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What's the biggest difference between DOWLING EL and what you expected?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
712
Elementary
DISTRICT 565 · STATE 519
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·ECTOR COUNTY ISD·NCES 481800001575
Dowling Elementary School
1510 E 17TH, ODESSA, TX 79761 · (432) 456-1079 · Ector County
GRADES KG–05ELEMENTARY12-CITYTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL712 STUDENTS
Student : Teacher
24.3:1
29 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 20.8:1 · STATE 15.1:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
88%
626 students
DISTRICT 76% · 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Kindergarten | 124 | 17% |
| Grade 1 | 115 | 16% |
| Grade 2 | 111 | 16% |
| Grade 3 | 122 | 17% |
| Grade 4 | 126 | 18% |
| Grade 5 | 114 | 16% |
This year's kindergarten class (124) is 9% larger than its 5th grade class (114).
Student demographics
18%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 32% · 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
34.0%
TX avg 54.5% . +17.0pp since 2020
Mathematics
28.0%
TX avg 45.3% . +0.0pp since 2020
What this means: On the STAAR, Texas's statewide test, about 34 of every 100 students at this school read at grade level and about 28 of 100 do math at grade level. Across all Texas schools, those numbers are about 55 and 45. Reading scores are up about 17 points since 2020, while math scores have held steady.
Performance levels, 2025-26
| Subject | Masters Grade Level | Meets Grade Level | Approaches Grade Level | Did Not Meet Grade Level |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Reading | 11.0% | 23.0% | 33.0% | 33.0% |
| Mathematics | 10.0% | 18.0% | 30.0% | 42.0% |
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 | 34.0% | 28.0% |
| 2024-25 | 32.0% | 27.0% |
| 2023-24 | 35.0% | 38.0% |
| 2022-23 | 27.0% | 33.0% |
| 2021-22 | 22.0% | 17.0% |
| 2020-21 | 17.0% | 28.0% |
% 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
28.5%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
36.1%
based on TX schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
-7.6pp
below demographic expectation
What this means: About 29% of students here test proficient in math and reading, compared with the roughly 36% 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 Dowling Elementary School
Dowling Elementary School's state test result (28.5% proficient) is higher than 0 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dowling Elementary School this school | 712 | 87.9% | 28.5% |
| IDEA Rio Vista Academy SOCORRO | 696 | 86.6% | 33.9% |
| IDEA Robindale Academy BROWNSVILLE | 699 | 88.0% | 40.5% |
| Roy Benavidez Elementary School SAN ANTONIO | 669 | 89.1% | 33.3% |
| Mae Smythe Elementary School PASADENA | 710 | 88.9% | 35.3% |
| El Magnet at Zavala ODESSA | 726 | 89.8% | 30.5% |
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 Dowling Elementary School ranks
Among elementary schools| Measure | This school | In Texas | In Ector County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 28.5% | #3,790 of 4,401 | #21 of 30 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 28.0% | #4,050 of 4,466 ▼ 83 | #27 of 30 ▼ 5 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 34.0% | #4,102 of 4,466 ▼ 36 | #25 of 30 ▼ 1 |
| 3-year test score change ranked biggest gain first | +1.0pp | #2,681 of 3,998 | #20 of 27 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 712 | #841 of 4,938 | #9 of 33 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 24.3:1 | #4,599 of 4,622 | #31 of 33 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 18.4% | #3,813 of 4,628 | #27 of 33 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 87.9% | #1,292 of 4,789 | #8 of 33 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked fastest growth first | +38.0% | #180 of 1,307 | #2 of 19 |
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
712
+280 (+65%) vs 2020
+3% since 1990-91, when it was 691
Student : Teacher
24.3:1
was 13.5:1
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 | 712 | 29.3 | 24.3:1 | 88% (626) |
| 2023-24 | 594 | 29.4 | 20.2:1 | 87% (519) |
| 2022-23 | 440 | 28.2 | 15.6:1 | 88% (385) |
| 2020-21 | 432 | 32 | 13.5:1 | 79% (342) |
| 2017-18 | 516 | 36.7 | 14.1:1 | 73% (376) |
| 2015-16 | 587 | 36 | 16.3:1 | 72% (422) |
| 2010-11 | 700 | 42 | 16.7:1 | 79% (553) |
| 2000-01 | 538 | 35 | 15.4:1 | 66% (354) |
| 1990-91 | 691 | 35 | 19.7:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Dowling Elementary School.
Since 2017-18: students up 38% (516 to 712); teachers down 20% (36.7 to 29.3).
About Dowling Elementary School
Dowling Elementary School is a mid-sized elementary school in Texas, located in ODESSA. Its grade span covers kindergarten through 5, with 712 students on the rolls. On average, elementary schools in Texas enroll around 519, and this school is 37% larger than that mark.
ECTOR COUNTY ISD operates 45 schools. Combined enrollment is 34,336 students.
The share of students at Dowling Elementary School who are Hispanic is 90%. Other groups include 5% White and 2% Black. By comparison, Ector County residents are about 64% Hispanic. On a 0 to 100 scale, the school's diversity index is 18, compared with 70 nationally.
Staffing at Dowling Elementary School comes to 29.3 full-time-equivalent teachers, or 24.3:1. The school's 24.3:1 compares with an average of 15.1:1 for elementary schools in Texas. On the income side, 88% of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. That is higher than the 71% average for public schools in Ector County.
When test results are adjusted for free or reduced-price lunch eligibility, Dowling Elementary School is 7.6 points below its prediction. Actual: 28.5%. Predicted: 36.1%.
In the surrounding county, Ector County, the median household earns about $71,536 a year, 18% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, and about 14% of residents live below the federal poverty line. Counting Dowling Elementary School, Ector County has 56 public schools.
Bonham Middle School is about 0.5 miles away, making it the nearest public school. Dowling Elementary School is one of several public schools in the area, with at least 8 others within five miles. Ranking the closest schools with test data puts Dowling Elementary School at 7th of 8.
In the federal locale system, Dowling Elementary School is coded City: Mid-size, for schools inside a principal city with a population between 100,000 and 250,000.
Dowling Elementary School enrolled 432 in 2020-21 and 712 in 2024-25. Changes in grade configuration can produce shifts of this size. The student-to-teacher ratio went up from 13.5:1 to 24.3:1.
This page collects posts and questions about Dowling Elementary School, such as fundraisers, report cards, and school supplies. Members of the school community can share what they know.
Ector County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
164,654
Census ACS
Median income
$71,536
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
18%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
14%
Below federal line
Schools in county
56
38,123 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in ECTOR COUNTY ISD
- Permian High SchoolHigh · 4,138 students
- Odessa High SchoolHigh · 3,814 students
- Nimitz Middle SchoolMiddle · 1,310 students
- Ector College Prep Success AcademyMiddle · 1,272 students
- Wilson & Young Medal of Honor Middle SchoolMiddle · 1,227 students
- Crockett Middle SchoolMiddle · 1,181 students
Other schools in ODESSA
- Permian High SchoolHigh · 4,138 students
- Odessa High SchoolHigh · 3,814 students
- Compass Academy Charter SchoolCombined · 1,558 students
- Nimitz Middle SchoolMiddle · 1,310 students
- Ector College Prep Success AcademyMiddle · 1,272 students
- Wilson & Young Medal of Honor Middle SchoolMiddle · 1,227 students
Other Dowling Elementary schools
One other US public school is named Dowling Elementary. Dowling Elementary School is the largest of the 2.
- Dowling ElementaryMINNEAPOLIS, MN · 399 students
Nearby schools
- Bonham Middle School0.5 mi · 835
- Gale Pond Alamo Elementary School0.7 mi · 352
- El Magnet at Reagan Elementary School0.8 mi · 685
- Lamar Early Ee-Kg0.8 mi · 338
- Harmony Science Academy - Odessa1.0 mi · 541
- Burnet Elementary School1.1 mi · 325
Frequently asked questions
About Dowling Elementary SchoolHow many students attend Dowling Elementary School?
Dowling Elementary School enrolls approximately 712 students in grades KG-05.
What grades does Dowling Elementary School serve?
Dowling Elementary School serves grades KG-05.
What is the student-teacher ratio at Dowling Elementary School?
The student-to-teacher ratio at Dowling Elementary School is approximately 24.3:1 (29 FTE teachers).
What is the racial breakdown of students at Dowling Elementary School?
At Dowling Elementary School, the student body is approximately 5% White, 90% Hispanic, 2% Black, 0% Asian, 2% Two or more.
Is Dowling Elementary School public or private?
Dowling Elementary School is a public K-12 school, overseen by ECTOR COUNTY ISD.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.