Summary:
In zip code 33860, there is one middle school, Mulberry Middle School, serving grades 6 through 8 with a substantial enrollment of 1,058 students in the Mulberry area, part of the Polk County school district.
Mulberry Middle School presents a mixed picture of performance. The school's strongest area is Civics, where 94% of students were proficient in 2025-2026, significantly outperforming both the district (86%) and state (77%). It also excels in advanced math courses, with 77% proficiency in Algebra 1 and 83% in Geometry, far exceeding district and state averages. However, the school struggles in core subjects: only 39% of 8th graders were proficient in standard math (FAST) compared to the state average of 61%, and English Language Arts proficiency across all grades (45-50%) trails state averages (60-62%) by 10-15 percentage points. The school has a high economic disadvantage rate, with 74.1% of students qualifying for free/reduced lunch, and a chronic absenteeism rate of 35%, which is higher than the state average of 31.4%.
Despite these challenges, Mulberry Middle School shows a slight upward trend in its state percentile rank, moving from the 24th to the 26th percentile over three years, though it remains a 1-star school. The school's student-teacher ratio is 23:1, and spending per student is $9,785. The stark contrast between its strong advanced math programs and weak standard math and ELA scores suggests the school effectively accelerates top students but struggles with the general curriculum. Its exceptional Civics performance is a clear bright spot that could serve as a model for improvement in other subjects.
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