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What's something CATHERINE BELL EL does better than most schools?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
560
Elementary
DISTRICT 576 · STATE 519
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·DENTON ISD·NCES 481674013270
Catherine Bell Elementary School
601 VILLA PALOMA BLVD, LITTLE ELM, TX 75068 · (972) 347-7200 · Denton County
GRADES PK–05ELEMENTARY21-SUBURBTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL560 STUDENTS
D
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 11% of Texas public elementary schools
- DTest scores Share of students meeting the state standard in reading, math, and other tested subjects, 2023-24 and 2024-25.
- FBeats expectations How far test scores land above or below what the share of low-income students predicts for a school in this state.
- AThree-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
13.4:1
42 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 13.8:1 · STATE 15.1:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
57%
322 students
DISTRICT 50% · 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 | 54 | 10% |
| Kindergarten | 83 | 15% |
| Grade 1 | 78 | 14% |
| Grade 2 | 79 | 14% |
| Grade 3 | 88 | 16% |
| Grade 4 | 89 | 16% |
| Grade 5 | 89 | 16% |
This year's kindergarten class (83) is 7% smaller than its 5th grade class (89).
Student demographics
65%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 72% · 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
49.0%
TX avg 54.5% . +19.0pp since 2020
Mathematics
38.0%
TX avg 45.3% . +16.0pp since 2020
What this means: On the STAAR, Texas's statewide test, about 49 of every 100 students at this school read at grade level and about 38 of 100 do math at grade level. Across all Texas schools, those numbers are about 55 and 45. Reading scores are up about 19 points since 2020, while math scores are up about 16 points.
Performance levels, 2025-26
| Subject | Masters Grade Level | Meets Grade Level | Approaches Grade Level | Did Not Meet Grade Level |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Reading | 19.0% | 30.0% | 24.0% | 27.0% |
| Mathematics | 16.0% | 22.0% | 22.0% | 40.0% |
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 | 49.0% | 38.0% |
| 2024-25 | 44.0% | 26.0% |
| 2023-24 | 33.0% | 25.0% |
| 2022-23 | 33.0% | 16.0% |
| 2021-22 | 50.0% | 20.0% |
| 2020-21 | 30.0% | 22.0% |
% 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
27.3%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
49.1%
based on TX schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
-21.9pp
below demographic expectation
What this means: About 27% of students here test proficient in math and reading, below the roughly 49% 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 Catherine Bell Elementary School
Catherine Bell Elementary School's state test result (27.3% proficient) is higher than 1 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Catherine Bell Elementary School this school | 560 | 57.5% | 27.3% |
| June W Davis Elementary School FORT WORTH | 618 | 60.7% | 43.4% |
| Henderson Elementary School FORNEY | 580 | 55.2% | 57.8% |
| Dorothy Martinez Elementary School LITTLE ELM | 541 | 61.6% | 25.3% |
| Lewis Elementary School FORNEY | 738 | 60.4% | 38.7% |
| Crosby Elementary School FORNEY | 452 | 53.8% | 43.4% |
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 Catherine Bell Elementary School ranks
Among elementary schools| Measure | This school | In Texas | In Denton County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 27.3% | #3,896 of 4,401 | #126 of 136 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 38.0% | #3,090 of 4,466 ▲ 934 | #103 of 138 ▲ 26 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 49.0% | #2,619 of 4,466 ▲ 479 | #107 of 138 ▲ 9 |
| 3-year test score change ranked biggest gain first | +19.0pp | #562 of 3,998 | #15 of 129 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 560 | #1,953 of 4,938 | #73 of 145 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 13.4:1 | #1,060 of 4,622 | #47 of 141 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 65.5% | #930 of 4,628 | #79 of 141 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 57.5% | #3,247 of 4,789 | #35 of 143 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked steepest decline first | -30.1% | #498 of 2,838 | #10 of 69 |
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
560
-95 (-15%) vs 2020
Student : Teacher
13.4:1
was 13.4:1
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 | 560 | 41.8 | 13.4:1 | 57% (322) |
| 2023-24 | 616 | 47.2 | 13.1:1 | 58% (360) |
| 2022-23 | 650 | 50.4 | 12.9:1 | 52% (337) |
| 2020-21 | 655 | 49 | 13.4:1 | 50% (328) |
| 2017-18 | 801 | 46.4 | 17.3:1 | 34% (274) |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Catherine Bell Elementary School.
Since 2017-18: students down 30% (801 to 560); teachers down 10% (46.4 to 41.8).
About Catherine Bell Elementary School
Catherine Bell Elementary School sits in LITTLE ELM, Texas, and is classified as an elementary school. The school counts 560 students across pre-K through 5.
DENTON ISD is responsible for 46 schools, Catherine Bell Elementary School included, with 33,329 students in all.
By race and ethnicity, Catherine Bell Elementary School is 53% Black. After that, the student body is 16% White, 15% Hispanic, 7% multiracial, and 7% Asian. Census figures show Denton County is about 11% Black. The chance that two students picked at random at Catherine Bell Elementary School belong to different racial or ethnic groups, known as the diversity index, is 65%.
The teaching staff at Catherine Bell Elementary School is 41.8 full-time-equivalent teachers, and the ratio is 13.4:1. That ratio is under the 15.1:1 average for elementary schools in Texas. The percentage of students eligible for free or reduced-price lunch is 57%. The rate at public schools in Denton County averages 35%, lower than here.
allk12 grades Catherine Bell Elementary School a D. The grade compares the school only with Texas public elementary schools, because each state gives its own test.
The school's average proficiency rate on state tests, 27.3%, is 21.9 points below the 49.1% the model predicts from its free or reduced-price lunch share. That result is in the bottom 10% of Texas schools.
County data help place the school in context: in Denton County, median household income is about $111,498, about 49% of adults have at least a bachelor's degree, and the poverty rate is about 4%. Catherine Bell Elementary School is among the 267 public schools in Denton County.
Ray Braswell High School is the nearest neighboring public school, about 0.4 miles away. Counting only straight-line distance, at least 8 other public schools are within five miles. Its average proficiency rate of 27.3% is below the 38.8% average for nearby schools.
By NCES locale, the school is Suburb: Large, or in a suburban area outside a principal city, within an urbanized area with a population of 250,000 or more.
Between 2020-21 and 2024-25, the student count dropped from 655 to 560.
Questions about sports schedules, lunch menus, and spirit week can be posted here. Questions from prospective families are welcome too.
Denton County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
979,561
Census ACS
Median income
$111,498
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
49%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
4%
Below federal line
Schools in county
267
175,222 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in DENTON ISD
- Ray Braswell High SchoolHigh · 2,812 students
- Guyer High SchoolHigh · 2,577 students
- Denton High SchoolHigh · 2,083 students
- Ryan High SchoolHigh · 2,051 students
- Strickland Middle SchoolMiddle · 956 students
- Crownover Middle SchoolMiddle · 891 students
Other schools in LITTLE ELM
- Little Elm High SchoolHigh · 2,519 students
- Jerry R Walker Middle SchoolMiddle · 885 students
- Lowell H Strike Middle SchoolMiddle · 881 students
- Robertson Elementary SchoolElementary · 624 students
- Miller Elementary SchoolElementary · 573 students
- D H Brent Elementary SchoolElementary · 541 students
Nearby schools
- Ray Braswell High School0.4 mi · 2,812
- Dorothy Martinez Elementary School0.7 mi · 541
- Navo Middle School1.0 mi · 699
- Paloma Creek Elementary School1.0 mi · 516
- Savannah Elementary School1.2 mi · 728
- Union Park Elementary School1.9 mi · 723
Frequently asked questions
About Catherine Bell Elementary SchoolWhat is the total enrollment at Catherine Bell Elementary School?
Catherine Bell Elementary School enrolls approximately 560 students in grades PK-05.
Is Catherine Bell Elementary School an elementary, middle, or high school?
Catherine Bell Elementary School is an elementary school covering grades PK-05.
How many students per teacher at Catherine Bell Elementary School?
Approximately 13.4:1 students per teacher at Catherine Bell Elementary School.
How diverse is Catherine Bell Elementary School?
Catherine Bell Elementary School reports a student body of 16% White, 15% Hispanic, 53% Black, 7% Asian, 7% Two or more.
What district is Catherine Bell Elementary School in?
Catherine Bell Elementary School is part of DENTON ISD.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.