1
Teachers: what resource would make the biggest difference at CASTANEDA EL this year?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
823
Elementary
DISTRICT 534 · STATE 519
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·BROWNSVILLE ISD·NCES 481168000655
Cromack - Castaneda Elementary School
3201 LIMA ST, BROWNSVILLE, TX 78521 · (956) 548-8800 · Cameron County
GRADES PK–05ELEMENTARY12-CITYTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL823 STUDENTS
B
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 63% of Texas public elementary schools
- B-Test scores Share of students meeting the state standard in reading, math, and other tested subjects, 2023-24 and 2024-25.
- ABeats expectations How far test scores land above or below what the share of low-income students predicts for a school in this state.
- C+Three-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
16.1:1
51 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 15.5:1 · STATE 15.1:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
99%
813 students
DISTRICT 91% · 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 | 126 | 15% |
| Kindergarten | 100 | 12% |
| Grade 1 | 111 | 13% |
| Grade 2 | 129 | 16% |
| Grade 3 | 129 | 16% |
| Grade 4 | 107 | 13% |
| Grade 5 | 121 | 15% |
This year's kindergarten class (100) is 17% smaller than its 5th grade class (121).
Student demographics
1%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 3% · 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
54.0%
TX avg 54.5% . +32.0pp since 2020
Mathematics
49.0%
TX avg 45.3% . +31.0pp since 2020
What this means: On the STAAR, Texas's statewide test, about 54 of every 100 students at this school read at grade level and about 49 of 100 do math at grade level. Across all Texas schools, those numbers are about 55 and 45. Reading scores are up about 32 points since 2020, while math scores are up about 31 points.
Performance levels, 2025-26
| Subject | Masters Grade Level | Meets Grade Level | Approaches Grade Level | Did Not Meet Grade Level |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Reading | 22.0% | 32.0% | 24.0% | 22.0% |
| Mathematics | 19.0% | 30.0% | 23.0% | 28.0% |
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 | 54.0% | 49.0% |
| 2024-25 | 47.0% | 48.0% |
| 2023-24 | 51.0% | 49.0% |
| 2022-23 | 46.0% | 48.0% |
| 2021-22 | 54.0% | 43.0% |
| 2020-21 | 22.0% | 18.0% |
% 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
42.1%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
31.5%
based on TX schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
+10.7pp
above demographic expectation
What this means: About 42% of students here test proficient in math and reading, compared with the roughly 32% 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 Cromack - Castaneda Elementary School
Cromack - Castaneda Elementary School's state test result (42.1% proficient) is higher than 2 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cromack - Castaneda Elementary School this school | 823 | 98.8% | 42.1% |
| Lyons Elementary School HOUSTON | 767 | 98.4% | 49.3% |
| Dr William Long Elementary School PHARR | 767 | 96.3% | 44.5% |
| Cloverleaf Elementary School HOUSTON | 821 | 96.1% | 37.9% |
| Augusto Guerra Elementary School ALAMO | 731 | 96.7% | 47.8% |
| Julian T Saldivar Elementary School DALLAS | 755 | 98.8% | 24.6% |
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 Cromack - Castaneda Elementary School ranks
Among elementary schools| Measure | This school | In Texas | In Cameron County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 42.1% | #2,310 of 4,401 | #56 of 93 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 49.0% | #1,831 of 4,466 ▼ 52 | #61 of 93 ▼ 12 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 54.0% | #2,009 of 4,466 ▲ 788 | #52 of 93 ▲ 23 |
| 3-year test score change ranked biggest gain first | +4.5pp | #2,184 of 3,998 | #63 of 93 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 823 | #372 of 4,938 | #2 of 95 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 16.1:1 | #3,386 of 4,622 | #57 of 93 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 0.7% | #4,549 of 4,628 | #87 of 93 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 98.8% | #100 of 4,789 | #7 of 94 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked fastest growth first | +30.4% | #248 of 1,307 | #6 of 22 |
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
823
+321 (+64%) vs 2020
+125% since 1990-91, when it was 365
Student : Teacher
16.1:1
was 14.3:1
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 | 823 | 51 | 16.1:1 | 99% (813) |
| 2023-24 | 472 | 31 | 15.2:1 | 97% (460) |
| 2022-23 | 474 | 32.2 | 14.7:1 | 98% (464) |
| 2020-21 | 502 | 35 | 14.3:1 | 96% (482) |
| 2017-18 | 631 | 38.1 | 16.5:1 | 97% (615) |
| 2015-16 | 621 | 37 | 16.8:1 | 95% (592) |
| 2010-11 | 607 | 38 | 16.0:1 | 0% (0) |
| 2000-01 | 574 | 34 | 16.9:1 | 2% (13) |
| 1990-91 | 365 | 40 | 9.1:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Cromack - Castaneda Elementary School.
Since 2017-18: students up 30% (631 to 823); teachers up 34% (38.1 to 51).
About Cromack - Castaneda Elementary School
Cromack - Castaneda Elementary School is a high-enrollment elementary school that serves part of BROWNSVILLE, Texas. It enrolled 823 students in pre-K through 5 for the 2024-25 school year. Statewide, elementary schools in Texas average about 519 students each.
Cromack - Castaneda Elementary School sits within BROWNSVILLE ISD, which has 52 schools and 37,097 students.
The large majority of students at Cromack - Castaneda Elementary School, 100%, are Hispanic. The school's Hispanic share is 10 points above the 89% share among Cameron County residents. The chance that two students picked at random at Cromack - Castaneda Elementary School belong to different racial or ethnic groups, known as the diversity index, is 1%.
Federal staffing data show 51 full-time-equivalent teachers at Cromack - Castaneda Elementary School and a ratio of 16.1:1. The average ratio among elementary schools in Texas is 15.1:1, lower than at this school. The count of students eligible for free or reduced-price lunch equals 99% of enrollment. The gap from the 84% average for public schools in Cameron County is 15 points.
Cromack - Castaneda Elementary School is graded B by allk12, scoring above 63% of Texas public elementary schools once test results, poverty-adjusted performance, and the recent trend are combined.
On BeatsExpectations, Cromack - Castaneda Elementary School is 10.7 points above its prediction, a result in the middle 80% of Texas schools.
Cromack - Castaneda Elementary School is located in Cameron County, where median household income is about $52,601, roughly 22% of adults have a four-year degree or more, and about 21% of residents live below the federal poverty line. Federal data list 187 public schools in Cameron County, with a combined enrollment of about 97,392.
The school nearest to Cromack - Castaneda Elementary School is Cromack Elementary School, at a distance of less than a tenth of a mile. Within five miles of Cromack - Castaneda Elementary School, there are at least 8 other public schools. On average proficiency, Cromack - Castaneda Elementary School is 3rd of 9 nearby schools with test data.
Cromack - Castaneda Elementary School falls in the City: Mid-size locale category, used for schools inside a principal city with a population between 100,000 and 250,000.
Between 2020-21 and 2024-25, reported enrollment went from 502 to 823. Such a large difference may reflect a change in the grades served. The ratio was 14.3:1 in 2020-21 and 16.1:1 in 2024-25.
Posts about sports tryouts, band and choir, and theater are welcome on this page. Reviews and ratings from people who know the school are welcome.
Cameron County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
426,120
Census ACS
Median income
$52,601
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
22%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
21%
Below federal line
Schools in county
187
97,392 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in BROWNSVILLE ISD
- Veterans Memorial Early College High SchoolHigh · 2,216 students
- Rivera Early College High SchoolHigh · 2,150 students
- Hanna Early College High SchoolHigh · 2,039 students
- Lopez Early College High SchoolHigh · 1,739 students
- Pace Early College High SchoolHigh · 1,621 students
- Porter Early College High SchoolHigh · 1,543 students
Other schools in BROWNSVILLE
- Veterans Memorial Early College High SchoolHigh · 2,216 students
- Rivera Early College High SchoolHigh · 2,150 students
- Hanna Early College High SchoolHigh · 2,039 students
- Lopez Early College High SchoolHigh · 1,739 students
- Pace Early College High SchoolHigh · 1,621 students
- Porter Early College High SchoolHigh · 1,543 students
Nearby schools
- Cromack Elementary School0.1 mi · 455
- Del Castillo Elementary School0.4 mi · 240
- Porter Early College High School0.8 mi · 1,543
- Faulk Middle School0.8 mi · 885
- Canales Elementary School1.1 mi · 630
- Del Castillo - Morningside Elementary School1.1 mi · 526
Frequently asked questions
About Cromack - Castaneda Elementary SchoolWhat is the total enrollment at Cromack - Castaneda Elementary School?
Cromack - Castaneda Elementary School enrolls approximately 823 students in grades PK-05.
What age range does Cromack - Castaneda Elementary School serve?
Cromack - Castaneda Elementary School serves students from grade PK through grade 05.
How many students per teacher at Cromack - Castaneda Elementary School?
Approximately 16.1:1 students per teacher at Cromack - Castaneda Elementary School.
How diverse is Cromack - Castaneda Elementary School?
Cromack - Castaneda Elementary School reports a student body of 0% White, 100% Hispanic, 0% Asian.
Is Cromack - Castaneda Elementary School public or private?
Cromack - Castaneda Elementary School is a public K-12 school, overseen by BROWNSVILLE ISD.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.