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Teachers: what resource would make the biggest difference at BOWDEN ACADEMY this year?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
439
Elementary
DISTRICT 425 · STATE 519
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·SAN ANTONIO ISD·NCES 483873004327
Bowden Academy
515 WILLOW ST, SAN ANTONIO, TX 78202 · (210) 738-9770 · Bexar County
GRADES PK–08ELEMENTARY11-CITYTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL439 STUDENTS
Student : Teacher
15.7:1
28 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 15.0:1 · STATE 15.1:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
96%
422 students
DISTRICT 88% · 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 | 66 | 15% |
| Kindergarten | 38 | 9% |
| Grade 1 | 37 | 8% |
| Grade 2 | 41 | 9% |
| Grade 3 | 52 | 12% |
| Grade 4 | 40 | 9% |
| Grade 5 | 49 | 11% |
| Grade 6 | 41 | 9% |
| Grade 7 | 43 | 10% |
| Grade 8 | 32 | 7% |
This year's kindergarten class (38) is 19% larger than its 8th grade class (32).
Student demographics
25%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 19% · 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
31.0%
TX avg 54.5% . +21.0pp since 2020
Mathematics
33.0%
TX avg 45.3% . +29.0pp since 2020
What this means: On the STAAR, Texas's statewide test, about 31 of every 100 students at this school read at grade level and about 33 of 100 do math at grade level. Across all Texas schools, those numbers are about 55 and 45. Reading scores are up about 21 points since 2020, while math scores are up about 29 points.
Performance levels, 2025-26
| Subject | Masters Grade Level | Meets Grade Level | Approaches Grade Level | Did Not Meet Grade Level |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Reading | 12.0% | 19.0% | 21.0% | 48.0% |
| Mathematics | 11.0% | 22.0% | 20.0% | 47.0% |
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 | 31.0% | 33.0% |
| 2024-25 | 25.0% | 19.0% |
| 2023-24 | 28.0% | 16.0% |
| 2022-23 | 25.0% | 13.0% |
| 2021-22 | 23.0% | 20.0% |
| 2020-21 | 10.0% | 4.0% |
% 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
UNDERPERFORMING
Bottom 10% of TX schools after controlling for student poverty
Actual proficiency
17.9%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
32.6%
based on TX schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
-14.8pp
below demographic expectation
What this means: About 18% of students here test proficient in math and reading, below the roughly 33% typical for Texas schools with a similar share of low-income students. BeatsExpectations compares each school with others at the same poverty level, not by raw scores, so a school lands here when its results trail those comparable schools, which is not the same as having low scores. A higher-scoring school can still fall in this tier if similar schools score higher still.
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 Bowden Academy
Bowden Academy's state test result (17.9% proficient) is higher than 0 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bowden Academy this school | 439 | 96.1% | 17.9% |
| Margil Elementary School SAN ANTONIO | 420 | 96.9% | 29.4% |
| San Jacinto Elementary School DALLAS | 437 | 96.1% | 41.5% |
| Caldwell Elementary School GARLAND | 422 | 94.8% | 35.8% |
| South Houston Elementary School SO HOUSTON | 422 | 94.5% | 38.0% |
| Glen Park Elementary School FORT WORTH | 451 | 96.5% | 35.0% |
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 Bowden Academy ranks
Among elementary schools| Measure | This school | In Texas | In Bexar County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 17.9% | #4,318 of 4,401 | #296 of 313 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 33.0% | #3,698 of 4,466 ▲ 632 | #212 of 317 ▲ 81 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 31.0% | #4,269 of 4,466 ▲ 77 | #287 of 317 ▲ 11 |
| 3-year test score change ranked biggest gain first | +13.0pp | #1,091 of 3,998 | #71 of 282 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 439 | #3,139 of 4,938 | #223 of 346 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 15.7:1 | #3,069 of 4,622 | #202 of 314 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 25.3% | #3,586 of 4,628 | #192 of 314 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 96.1% | #374 of 4,789 | #32 of 327 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked steepest decline first | -14.4% | #1,662 of 2,838 | #135 of 192 |
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
439
-21 (-5%) vs 2020
-25% since 1990-91, when it was 582
Student : Teacher
15.7:1
was 12.8:1
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 | 439 | 27.9 | 15.7:1 | 96% (422) |
| 2023-24 | 436 | 32.5 | 13.4:1 | 94% (408) |
| 2022-23 | 477 | 36.3 | 13.1:1 | 95% (451) |
| 2020-21 | 460 | 36 | 12.8:1 | 94% (432) |
| 2017-18 | 513 | 38.6 | 13.3:1 | 97% (499) |
| 2015-16 | 471 | 33 | 14.3:1 | 97% (459) |
| 2010-11 | 534 | 32 | 16.7:1 | 32% (172) |
| 2000-01 | 615 | 37 | 16.6:1 | 66% (403) |
| 1990-91 | 582 | 33 | 17.6:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Bowden Academy.
Since 2017-18: students down 14% (513 to 439); teachers down 28% (38.6 to 27.9).
About Bowden Academy
Bowden Academy is a small elementary school in SAN ANTONIO ISD, located in SAN ANTONIO, Texas. It is open to students in pre-K through 8 and enrolls 439 students.
Bowden Academy is one of 100 schools in SAN ANTONIO ISD, which enrolls 47,623 students in total.
Bowden Academy is 86% Hispanic by enrollment. The remaining shares are 5% Black, 5% White, and 3% multiracial. Census estimates put the Hispanic share of Bexar County's population at about 60%. On the diversity index, which measures the chance that two random students are from different groups, Bowden Academy scores 25%.
Bowden Academy lists 27.9 full-time-equivalent teachers; that is about 15.7 students per teacher. The ratio is within a point of the 15.1:1 average for elementary schools in Texas. Free or reduced-price lunch covers 96% of the student body. That is 33 points above the 63% average for public schools in Bexar County.
Bowden Academy falls short of its prediction by 14.8 points. The model expects 32.6% for a school with its free or reduced-price lunch share in Texas; the school's rate is 17.9%.
Census data for Bexar County show the median household earns about $72,341 a year, roughly 32% of adults have a four-year degree or more, and the share of residents below the poverty line is 11%. Public schools in Bexar County number 638, with about 368,487 students.
Bexar Co J J Alternative Education Program is about 0.4 miles from Bowden Academy, the shortest distance to any other public school. A five-mile radius around the school includes at least 8 other public schools.
The National Center for Education Statistics classifies the school's location as City: Large, meaning it is inside a principal city with a population of 250,000 or more.
Enrollment figures show a decline of 21 students from 2020-21 to 2024-25. The ratio was 12.8:1 in 2020-21 and 15.7:1 in 2024-25.
Use the discussion section to ask about homework, tutoring, and testing dates at Bowden Academy. You can also rate the school on this page.
Bexar County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
2,067,341
Census ACS
Median income
$72,341
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
32%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
11%
Below federal line
Schools in county
638
368,487 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in SAN ANTONIO ISD
- Jefferson High SchoolHigh · 1,706 students
- Lanier High SchoolHigh · 1,620 students
- Brackenridge High SchoolHigh · 1,593 students
- Highlands High SchoolHigh · 1,478 students
- Burbank High SchoolHigh · 1,405 students
- Edison High SchoolHigh · 1,360 students
Other schools in SAN ANTONIO
- Reagan High SchoolHigh · 3,403 students
- East Central High SchoolHigh · 3,362 students
- Johnson High SchoolHigh · 3,196 students
- Brennan High SchoolHigh · 2,965 students
- Harlan High SchoolHigh · 2,778 students
- Clark High SchoolHigh · 2,750 students
Nearby schools
- Bexar Co J J Alternative Education Program0.4 mi · 3
- Bexar Co J J Alternative Education Program0.4 mi · 1
- Bexar Co J J Alternative Education Program0.4 mi · 2
- Jja0.4 mi · 11
- Nisd Bexar County Jja0.4 mi · 26
- Bexar Co J J Alternative Education Program0.4 mi · 5
Frequently asked questions
About Bowden AcademyHow large is Bowden Academy?
Bowden Academy enrolls approximately 439 students in grades PK-08.
What grades does Bowden Academy serve?
Bowden Academy serves grades PK-08.
What is the student-teacher ratio at Bowden Academy?
The student-to-teacher ratio at Bowden Academy is approximately 15.7:1 (28 FTE teachers).
How diverse is Bowden Academy?
Bowden Academy reports a student body of 5% White, 86% Hispanic, 5% Black, 0% Asian, 3% Two or more.
Who oversees Bowden Academy?
Bowden Academy is overseen by SAN ANTONIO ISD in Bexar County.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.