![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/HighlandForestElementaryMiddle_EastCentralECISD_MathExcellence_ACampusRating_TeacherStudents_Classro.webp\")
A sign designating reading or math excellence is displayed in a teachers classroom at East Central ISD\u2019s Highland Forest Elementary. Credit: Amber Esparza \/ San Antonio Report<\/p>\n\u201cDid you challenge yourself?\u201d teacher Holly Elia asks while walking the length of her fifth-grade classroom at Highland Forest Elementary School, peering over pupils\u2019 shoulders at the worksheet on their desks.<\/p>\n
That day, students learned how to multiply tenths of decimals using grid models. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s their very first day of that in life,\u201d Elia said, but they caught on quickly. \u201cI\u2019m not having to close as many gaps. Our teachers before us are doing a great job with that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Located in East Central Independent School District, 74% of fifth graders at Highland Forest met grade level expectations on the math State of Texas Assessment of Academic Readiness this year. <\/p>\n
For comparison, only 47% of fifth graders across Texas scored on grade level in math this year; 46% in the San Antonio region and 41% across the rest of East Central ISD.<\/p>\n
Highlands Forest\u2019s third and fourth grades saw similar gains in math, often described as the more difficult subject to teach and learn, and the school earned its second consecutive \u2018A\u2019 from the state\u2019s rating system, largely based on STAAR testing.<\/p>\n
A sign designating reading or math excellence is displayed in a teachers classroom at East Central ISD\u2019s Highland Forest Elementary. Credit: Amber Esparza \/ San Antonio Report<\/p>\n
But it\u2019s taken Highland Forest a couple of years to get there. In the spring of 2025, 51% of fifth graders scored on grade level in math, up from 25% in 2022.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s the payoff that Principal Brittany Ervin has been working toward since first arriving at the Southeast Side campus in 2019, after it had been failing academically for years.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen we got here, we had to make great gains, and we had to make them fast,\u201d Ervin recalled. \u201cIt was a blessing in disguise for us to come into an F-rated campus, because it helped develop the tools and systems that we needed.\u201d<\/p>\n
How Highland Forest turned things around<\/p>\n
Growing students one academic year at a time \u2014 that\u2019s the task Ervin set before her administrative team and teachers, regardless of the level a student started at. <\/p>\n
Because Highland Forest was failing, Ervin had to follow the Texas Education Agency \u201cEffective School Framework,\u201d a strict playbook on how to run and improve a school. <\/p>\n
The school implemented a new math curriculum called Eureka, an early version of the state-written Bluebonnet Learning, which helped with scores, Ervin said. But the thing that shifted scales was hiring and developing teachers who could pivot based on what regular data reported.<\/p>\n
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East Central ISD Teacher Megan Page works with her class of fifth graders on math curriculum at Highland Forest Elementary on Oct. 2, 2026. Credit: Amber Esparza \/ San Antonio Report<\/p>\n
\u201cI really think it boils down to the teachers, their mentality, their philosophy on growing kids. We say every student, every day, in every way, and they really live that \u2014 they breathe that,\u201d Ervin said.<\/p>\n
Most Highland Forest teachers who teach STAAR subjects have Teacher Incentive Allotment designations, meaning they get paid thousands more from the state each year for showing \u201ceffectiveness\u201d in the classroom. <\/p>\n
Before even entering the class, teachers are trained to \u201cinternalize\u201d lessons, to make the first teach as effective as possible. <\/p>\n
After every lesson, students complete exit tickets, showing teachers where gaps remain day-to-day. Small group instruction and \u201cturn and talks\u201d are a common sight around campus. <\/p>\n
Every week, educators meet in \u201cprofessional learning communities\u201d to analyze how students are performing on a larger scale and devise how to pivot, including administrators, educators and support staff \u2014 basically anyone who has a direct impact on student learning. <\/p>\n
\u201cResponding to data has been ingrained within our culture,\u201d said Meagan Jarzombek, an academic facilitator who oversees K-5 math and connects lessons across different grade levels to ensure continuity. Before taking on that role, she was a teacher at Highland Forest for several years. <\/p>\n
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Academic Facilitator Meagan Jarzombek works with a pair of students as the teacher works with a focused group of students on the side in a math class at East Central ISD\u2019s Highland Forest Elementary. Credit: Amber Esparza \/ San Antonio Report<\/p>\n
East Central ISD Superintendent Roland Toscano said the school has the lowest staff turnover, and Ervin ended a \u201cstring of a lack of continuity\u201d at the campus.<\/p>\n
\u201cBrittany is among our most mature, skilled principals, and her staff has the lowest turnover, despite the fact that their student body is what would predictably be a group that maybe doesn\u2019t perform as well. They disrupt that,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
Located off Southeast Military Drive, Highland Forest serves a \u201chighly-mobile\u201d population, said Ervin. Nearly 70% of students are considered economically disadvantaged by the state and nearly 90% of students are Hispanic. Enrollment also grows every year \u2014 the school currently serves around 750 students this year, an increase from 550 in 2019. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re not going to target a certain population,\u201d Ervin said. \u201cWe\u2019re going to educate all kids, and all kids deserve the same amount of effort, time, and dedication.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ervin and her team aren\u2019t loosening the reins any time soon. She said she wants to keep operating as if the school were still failing.<\/p>\n
Texas school ratings are based on two domains: how much students grow academically and actual achievement. The state takes the better of the two and that\u2019s what\u2019s usually reflected in a school\u2019s letter grade. It\u2019s not uncommon for a school to get a high rating based solely off growth, even if grade-level achievement isn\u2019t very high. <\/p>\n
On a scale of 100, Highland Forest scored an 88 on achievement and 94 on growth.<\/p>\n
In other words, most students are learning what they\u2019re supposed to and growing at similar rates. But even those two points that kept Highland Forest from scoring an A in achievement \u201ckilled us,\u201d said Assistant Principal Sarah Harred.<\/p>\n
The goal for this school year is to get an \u2018A\u2019 in achievement and growth, and go from an overall rating of 93 to 97.<\/p>\n
A pattern of improvement<\/p>\n
Highland Forest is an \u201cexemplar\u201d of the changes East Central ISD has been working toward districtwide, said Toscano. <\/p>\n
For the 2022-23 school year, the district got a D-rating from the state, considered academically unacceptable. Only one school earned a B-rating, four schools got an F and three got a D. <\/p>\n
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Students listen, work and observe as the teacher reviews material in a fifth grade math class at East Central ISD\u2019s Highland Forest Elementary. Credit: Amber Esparza \/ San Antonio Report<\/p>\n
Toscano said it was time to look in the mirror. <\/p>\n
\u201cI had to acknowledge the fact that we weren\u2019t seeing the results that I know we were capable of,\u201d he said. \u201cI struggled with some of the overemphasis on state assessment and accountability, because I didn\u2019t feel like it told the whole story of all the things that go on in a school system.\u201d<\/p>\n
Toscano and the board restructured the district\u2019s systems to be more \u201creactive\u201d to the state\u2019s accountability system, so the kinds of strategies used at Highland Forest are used districtwide.<\/p>\n
East Central ISD implemented new curriculum and tightened assessment processes to better inform teachers of student understanding in \u201creal time.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThere were no sacred cows, and the tail that wags the dog is the data, not feelings, not opinions. So there\u2019s constant gentle pressure across the system. Everybody\u2019s productively uncomfortable, and it\u2019s just the way we prefer to operate,\u201d Toscano said. <\/p>\n
In the budget, this means ECISD prioritizes line items that directly affect student outcomes: curriculum, instructional support, competitive pay structures for principals and educators. <\/p>\n
While growth at the district level has been slower than Highland Forest, it is showing progress. Within two years, the district went from having nine failing schools to three D-rated campuses, but no Fs this year and got its first A-rated campus in years at Highland Forest.<\/p>\n
East Central ISD\u2019s growth on several STAAR assessments outpace surrounding districts, despite facing a stubborn budget deficit and budget cuts made the past few fiscal years. This year, the board cut librarian positions at elementary schools, now run by paraprofessionals.<\/p>\n
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East Central ISD\u2019s Highland Forest Elementary displays school rating recognitions and faculty appreciation banners at the campus entrances on Oct. 2, 2026. Credit: Amber Esparza \/ San Antonio Report<\/p>\n
Positions were also cut at central office, in transportation and the police department. Unfilled teaching spots were eliminated, even as student enrollment across ECISD grows each year, affecting class sizes, especially at the elementary level.<\/p>\n
While more students should mean more funding from the state, public school officials and advocates say that funding hasn\u2019t kept pace with rising costs, which is why most districts are either in deficits or making cuts. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s probably not sustainable long term,\u201d Toscano said. \u201cThere\u2019ll come a point where class size does matter from a management standpoint, safety and security standpoint, and the ability to give the individualized attention to students that are embedded in our system.\u201c<\/p>\n
In the process of opening new schools, the district is expected to keep growing in student enrollment. Over the summer, officials projected a $7.5 million budget deficit<\/a> for the current school year if voters don\u2019t approve a tax rate proposal in November<\/a> that would help the district pay for student programs and salaries.<\/p>\n