Southwest Public Schools

The Southwest Public Schools district in Texas operates 5 schools, including 2 elementary schools, 1 middle school, 1 high school, and 1 alternative school, serving a predominantly Hispanic student population. While the schools generally underperform state averages on standardized tests, Empowerment High School stands out as a bright spot, with the highest 4-year graduation rate and lowest dropout rate among the district's schools. In contrast, the Phoenix School at Southwest Schools, an alternative school, has a unique student demographic and significantly lower student-teacher ratio, but lags behind in most subject areas.

Across the district, the schools serve a high-poverty student population, with free/reduced lunch rates ranging from 74.56% to 96.83%. This likely contributes to the consistent underperformance on standardized tests compared to state averages. However, the Empowerment High School stands out, outperforming the district and state in Algebra I, English I/II, and U.S. History STAAR EOC exams.

The data suggests that the Southwest Public Schools district could benefit from targeted interventions and support, particularly in the areas of reading and mathematics, to help improve overall academic performance and close the gap with state averages. The unique characteristics of the Phoenix School and the strong performance of Empowerment High School provide opportunities for further investigation and potential best practices that could be applied across the district.