Fort Bend ISD's school board unanimously approved a turnaround plan for Hightower High School on Monday after the campus landed its fourth consecutive D rating, a grade the state classifies as unacceptable. The board also signed off on improvement plans for 15 other campuses, even as the district itself held onto its overall B accountability rating.
The vote, detailed by Community Impact Newspaper, covers Hightower's turnaround plan along with local improvement plans for Crockett, Hodges Bend and Sugar Land middle schools and 11 elementary schools. Those elementary campuses include Aldridge, Armstrong, Burton, Henry, Goodman, Heritage Rose, Lantern Lane, Meadows, Mission, Ridgemont and Rosa Parks, per the same report. The board also approved a targeted improvement plan for Willowridge High School, which jumped from an F to a C rating this year.
Why Hightower Escalated to a Turnaround Plan
Hightower had operated under a targeted improvement plan during the 2025–26 school year, a more standard intervention track that Texas districts must create for any school receiving an unacceptable rating. But Fort Bend ISD Chief Academic Officer Matt Warford told Community Impact Newspaper that the campus escalated to the more intensive turnaround plan this year specifically because of its string of consecutive D ratings.
Under Texas Education Agency rules, a campus that receives an unacceptable rating for two consecutive years must develop a turnaround plan for commissioner approval, according to the Texas Education Agency. The agency has further specified that campuses with a second consecutive unacceptable rating under the preliminary 2026 accountability results must submit a board-approved turnaround plan for state approval no later than Nov. 20, 2026, according to a separate TEA notice on campuses identified for school improvement interventions. Hightower's plan must meet that same deadline, and state approval remains pending.
What the Plan Actually Changes in Classrooms
Warford said Hightower staff will focus on strengthening the quality of instruction and ramping up intervention practices for students who are falling behind. Those interventions may include after-hours tutorials, monthly Saturday school sessions and small-group instruction, per the district's description of the plan.
The plan also leans on collaborative teacher planning and coaching feedback, Warford said. A central goal is closing performance gaps for Hightower's Hispanic student group, which has been identified for federal Additional Targeted Support, according to Warford. District officials said they will review student progress data throughout the year and adjust intervention methods designed to help individual students.
Academic Targets Tied to Graduation Readiness
Beyond closing achievement gaps, Hightower's turnaround plan sets goals around strengthening core classroom instruction and improving performance across all five End-of-Course exams. The plan also aims to increase college, career and military readiness among students, with the broader intent of improving academic outcomes through enhanced lessons, targeted support and post-graduation preparation.
Warford said that if Hightower does not earn a C rating or higher in both the 2026–27 and 2027–28 school years, it will continue operating under a turnaround plan with added state monitoring. That stakes-raising timeline gives the campus two full academic cycles to prove the new approach is working before facing tighter oversight from Austin.
How Other Fort Bend Campuses Have Fared
Fort Bend ISD's broader accountability picture shows some recent progress even as Hightower struggles. Of three middle schools that received state-approved turnaround plans last year, two improved from an F to a D rating and one remained at a D, the district's report notes. Willowridge High School's jump from an F to a C this year stands as one of the more notable turnarounds in the district.
Texas accountability ratings evaluate campuses' overall academic performance using letter grades, and districts are required to build improvement plans for any school that lands in unacceptable territory. Fort Bend ISD's overall B rating this year means the district as a whole avoided that designation, even as it works to pull Hightower and more than a dozen other campuses out of it.
