The Fort Worth Independent School District (FWISD) is the largest of the 20 school districts in Tarrant County. With a dedicated administration, in less than a decade the district saw a massive 833 percent increase in high-performing schools, from only 6 in 1994 to 59 in 2002. As part of a bond program, improvements and renovations have been ongoing since 2000 to many of the district's schools.
The FWISD continues to show leadership in innovative teaching techniques, including applied learning; new standards; elementary, reading, and math initiatives; and instructional support teams to enhance teaching. The FWISD's Vital Link program, which places 12-year-old students in workplace situations to show them the link between classroom learning and workplace needs, is nationally recognized. The FWISD's Teaching Chairs program to recognize teaching excellence in a variety of disciplines, is based on the university-level teaching chair concept and is unique in the nation at the public school level. Another feature of the system is a high school for medical professionals. Middle and elementary schools offer preparatory, Montessori, and baccalaureate education. The FWISD is one of only a few schools in the nation to hold the Kennedy Center Imagination Celebration, the national children's arts festival program. In Fort Worth the Imagination Celebration continues on a year-round basis.
The following is a summary of data regarding Fort Worth's public schools as of the 2004–2005 school year.
Total enrollment: 80,223
Number of facilities elementary schools: 80
middle schools: 24
senior high schools: 13
other: 28
Student/teacher ratio: 16.7:1
Teacher salaries (2004)
minimum: $38,500
maximum: $64,176
Funding per pupil: $6,252 (2004-2005)
Around 75 private and parochial schools serve Fort Worth, including special schools for the learning disabled.
Public Schools Information: Fort Worth Independent School District, 100 North University Dr., Fort Worth, TX 76107-1360; telephone (817)871-2455; fax (817)871-2460
Fort Worth boasts seven colleges and universities. The University of Texas at Arlington (UTA) is the area's largest university, with more than 25,000 students enrolled in its schools of business, engineering, liberal arts, science, architecture, nursing, social work, and education. UTA is known for programs in high technology applied research.
Texas Christian University (TCU) educates more than 8,500 students. It specializes in a liberal arts education and offers research-oriented PhD programs in chemistry, divinity, English, history, physics, and psychology. Texas Wesleyan University has more than 2,800 students in its schools of business, education, fine arts, sciences, and humanities. The city's other colleges are Tarrant County Junior College (on several campuses), Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, and Arlington Baptist College. There are some 30 other colleges and universities within a 50-mile radius, including technical, business, and nursing schools.
The Fort Worth Public Library system operates a central library, a Southwest Regional location, an East Regional location, two satellite libraries in public housing communities, and nine branches. Its holdings number 2.3 million items, including more than 2,000 periodical subscriptions. Special collections include bookplates, early children's books, books in Spanish and Vietnamese, genealogy, earth science, popular sheet music, government documents, and oral history. Nearly 30 special libraries are located in Fort Worth, affiliated with local businesses, art museums, hospitals and colleges, and U.S. government agencies. Among them are the Lockheed Martin Fort Worth Company Research Library and the National Archives Southwest Region collection of inactive records of U.S. government agencies in the Southwest.
The University of Texas at Arlington executes advanced research in a number of areas, notably at its Automation and Robotics Research Institute, and its Nanotechnology Research & Teaching Facility. The University of North Texas Health Science Center supports several research centers dealing with such topics as substance abuse and wound healing. Texas Christian University operates an Institute of Behavioral Research and the Center for Texas Studies.
Public Library Information: Fort Worth Public Library, 500 W. 3rd Street, Fort Worth, TX 76102-7305; telephone (817)871-7701