflecting the economic circumstances of the neighborhood served.
The school is situated in a city undergoing rapid demographic and economic change. Fort Worth has grown substantially and now ranks among the nation's largest cities, with housing costs rising sharply. The neighborhood immediately around the school, in the 76110 zip code, shows median home values below the state average, though rents are climbing. The area's major employers span aerospace, defense, education, healthcare, and aviation, anchored by American Airlines and Lockheed Martin, though these opportunities are not uniformly accessible to all residents.
Academic performance at Richard J. Wilson is well below the proficiency levels seen in other Tarrant County districts. In state testing, the school's overall proficiency index places it in the bottom quartile among county schools. Math proficiency is particularly low in the tested grades. In grade three, very few students reached proficiency in math; grade four showed modest improvement but still with only a small share meeting the standard; and grade five had no students reaching proficiency on the Spanish-language assessment. English language arts shows similar patterns, with proficiency rates low across tested grades. Grade three Spanish-language ELA proficiency was especially weak. The school also administered science testing in grade five, where again no students achieved proficiency. Across all subjects and levels, the shares of students scoring at the "approaches standard" level are substantially larger than those reaching proficiency, suggesting many students are in the early stages of meeting grade-level expectations rather than demonstrating mastery.
The testing data hints at a bilingual or dual-language program, with both English and Spanish versions of STAAR administered. In grade five, small numbers of students took Spanish-language assessments, which may reflect the composition of that cohort or program structure. A parent may want to look into the school's language instruction model and how it supports both native Spanish speakers and English learners in the lower elementary grades.
The school's placement in Tarrant County, among 31 districts, shows it operates in a context where higher-performing schools exist elsewhere in the county. That gap is significant and worth understanding in terms of what resources, staffing, curriculum approaches, or peer effects might explain it. The district brief for Fort Worth ISD contained no recent strategic initiatives or parent-relevant changes in the available data, so it was not possible to identify whether the district is making targeted efforts to raise proficiency in schools serving low-income neighborhoods like this one.
For families considering Richard J. Wilson, the reality is a school serving a predominantly Hispanic, economically disadvantaged student body with proficiency levels substantially lower than county peers. The school offers an early childhood and elementary pathway in a stable neighborhood setting. A parent evaluating this school would benefit from asking directly about intervention programs, reading and math support, teacher qualifications and stability, the language program's design and outcomes, and what specific steps the school is taking to close the gap in student proficiency.
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