Fort Worth ISD Boosts Transparency With Portal Update

The Fort Worth Independent School District has updated its parent portal to be more user-friendly and provide direct access to students’ state test scores after a local education advocacy group pushed for changes.

The portal shows grades, progress reports and allows parents to email teachers. It had previously included a brief snapshot of a student’s STAAR test results, but these results showed various score numbers without a key to provide context about what the scores meant or how they compared to other students.

The district portal now links to the state portal where parents can view what percentile their child scored in and how their child’s scores compare to the state, district and campus results, while also viewing specific test questions and their child’s answer for each.

This provides easier access, so parents don’t have to track down various access codes to view the state portal.

Parent Shield Fort Worth wants district parents to be aware of the update so they can track their child’s academic progress and areas for improvement more efficiently.

“That’s a huge, huge, huge, huge win, especially for parents being able to get transparent information, which is what we’ve been pushing Fort Worth ISD for,” said Trenace Dorsey-Hollins, the group’s executive director. Dorsey-Hollins added that it’s also more user-friendly and easier to navigate for families, calling the district’s previous version “unacceptable.”

The update launched after the group discovered there was a lack of information about STAAR when comparing Fort Worth’s portal to those of nearby districts. Since then, members have been putting pressure on the district to update it by meeting directly with school board members and calling attention to the issue during public comment at board meetings.

District officials said they work with their software vendor “to test and deploy software release every two months,” and the latest release date is April 12. The update came without financial cost to the district, officials said.

“This update enhances student engagement, personalizes learning and facilitates communication between schools, families and students,” district spokesperson Cesar Padilla said in a statement. “In addition to features like student grades, calendar, attendance, etc., the user can pass credentials straight through to Texas Education Agency’s Texas Assessment Portal.”

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