Celia Hays El, Rockwall TX - Test Scores & Data

Original Research by School Decision on Celia Hays El

Celia Hays Elementary is a public school serving prekindergarten through sixth grade in Rockwall, a rapidly growing suburb in the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex. The school enrolls a student body that is predominantly white, with meaningful representation across Asian, Hispanic, and Black populations. About one in eleven students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, reflecting an overall affluent community demographic.

The school's academic profile shows solid strength in English language arts, where students across grades three through six post proficiency rates ranging from good to strong, with the highest performance in grade four. Math proficiency is more uneven: third grade posts a respectable rate, sixth grade performs well, but fourth and fifth grades dip noticeably lower. Science, tested in grade five only, is a soft spot, with less than half the students reaching proficiency. Overall proficiency across all tested subjects and grades places the school at the top of its county peer group.

The school sits within Rockwall ISD at a moment of real strain. In November 2024, voters rejected the district's bond and tax proposal, leaving the district operating at its lowest tax rate with no new facility funding and facing multi-year budget deficits. The district has identified overcrowding at several elementary schools as an ongoing problem it will need to address creatively given the fiscal constraints. Rockwall itself is experiencing rapid residential growth, particularly new subdivisions, which has driven substantial enrollment pressure across the district. Class sizes and programming flexibility may be affected by these dynamics.

Rockwall as a place combines a walkable historic downtown with extensive newer single-family residential development, centered around a prosperous, affluent community anchored by advanced manufacturing, healthcare, and professional services. Housing values are well above state and national benchmarks, and median household income is solidly middle-to-upper-middle class. The city has good parks and recreation, including lakefront amenities on Lake Ray Hubbard, though public transit is limited and most families rely on cars.

For a family considering Celia Hays, the school offers a strong early literacy foundation and capable instruction across most of the elementary grades. The English language arts results, especially in grade four, suggest the school is effective with reading and writing fundamentals. Parents may want to look into the school's approach to mathematics more closely, given the variability across grades three through five. The science results warrant a conversation with the school about supports in that subject. At the district level, a parent should understand that budget constraints are real and ongoing, which may limit extracurricular programming, instructional materials, or class size reductions in the near term. Growth in the community means the school and district will continue to manage enrollment pressure.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 368%

School 68% · District 54% · ▲ 14 pts above district

▲ 28 pts above state median · ▲ 17 pts above county median

Grade 462%

School 62% · District 13% · ▲ 49 pts above district

▲ 21 pts above state median · ▲ 5 pts above county median

Grade 565%

School 65% · District 54% · ▲ 11 pts above district

▲ 24 pts above state median · ▲ 13 pts above county median

Grade 672%

School 72% · District 59% · ▲ 13 pts above district

▲ 38 pts above state median · ▲ 15 pts above county median

Grade 8100%

School 100% · District 64% · ▲ 36 pts above district

▲ 58 pts above state median · even with county median

English language arts

Grade 380%

School 80% · District 67% · ▲ 13 pts above district

▲ 34 pts above state median · ▲ 20 pts above county median

Grade 488%

School 88% · District 68% · ▲ 20 pts above district

▲ 39 pts above state median · ▲ 31 pts above county median

Grade 575%

School 75% · District 70% · ▲ 5 pts above district

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

Grade 687%

School 87% · District 73% · ▲ 14 pts above district

▲ 35 pts above state median · ▲ 16 pts above county median

Science

Grade 544%

School 44% · District 0% · ▲ 44 pts above district

▲ 21 pts above state median · ▲ 13 pts above county median

This schoolROCKWALL 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-income67%Higher-income82%15 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income67%Higher-income91%24 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income33%Higher-income78%45 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income67%Higher-income89%22 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 3Lower-income33%Higher-income73%40 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income56%Higher-income63%7 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income50%Higher-income66%16 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income50%Higher-income73%23 pp gap