The top reported proficiency rate is 28% in Math. The lowest is 0% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Royal El
Royal Elementary sits on Durkin Road in Brookshire, a small Waller County city west of Houston along the I-10 corridor, and serves second through fifth grade within Royal ISD. The school draws from a community that is shifting quickly from a quiet agricultural and railroad town into one of the Houston region's faster-growing exurban housing markets. New master-planned subdivisions are opening alongside older modest neighborhoods, and large industrial and distribution employers anchor the local economy along the interstate. That growth context is directly relevant to families evaluating this school, because the district is expanding rapidly and has recently passed bonds to build a new high school and, more narrowly, a new athletics facility.
On academics, the picture the state assessment data shows is a school where the majority of students are approaching grade-level expectations but fewer are meeting or mastering them. Across all tested subjects combined, roughly three in five students reached the approaches-grade-level threshold on the STAAR, which Texas sets as its minimum passing mark. About a third reached the meets-grade-level standard, and a small fraction reached masters. By subject, reading and language arts results are somewhat stronger than math at the meets level, while social studies results are lower across all three performance tiers. Science was tested only among a small group of fifth graders assessed in Spanish, and none in that group reached proficiency, though the size of that tested group is small enough that it is difficult to draw firm conclusions about the school's broader science instruction.
Relative to other districts in Waller County, the school's overall proficiency index sits below the midpoint of the three-district comparison set. A parent weighing these results should know that multi-year trend data was not available, so it is not possible from this data to say whether performance is improving, holding steady, or declining. That is a reasonable question to take directly to the school or district.
The student body is predominantly Hispanic, with Black students making up the next largest share and white students a smaller portion. A substantial majority of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, which places this among higher-poverty elementary schools. Data on English learner enrollment and students receiving special education services was not reported in the available data. The school administers a portion of its STAAR assessments in Spanish, reflecting a student population that includes Spanish-dominant learners, and that is worth understanding when interpreting the grade-level results, since different groups of students took different versions of the test.
The broader Royal ISD context matters here. The district is growing fast enough that a new elementary campus opened in the fall of 2025, and the long-range plan calls for a new high school by the 2028-29 school year. Voters approved a major bond package in late 2025 to fund that construction, and a separate stadium bond passed narrowly in May 2026. For incoming families, the practical question is whether capacity will keep pace with growth in the near term; class sizes, campus assignments, and available supports can shift when enrollment is rising as steeply as projections suggest.
The housing market around Royal Elementary reflects that growth trajectory. Home values in the area are roughly in line with the national median and slightly above the Texas state median, though both have softened modestly year over year. Rents are somewhat more affordable relative to income than mortgage payments at current rates, which is a common pattern in outer-ring suburban markets. Families who rent may find the area more accessible in the short term.
Program details for the school were not available in the data provided, so it is not possible to say what enrichment, intervention, or specialty offerings are in place. That gap is worth asking the school about directly, particularly regarding what supports exist for students who are approaching grade level but not yet meeting it, given that the majority of students fall into that category.
See more original research from School Decision →