Mcwhorter El, Mesquite TX - Test Scores & Data

Original Research by School Decision on Mcwhorter El

McWhorter Elementary serves grades PreK through 5 in Mesquite, part of Mesquite Independent School District. The school sits in a community with real economic strain. A very substantial majority of the student body qualifies for free or reduced-price lunch, and the enrollment is predominantly Hispanic, with smaller populations of Black and white students and a small Asian enrollment. The school draws from a neighborhood where median home values have softened slightly in recent years, and rental costs are moderate relative to local income.

The school's academic results show persistent challenge. In third-grade math and English language arts, about one in four students achieved proficiency on the state assessment. Fourth grade performed better in math, with about half of students reaching proficiency, though ELA proficiency remained lower. Fifth-grade results for both subjects are limited, as only a small subset of that grade cohort took the test in English, reflecting the school's bilingual program. Across all tested subjects and grades, the school's overall proficiency index sits below the midpoint among districts in Dallas County. Math shows somewhat better performance overall than ELA. Social studies proficiency was particularly low, with only about one in five students at the "meets" level of achievement.

The school does report that substantial shares of students reach the "approaches" level, the lowest of Texas's proficiency tiers, suggesting foundational skills are developing but not yet translating into solid grade-level performance. The gap between "approaches" and "meets" is wide in every subject. A parent may want to look into this further with the school to understand what interventions are in place for students not yet meeting grade-level standards.

Enrollment is stable at around mid-sized for an elementary school. The school offers classes across all elementary grades and includes a pre-K program. Beyond enrollment numbers and assessment results, detailed information about staffing, specialized programs, discipline practices, or attendance was not available. The district brief did not identify recent strategic changes affecting this school or the district at large.

For a family considering McWhorter, the core reality is a school serving a high-poverty community with test results that point to academic gaps, particularly in reading and social studies. The school is a regular public elementary with no specialized programming indicated. The fit depends on family circumstances, expectations around academic support, and whether the school's current performance trajectory aligns with a child's needs.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 326%

School 26% · District 35% · ▼ 9 pts below district

▼ 14 pts below state median · ▼ 9 pts below county median

Grade 445%

School 45% · District 41% · ▲ 4 pts above district

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

English language arts

Grade 326%

School 26% · District 42% · ▼ 16 pts below district

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

Grade 434%

School 34% · District 31% · ▲ 3 pts above district

▼ 15 pts below state median · ▼ 12 pts below county median

Grade 525%

School 25% · District 29% · ▼ 4 pts below district

▼ 29 pts below state median · ▼ 25 pts below county median

This schoolMESQUITE 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 5Lower-income61%Higher-income17%44 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income17%Higher-income22%5 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 3Lower-income29%Higher-income40%11 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income38%Higher-income63%25 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income56%Higher-income14%42 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income25%Higher-income33%8 pp gap