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Alumni: what's one memory from BELL'S HILL EL that still sticks with you?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
786
Elementary
DISTRICT 474 · STATE 519
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·WACO ISD·NCES 484428005030
Bell's Hill Elementary School
2100 ROSS, WACO, TX 76706 · (254) 754-4171 · McLennan County
GRADES PK–05ELEMENTARY12-CITYTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL786 STUDENTS
C-
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 19% of Texas public elementary schools
- C-Test scores Share of students meeting the state standard in reading, math, and other tested subjects, 2023-24 and 2024-25.
- B-Beats expectations How far test scores land above or below what the share of low-income students predicts for a school in this state.
- DThree-year trend Change in reading and math proficiency over the last three test years.
Grades compare a school only with schools in the same state, because every state gives its own test. How grades work · Top-graded Texas public elementary schools
Student : Teacher
15.7:1
50 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 15.4:1 · STATE 15.1:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
96%
751 students
DISTRICT 89% · STATE 65%
Community
1
0 members
Enrollment and student:teacher ratio compared against other elementary schools. Free/Reduced Lunch and demographics compared against all schools.
Enrollment by grade, 2024-25
| Grade | Students | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Pre-K | 102 | 13% |
| Kindergarten | 94 | 12% |
| Grade 1 | 99 | 13% |
| Grade 2 | 125 | 16% |
| Grade 3 | 128 | 16% |
| Grade 4 | 119 | 15% |
| Grade 5 | 119 | 15% |
This year's kindergarten class (94) is 21% smaller than its 5th grade class (119).
Student demographics
14%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 53% · STATE 63% · US 70%
Student head counts by race/ethnicity from federal NCES enrollment data. District, state, and US figures are each group's share of all public school students in that area (US excludes territories). Very small groups may be suppressed in the source, so categories do not always sum exactly to total enrollment.
Gender split
Test scores
STAAR 2025-26 . % Meets Grade Level or AboveReading
39.0%
TX avg 54.5% . +9.0pp since 2020
Mathematics
26.0%
TX avg 45.3% . -8.0pp since 2020
What this means: On the STAAR, Texas's statewide test, about 39 of every 100 students at this school read at grade level and about 26 of 100 do math at grade level. Across all Texas schools, those numbers are about 55 and 45. Reading scores are up about 9 points since 2020, while math scores are down about 8 points.
Performance levels, 2025-26
| Subject | Masters Grade Level | Meets Grade Level | Approaches Grade Level | Did Not Meet Grade Level |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Reading | 17.0% | 22.0% | 20.0% | 41.0% |
| Mathematics | 8.0% | 18.0% | 24.0% | 50.0% |
Share of tested students at each STAAR level. Each student counts in one level, so a row adds to about 100%.
STAAR results by year
| School year | Reading | Mathematics |
|---|---|---|
| 2025-26 | 39.0% | 26.0% |
| 2024-25 | 43.0% | 28.0% |
| 2023-24 | 37.0% | 28.0% |
| 2022-23 | 45.0% | 37.0% |
| 2021-22 | 51.0% | 42.0% |
| 2020-21 | 30.0% | 34.0% |
% Meets Grade Level or Above, all students and all tested grades.
Source: STAAR. All students, all grades. See all years and grades →
BeatsExpectations
Demographically-adjusted score · methodologyTier
AS EXPECTED
Performing as predicted given the school's student profile
Actual proficiency
30.8%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
32.9%
based on TX schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
-2.1pp
below demographic expectation
What this means: About 31% of students here test proficient in math and reading, compared with the roughly 33% typical for Texas schools with a similar share of low-income students. BeatsExpectations measures results against demographically similar schools rather than by raw scores, and this school falls within the typical range, neither among Texas's top nor bottom 10%.
BeatsExpectations runs a per-state regression of proficiency on free/reduced-lunch share, then scores each school by residual. How this is calculated →
Schools most like Bell's Hill Elementary School
Bell's Hill Elementary School's state test result (30.8% proficient) is higher than 3 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bell's Hill Elementary School this school | 786 | 95.5% | 30.8% |
| Patterson Elementary School HOUSTON | 811 | 94.0% | 45.9% |
| Risd Academy DALLAS | 731 | 96.2% | 11.4% |
| Schenck Elementary School SAN ANTONIO | 828 | 93.1% | 32.8% |
| Jose 'joe' May Elementary School DALLAS | 746 | 98.3% | 21.5% |
| Schulze Elementary School IRVING | 811 | 94.3% | 23.9% |
Matched among Texas elementary schools on enrollment, the share of students from low-income families (eligible for free or reduced-price lunch), and racial and ethnic makeup. Proficient is the average share of students meeting the state standard across all of the school's state tests in 2023-24 and 2024-25, the same combined score our test-score rankings use. Online schools and schools serving specialized populations are not matched.
Where Bell's Hill Elementary School ranks
Among elementary schools| Measure | This school | In Texas | In McLennan County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 30.8% | #3,586 of 4,401 | #22 of 41 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 26.0% | #4,184 of 4,466 ▼ 251 | #28 of 41 ▼ 4 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 39.0% | #3,797 of 4,466 ▼ 546 | #23 of 41 ▼ 2 |
| 3-year test score change ranked biggest drop first | -8.5pp | #442 of 3,998 | #8 of 40 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 786 | #502 of 4,938 | #1 of 49 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 15.7:1 | #3,072 of 4,622 | #34 of 45 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 13.9% | #3,967 of 4,628 | #45 of 45 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 95.5% | #432 of 4,789 | #6 of 48 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked fastest growth first | +4.2% | #1,038 of 1,307 | #7 of 13 |
Ranked against other public elementary schools. Online schools are left out of every list, and test-score lists leave out schools that serve specialized populations. Each rank links to the full list. Arrows under a test-score rank show places moved since the prior test year, among schools tested both years.
4-year change
SY 2020-21 vs SY 2024-25Enrollment
786
+57 (+8%) vs 2020
+15% since 1990-91, when it was 684
Student : Teacher
15.7:1
was 15.5:1
Source: NCES Common Core of Data
Enrollment and staffing by year
| School year | Students | Teachers (FTE) | Students per teacher | Free and reduced lunch |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 786 | 50 | 15.7:1 | 96% (751) |
| 2023-24 | 781 | 50.3 | 15.5:1 | 96% (753) |
| 2022-23 | 760 | 50.6 | 15.0:1 | 96% (731) |
| 2020-21 | 729 | 47 | 15.5:1 | 96% (703) |
| 2017-18 | 754 | 50 | 15.1:1 | 96% (724) |
| 2015-16 | 787 | 47 | 16.7:1 | 98% (771) |
| 2010-11 | 495 | 32 | 15.5:1 | 96% (477) |
| 2000-01 | 584 | 39 | 15.0:1 | 96% (563) |
| 1990-91 | 684 | 41 | 16.7:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Bell's Hill Elementary School.
Since 2017-18: students up 4% (754 to 786); teachers unchanged (50 to 50).
About Bell's Hill Elementary School
Bell's Hill Elementary School, located in WACO, Texas, is a large elementary school. Grades offered run from pre-K through 5, with 786 students enrolled. An average school in this group (elementary schools in Texas) has about 519 students.
The WACO ISD system has 24 schools and 13,476 students.
Bell's Hill Elementary School enrolls a student body that is 93% Hispanic. Beyond that, enrollment is 5% Black. In McLennan County overall, about 27% of residents are Hispanic. By the diversity index, Bell's Hill Elementary School comes in at 14%.
The school has about 15.7 students per teacher and 50 full-time-equivalent teachers. Elementary schools in Texas average about 15.1:1, a similar figure. About 96% of enrolled students meet the income rules for free or reduced-price lunch. The gap from the 62% average for public schools in McLennan County is 34 points.
Measured against Texas public elementary schools, Bell's Hill Elementary School receives a C-. The grade weighs proficiency most heavily, then how results compare with what the school's low-income share predicts, then the three-year change.
Bell's Hill Elementary School's actual average proficiency rate on state tests (30.8%) and its predicted rate (32.9%) put it outside the top and bottom 10% of Texas schools.
Among McLennan County residents, median household income is about $66,643, about 29% of adults have at least a bachelor's degree, and roughly 11% of residents are in poverty. Bell's Hill Elementary School is one of 124 public schools in McLennan County, which together enroll about 45,703 students.
Cesar Chavez Middle School is the closest public school, about 0.5 miles away in a straight line. Bell's Hill Elementary School is one of several public schools in the area, with at least 8 others within five miles. Bell's Hill Elementary School comes in 2nd of 9 nearby schools on average proficiency.
The school is inside a principal city with a population between 100,000 and 250,000, according to its NCES locale (City: Mid-size).
The student count in 2024-25 was 786, 8% above the 729 of 2020-21.
Questions about sports schedules, lunch menus, and spirit week can be posted here. Questions from prospective families are welcome too.
McLennan County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
266,067
Census ACS
Median income
$66,643
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
29%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
11%
Below federal line
Schools in county
124
45,703 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in WACO ISD
- Waco High SchoolHigh · 1,885 students
- University High SchoolHigh · 1,752 students
- Tennyson Middle SchoolMiddle · 963 students
- Cesar Chavez Middle SchoolMiddle · 786 students
- Lake Air Montessori SchoolElementary · 734 students
- G W Carver Middle SchoolMiddle · 723 students
Other schools in WACO
- Midway High SchoolHigh · 2,687 students
- Waco High SchoolHigh · 1,885 students
- University High SchoolHigh · 1,752 students
- Tennyson Middle SchoolMiddle · 963 students
- La Vega High SchoolHigh · 881 students
- Cesar Chavez Middle SchoolMiddle · 786 students
Nearby schools
- Cesar Chavez Middle School0.5 mi · 786
- Harmony School of Innovation - Waco0.9 mi · 614
- South Waco Elementary School1.5 mi · 490
- West Avenue Elementary School1.5 mi · 249
- Provident Heights Elementary School1.5 mi · 383
- Kendrick Elementary School1.7 mi · 446
Frequently asked questions
About Bell's Hill Elementary SchoolHow large is Bell's Hill Elementary School?
Bell's Hill Elementary School enrolls approximately 786 students in grades PK-05.
Is Bell's Hill Elementary School an elementary, middle, or high school?
Bell's Hill Elementary School is an elementary school covering grades PK-05.
How many teachers does Bell's Hill Elementary School have?
Bell's Hill Elementary School employs 50 FTE teachers, for a student-to-teacher ratio of 15.7:1.
How diverse is Bell's Hill Elementary School?
Bell's Hill Elementary School reports a student body of 2% White, 93% Hispanic, 5% Black, 0% Two or more.
Who oversees Bell's Hill Elementary School?
Bell's Hill Elementary School is overseen by WACO ISD in McLennan County.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.