THORNTON EL

THORNTON EL is one of the sprawling K-5 schools in ARLINGTON, Texas, operated by ARLINGTON ISD, with 849 students on its rolls from grades pre-K through 6. Enrollment runs roughly 64% above the state mean of about 519.

ARLINGTON ISD runs 75 schools in total, collectively educating 53,394 students. THORNTON EL is one of those campuses.

On the student-mix side, THORNTON EL reports that nearly all students (89%) are Hispanic. The remainder comes out to 6% Black, 3% White. By comparison, Tarrant County as a whole is about 30% Hispanic, so the school skews noticeably more Hispanic than its surroundings.

In terms of school funding signals, On paper, THORNTON EL has 55 full-time-equivalent teachers, translating to a class-load average of around 15.4:1. The state averages about 15.1:1, putting this campus right in line with peers. Around 94% of the student body qualifies for free or reduced-price meals, which schools and policymakers use as a rough income-mix signal. That share is north of Tarrant County's rate of about 63%.

After controlling for student poverty, THORNTON EL falls in the UNDERPERFORMING tier of the BeatsExpectations residual. Given its student profile, a typical campus would land near 33.0%; this one comes in at 16.5%, -16.6 points off the demographic line.

In the area at large, ACS estimates for Tarrant County put median household income runs about $84,207, roughly 35% of adults have completed at least a four-year degree, and the poverty rate sits near 8%. In all, Tarrant County runs 639 public schools (combined enrollment of about 385,835 students), of which THORNTON EL is one.

The closest other public school is JOHNS EL, roughly 0.6 miles away. 8 of the 8 nearest public schools sit inside a five-mile radius. On composite proficiency, THORNTON EL comes 9th of 9 in the immediate cluster, beneath the nearby-schools average of 26.3%.

The campus sits in an inner-city setting.

Looking at the recent track record. Over the past 7-year window, the student count climbed 10%: 770 students in 2018 compared to 849 in 2025.

Within the allk12 community for this school, recent activity here tends to focus on school events, parent volunteer needs, and clubs. The community welcomes input from current and former families.