Westphalia El, Westphalia TX - Test Scores & Data

Original Research by School Decision on Westphalia El

Westphalia Elementary serves kindergarten through eighth grade in an unincorporated rural village in Falls County, about an hour south of Waco. The school is a single-campus, traditional public elementary-middle combination that operates as the only instructional facility in Westphalia ISD. The enrollment is small, with fewer than two hundred students distributed across nine grades, giving the school an intimate scale where teachers know their students across multiple years.

The student body is predominantly white and draws from farm families and surrounding households in the area. A small share of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. The school reported no English learner or special education enrollment data, which is not uncommon for schools this size in rural settings where state-level reporting thresholds may apply.

On state testing, Westphalia Elementary shows a mixed profile that warrants attention to grade level. In ELA, the school performs solidly in the tested middle and upper grades. Fourth grade proficiency is strong, sixth grade holds comfortably above the midpoint, and eighth grade shows particularly good results. Third and fifth grade ELA performance is more modest but still in the majority-proficient range. In math, the picture is more uneven: third grade proficiency is substantially below half, while fourth through sixth grades settle around the half-to-low-majority range. Seventh grade math performance jumps notably higher. Eighth grade math data was suppressed due to very small tested cohort size. In science, fifth grade shows just above half the students meeting the standard, while eighth grade science is notably stronger. Eighth grade social studies performance is in the majority-proficient range.

When proficiency rates across all tested subjects and grades are combined, Westphalia Elementary falls in the top quartile among Falls County's districts, a position reflecting the overall strength of performance in upper grades and ELA relative to county peers.

The school's testing results suggest that students arrive at seventh and eighth grade with stronger command of the material or that instruction ramps up in those years. Parents may want to look into whether third and fourth grade math instruction receives particular focus, since third grade shows the lowest results on record and fourth grade lags behind ELA. The small absolute numbers of students tested in some grades (four to five eighth graders in math) mean year-to-year variation is likely.

The district is undertaking a capital project to replace the aging elementary building with a new facility, with plans to repurpose the current administration building as a band hall. For a rural single-campus district, a physical plant investment of that scope is a lasting commitment to the learning environment. The village itself is agricultural, anchored by the Catholic parish complex and the church's annual picnic, which draws returning families and descendants. The area has experienced slow population decline over decades, though the recent reconstruction of the historic Church of the Visitation after a fire suggests continued community roots and investment.

Housing in the 76656 zip code is affordable relative to state and national benchmarks. The area is classified as rural and distant by the federal locale system, with no public transit or municipal library service. The school is the central local institution alongside the parish, and a student there is embedded in a close-knit, stable, agricultural community where many families have deep ties.

See more original research from School Decision →

Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 332%

School 32% · District 32%

▼ 8 pts below state median

Grade 458%

School 58% · District 58%

▲ 17 pts above state median

Grade 559%

School 59% · District 59%

▲ 18 pts above state median

Grade 660%

School 60% · District 60%

▲ 26 pts above state median

Grade 792%

School 92% · District 92%

▲ 65 pts above state median

English language arts

Grade 363%

School 63% · District 63%

▲ 17 pts above state median

Grade 479%

School 79% · District 79%

▲ 30 pts above state median

Grade 565%

School 65% · District 65%

▲ 11 pts above state median

Grade 670%

School 70% · District 70%

▲ 18 pts above state median

Grade 767%

School 67% · District 67%

▲ 18 pts above state median

Grade 887%

School 87% · District 87%

▲ 32 pts above state median

Science

Grade 553%

School 53% · District 53%

▲ 30 pts above state median

Grade 880%

School 80% · District 80%

▲ 38 pts above state median

Social studies

Grade 867%

School 67% · District 67%

▲ 43 pts above state median

This schoolWESTPHALIA 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 6Lower-income50%Higher-income79%29 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 6Lower-income33%Higher-income71%38 pp gap