Lake Worth ISD Superintendent Mark Ramirez steps down as the district prepares for a state takeover. 

• Trustees expect to name an interim superintendent March 23 while Texas Education Commissioner Mike Morath prepares to appoint new leadership to the district.

• The board approved layoffs tied to the restructuring of a school that will use the Accelerating Campus Excellence, or ACE, program aimed at recruiting highly effective teachers to boost student performance.

Fort Worth ISD is offering six-figure salaries for teachers as it tries to rapidly improve learning at some of its lowest-performing campuses through the ACE turnaround model.

• The strategy focuses on recruiting highly effective educators and experienced principals to accelerate academic gains.

• Administrators say the investment is designed to quickly improve reading and math performance for students who are behind grade level.

FWISD students showed reading gains ahead of this spring’s STAAR exams, according to the district’s latest benchmark testing.

• Third grade reading performance rose from 26% meeting grade level last year to 38% in February, putting the district on track to outpacing last year’s STAAR results.

• Districtwide reading across students meeting grade level in grades three through English I increased from about 34% to 41%.

• Trustees said the results — along with improvements in science and social studies — reflect the district’s stronger classroom focus on student data as it prepares for a state takeover and new leaders.

Five years after opening, the Reby Cary Youth Library is still being discovered by Fort Worth families looking for a child-centered place to read, learn and play.

• The eastside branch — where adults can only enter with a child — offers programming from baby story time to teen activities that build literacy and social skills. Staffers say the library is a “third space” for families, separate from home and school.

• “It’s so child focused and child centered,” said Whitney Johnson, who brings her young children to weekly story time.

Looking for something to do with the kids this week? Museums, libraries and arts groups across Fort Worth are hosting free and low-cost spring break activities.

• Highlights include Pete the Cat story times at Fort Worth libraries, Cliburn Kids musical programs, Fort Worth Opera performances, hands-on art activities at the Modern, Kimbell and Amon Carter museums as well as the return of the Fort Worth Botanic Garden’s Butterflies in the Garden exhibit.