The top reported proficiency rate is 57% in English language arts. The lowest is 30% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Timber Creek El
Timber Creek Elementary is a school of about that size for the early grades, serving grades one through five in Livingston, a county seat in the Piney Woods of East Texas. The school sits in a town with a restored historic downtown and surrounding residential neighborhoods, where recent development has favored health care and senior-oriented housing, and where the broader community is car-dependent and anchored to a courthouse square civic life rather than a university or major corporate center.
The student body is majority white, with a substantial share who are Hispanic and a smaller Black enrollment. A substantial majority of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. The school draws from a community where median household income is below the national average and where housing is appreciating modestly.
On state assessments, Timber Creek shows mixed performance across grade levels and subjects. In reading, fourth graders score notably stronger than third or fifth graders, with about two-thirds of fourth graders meeting or exceeding proficiency. Third-grade reading proficiency is below that mark, and fifth-grade proficiency sits at about that same level as the third grade. In math, the fourth-grade cohort again leads, with the majority meeting proficiency; third-grade math is lower, and fifth-grade math data came from a small tested group. Science performance in fifth grade is substantially weaker, with only about three in ten students meeting or exceeding proficiency. A parent may want to look into this further with the school, particularly to understand what factors drive the fourth-grade strength in both reading and math and what supports are in place for the lower-performing grades and subjects.
When proficiency is measured more broadly across all subjects and grades tested, Timber Creek sits in the top quartile among the six districts in Polk County, meaning performance here ranks above the midpoint in the county. That position reflects solid achievement in reading and adequate showing in math, offset by the weaker science result.
The district itself offers a notable feature for families: Livingston ISD operates a P-TECH dual-credit academy at the high school where students can earn college credit, industry certificates, and potentially an associate's degree while still in high school, tuition-free. The district has also maintained a declining school property tax rate over successive years and funded a major stadium and athletic complex renovation without a bond or tax increase, relying instead on savings accumulated over time. For a school serving early grades, these district-level investments and pathways do not directly apply at Timber Creek, but they indicate a district managing its finances in ways that have held down tax burden while maintaining facilities.
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