Middle Schools in Southside School District (Independence)

The Southside School District (Independence) in Arkansas is home to two middle schools: Southside Middle School and Southside Junior High School. These schools serve students in grades 5-8 and 7-9, respectively, in the Southside community.

Southside Middle School stands out for its strong performance in Mathematics, with proficiency rates significantly higher than the district and state averages across all grades. The school also performs slightly better than the district and state in English Language Arts, Reading, and Science. However, it has a relatively high free and reduced lunch rate of 53.35%, indicating a larger population of economically disadvantaged students. In contrast, Southside Junior High School lags behind the district and state in English Language Arts, Reading, and Mathematics, but excels in Algebra and Geometry, with 8th and 9th-grade students outperforming the district and state in these subjects.

Both schools have higher free and reduced lunch rates compared to the state average, suggesting a need for targeted interventions and support programs to address the unique challenges faced by economically disadvantaged students. Additionally, the difference in student-teacher ratios between the two schools, with Southside Middle School having a higher ratio of 18.6 and Southside Junior High School having a lower ratio of 11, may be a factor in their varying academic performance and warrants further investigation.