Fort Worth ISD student Amelia Garcia readily admits her favorite part of school is recess, but her mom knows the truth: She thrives on math.
Tiffany Garcia gives credit for her daughter’s mastery to the hands-on learning the elementary student received for the past four years at Riverside Applied Learning Center, a school of choice that admitted students by applications.
But now the commitment to the program that allowed Amelia to flourish is in question after Riverside Applied Learning Center was closed and merged into Bonnie Brae Elementary.
Parents said they were informed during a meet-the-teacher event Aug. 4 that applied learning lessons — which asks students to solve real-world problems — now will be limited to once a week. The rest of the school week follows a new regimented instructional model that FWISD leaders say will drive significant academic improvement.
“I literally left a classroom crying because it just broke my heart to have something that’s working so well taken away,” Garcia said. “Why take it away?”
FWISD spokespeople did not return responses to questions by publication time.
District documents show applied learning lessons would continue at Bonnie Brae Elementary. A December school board presentation stated all students in the merged campus will transition to an applied learning instructional model. An employee intent form obtained by the Report required teachers at the consolidated campus to attend an applied learning training session.
However, the closure decision came before Texas intervened and took control of the district. In late March, Texas Education Commissioner Mike Morath installed a new superintendent and board of managers. They are tasked with creating significant gains in student outcomes districtwide.
Parent Lupe Lynch said Riverside Applied Learning Center was a successful school. Her daughter attended the campus from pre-K until the move to Bonnie Brae. Lynch chose Riverside as her daughter’s school of choice because it works, she said.
Riverside Applied Learning Center most recently received an A in the Texas school accountability rating system, which is largely based on STAAR performance. The lowest rating it received was a C in 2019.
“Our kids excel,” said Lynch, president of the FWISD Council of PTAs.
Bonnie Brae was a C-rated school in 2025. The campus received back-to-back F’s in 2023 and 2024. The Texas Education Agency will release new ratings by Aug. 15
The approach at Riverside resembled what researchers call project-based learning. The model has produced evidence that it can raise achievement, particularly in low-income schools, according to a 2021 study by Michigan State University researchers.
The research comes with a condition: The gains depend on teachers being trained to deliver the model.
Parent Melanie Jackson first enrolled her son at Riverside Applied Learning Center because she was drawn to the hands-on learning environment. She later enrolled her daughter Nayimah in the center’s pre-K program. Nayimah, who turns 9 in August, is about to begin her fifth year in applied learning.
News of the applied learning program change felt like a broken promise, Jackson said.
“I just feel like it was a bait and switch,” she said. “You bait us in. Now you’re switching things up.”
What bothered Jackson most, she said, was that no one told families ahead of time about the instructional change.
Now, Jackson and Garcia are weighing their options.
Jackson said it may be too late to enter FWISD’s school-of-choice lottery for another applied learning campus. Her fallback option is their neighborhood school across the district.
Garcia also considered that route, but concluded the window was already closed.
She thought about what Amelia would lose if she left: Friends and teachers. Garcia is an only child raising an only child. She said she chose Riverside partly so her daughter kept the same classmates year after year.
The bigger reason behind her decision was her desire to set Amelia on a path toward success later in life, Garcia said. Using applied learning in elementary then in middle school and then on to a high school aligned with her daughter’s interests.
“Applied learning is all she’s ever known academically,” Garcia said. “Now we’re left wondering whether that path even exists for her.”
Jacob Sanchez is education editor for the Fort Worth Report. Contact him at jacob.sanchez@fortworthreport.org or @_jacob_sanchez.
Disclosure: FWISD manager Pete Geren leads the Sid W. Richardson Foundation, a financial supporter of the Fort Worth Report. FWISD manager Laurie George is a member of the Report’s reader advisory council. At 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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