Irion El, Mertzon TX - Test Scores & Data

Original Research by School Decision on Irion El

Irion El serves pre-K through sixth grade in Mertzon, a small rural county seat in West Texas. The school draws from a community of under a thousand people anchored by ranching, oil and gas work, and county government. The enrollment is small, clustering around the mid-hundreds, with the student body roughly split between white students and Hispanic students, and a modest share of families qualifying for free or reduced-price lunch.

In English language arts, the school shows real strength. Third graders posted proficiency rates in the high range, and upper grades held steady in the two-thirds to low-seventies range. The school's overall approach to reading and writing reaches most students. Math tells a different story. Third grade math proficiency sits in the low range, fifth grade reaches into the upper fifties, and sixth grade falls back to the mid-forties. Science proficiency at fifth grade, the only tested grade in that subject, lands at around forty percent. Across all subjects, the school is reaching most students at an "approaches" level (that is, below proficient but on track) but only about a quarter reach mastery levels, which reflects uneven depth in student understanding.

Because this is an elementary school serving only grades through sixth, state testing data do not exist for high school outcomes, and there is no graduation rate to report. The school sits within the only school district in the county, so no peer comparison among districts in Irion County is available to contextualize these results further.

The district recently passed a bond that will build a new elementary facility to consolidate the current separate pre-K building with the main elementary building, modernizing aging infrastructure. That construction is underway, meaning current and incoming families will see facility changes in the coming years. The bond also funded technology upgrades and teacher housing improvements.

Mertzon itself is a stable, slowly growing town where homeownership is the norm and civic life centers on the courthouse, city offices, and schools. The town sits on Spring Creek and sits along Highway 67, a short drive southwest of San Angelo. Growth has been modest, with the population holding steady in the low hundreds to mid-hundreds over recent decades. A parent considering this school is choosing a small rural elementary where English language arts instruction is producing solid results but where math proficiency and science understanding lag and may warrant closer conversation with teachers about support and pacing. The school serves families for whom rural, close-knit small-town life and direct community ties are the fit.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 333%

School 33% · District 33%

▼ 7 pts below state median

Grade 559%

School 59% · District 59%

▲ 18 pts above state median

Grade 643%

School 43% · District 43%

▲ 9 pts above state median

English language arts

Grade 386%

School 86% · District 86%

▲ 40 pts above state median

Grade 567%

School 67% · District 67%

▲ 13 pts above state median

Grade 671%

School 71% · District 71%

▲ 19 pts above state median

Science

Grade 541%

School 41% · District 41%

▲ 18 pts above state median

This schoolIRION COUNTY 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-income71%Higher-income93%22 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income38%Higher-income78%40 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income57%Higher-income79%22 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 3Lower-income0%Higher-income50%50 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income38%Higher-income72%34 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income14%Higher-income57%43 pp gap