W.C. Stripling Middle School Principal Amy Chritian stopped in her tracks.
She couldn’t believe what she saw as she entered the third floor band hall at the Fort Worth ISD campus.
A gargantuan check made out to her and Stripling for $10,000.
Chritian was one of two FWISD principals recently surprised by the Reeves Family Foundation and the AllianceTexas Foundation for leading middle schools that saw improvements in science and math. The other campus recognized was W.A. Meacham Middle School.
“I’m just shocked. I’m totally shocked,” Chritian said, grasping the check. “I was not anticipating coming up here and (finding) this was what was happening.”
Chritian thought she was heading upstairs to watch the Mighty Hornet Band rehearse a song they will perform at a national festival in Indianapolis in March. Instead, she opened the door and the band performed “Funkytown.”
Eric Reeves of the Reeves Family Foundation watched the Stripling band play and follow their director’s instructions. In that moment, he was struck by how similar they are to a principal and their campus.
“You have all these different things, and you have to bring them together in a cohesive way,” Reeves said. “Looking at the data from last year, it was just clear that you’re doing really wonderful stuff here on this campus.”
Stripling saw an 11 percentage point increase in science proficiency between the 2024 and 2025 STAAR among all students. Now, 46% of students are proficient in the subject.
In math, the school had a 5-point bump. Now 35% of students are proficient in math.
Stripling outperformed Fort Worth ISD in both subjects. The school is within striking distance of beating Texas averages in science.
The improvements can be attributed to teachers and a strong campus leader like Chritian, Superintendent Karen Molinar said. The money the campus received will only help with strengthening student STEM skills, she added.
Next to teachers, principals impact student achievement the most, according to research from the Wallace Foundation and the Thomas B. Fordham Institute.
Chritian said her leadership is simple and replicable: She relies on dedicated teachers who are constantly looking at their students’ data, knowing where they are and focusing on growing each child.
Science and math are crucial for the workforce, said Tom Harris, an executive vice president at Hillwood representing the company’s AllianceTexas Foundation.
“What you’re doing is critical for us to be successful in the long term and be able to fill jobs,” said Harris, the leader of the Fort Worth mayor’s education committee. “Needless to say, the more we do in the world of science and math, the better in this digital world that we live in.”
The recognition was especially sweet for Chritian, who has led Stripling for nine years. She’s a former math teacher who really loves the subject. She became a teacher to spread the good word — well, numbers — of math, she said.
She fell in love with math thanks to a middle school teacher who made it easy to understand.
As a principal, she now shares that love with her 518 students.
“I’m really proud and blessed to be the principal,” Chritian said.
Jacob Sanchez is education editor for the Fort Worth Report. Contact him at jacob.sanchez@fortworthreport.org or @_jacob_sanchez.
Disclosure: Hillwood is a financial supporter of the Fort Worth Report. News decisions are made independently of our board members and financial supporters. Read more about our editorial independence policy here.
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