What are schools that are high-poverty and also high-performing doing to maintain student outcomes?
To answer that question, Texas A&M University-San Antonio focused their eighth annual education symposium, held Wednesday inside the school’s Central Academic Building, on the ways partnerships between education, community and government leaders can support high-needs schools.
“Best of Both Worlds” was a panel discussion formed by principals from three schools from different grade levels that were identified as the highest-performing from high-poverty schools in Bexar County, along with leaders from local education nonprofits and District 3 Councilwoman Phyllis Viagran.
The three schools represented were Crestview Elementary School from Judson Independent School District along with Somerset Jr. High School and Zacharias Early College Leadership Academy, both from Somerset ISD.
These schools were chosen through an analysis conducted by TAMUSA professors Lawrence Scott and W. Sean Kearny in the Department of Educator and Leadership Preparation.
Scott and Kearny separated Bexar County schools into three categories, one for elementary school, one for middle school and one for high school. Then they identified high-poverty schools, defined as schools where 50% or more of students qualify for free or reduced lunch.
After pinning down high-need schools at each grade level, researchers sorted through Texas Academic Performance Reports to identify the top performing school in each category.
Principals from all three schools agreed that having strong leadership, quality teachers and data-driven instruction were factors in their schools’ academic outcomes.
Esmeralda Garza, Crestview’s principal, said the school has a history of effective principals and administrators, which established a culture of consistency for teachers and students.
Garza also stressed the importance of hiring qualified teachers, while adding that extracurriculars and clubs are important for students’ enrichment.
“We try our best to recruit and hire high quality teachers,” Garza said. “They’re held accountable for student performance data, and teachers will do everything that they can to tailor instruction for our students to ensure that they are always doing their best.”
“When we provide these clubs, [students] have those opportunities to do things that they probably don’t get to do all the time, like chess club, garden club. We have iPlay, we have guitar music, piano classes,” Garza shared during the panel.
Crestview, a school that serves more than 600 students, received a near perfect rating of 96, an A rating, from the Texas Education Agency in 2022. About 63% of its students are economically disadvantaged, according to TEA data.
At the middle school level, principal Roni Gonzales said having a structured environment, teacher mentorship and data-focused instruction was key.
“[Students] need those clearly defined expectations — that consistency. It provides a sense of safety for them, and it teaches them their own time management which meets their own success,” Gonzales said.
At Somerset JH, master-designated teachers meet weekly to review student performance data and develop their own curriculum, Gonzales said, adding that data is at the “core of everything we do.”
In 2022, the middle school received a 92 from the TEA, an A rating. The school reported an enrollment of 577 students that year, and nearly 81% of students identified as economically disadvantaged.
“We know every student by name and need. We know at what level they’re performing — the students know at what level they’re performing,” Gonzales shared during the panel.
As for the high school level, Zacharias ECLA principal Regina Moreno, who worked in interior design before transitioning to education, said providing students and teachers wraparound support was necessary for high-performing outcomes.
“Because you are representing those that are underserved — families that are underserved — you really need to ensure that your systems are pretty robust,” Moreno said. “We’re ensuring that we’re visiting with our students that are in need of support, one to one. Now that I’m at an early college model, I meet with our students that are on campus to really coach them and monitor their progress.”
The early college high school had an enrollment of 142 students in 2022, 75% of which were considered economically disadvantaged. The school received a 93, an A rating, from the TEA that year.
Zacharias ECLA also has a partnership with TAMUSA. High school students attend college-level courses at the university to earn an associates degree by the time they graduate high school.
From the community leaders side of the panel, Councilwoman Viagran and speakers from nonprofits City Education Partners (CEP), Region 20, Communities in Schools and the Intercultural Development Research Association (IDRA), shared how they support school districts and students.
CEP pools philanthropic funding to help schools fund initiatives and programs. Region 20 offers instructional and professional support. Communities in Schools primarily offer non-academic support in Title I schools, such as food, housing and mental health services and IDRA offers leadership and STEM programs for students.
Viagran said the city’s role in education is to ensure public safety, health, sustainability and infrastructure growth. She advised education leaders in the room to call their city council members and connect with nonprofits like the ones represented on the panel when their school districts need support.
“If you have a need, it’s just about getting connected. Your elected official should have someone in the county or in the city that is keeping pulse of what the schools are going through. And if you call them, they will have connections and names for you,” Viagran said during the panel.
Facing federal budget cuts after President Donald Trump cut the Department of Education in half in March and the possibility of no significant increase in funding from the state, school districts in San Antonio are bracing for larger budget deficits and having to implement cost-saving measures, such as laying staff off, cutting programs and closing down schools.
“Public-private cooperations is what the next movement is going to be,” Viagran said.
Another panelist, the IDRA chief executive officer Celina Moreno, said education and community leaders must work as though Washington D.C. is “not going to save you.”
