Raa Middle School

Raa Middle School in Tallahassee, FL, serves 928 students in grades 6-8 within the Leon district, and it is a school of stark contrasts: it excels at accelerating its highest-achieving students in advanced courses while struggling to bring the majority of its students to grade-level proficiency, a challenge reflected in its recent drop to the 28th percentile statewide.

Raa’s advanced coursework is a standout strength. In the 2025-2026 school year, students taking End-of-Course exams achieved remarkable results: 90% proficiency in Algebra 1, 100% in Geometry, and 99% in Biology 1—scores that rival top-performing schools like Deerlake Middle School and William J Montford III Middle School. However, this success masks a crisis in general education. In the same year, Raa’s proficiency rates on standard grade-level assessments were well below state averages: 27% in 8th-grade science (vs. 52% state), 41% in 8th-grade math (vs. 61% state), and 45% in 8th-grade ELA (vs. 60% state). This creates a “two-schools-in-one” dynamic, where the school effectively serves its top tier but fails to support the majority of its students.

Raa’s chronic absenteeism rate of 36.6% is alarmingly high and nearly identical to the district average, but significantly worse than high-performing neighbors like Deerlake (23.0%) and Montford (24.2%). This likely drives its academic struggles. Compared to its closest geographic neighbor, Griffin Middle School (0.73 miles away), Raa performs at a much higher level—Griffin has a 73.96% free/reduced lunch rate and ranks in the bottom 10% of the state. Yet Raa’s own state ranking has declined sharply from a peak in 2015-2016 to its current 28th percentile, signaling systemic issues that need urgent attention. The school’s per-student spending of $9,016 is moderate, suggesting that how funds are allocated, not just the amount, is critical for improvement.