Summary:
The Arlington Independent School District (Isd) oversees 10 middle schools serving grades 7-8 (with Gunn J H serving grades 6-8), totaling 7,209 students across a diverse suburban area in Texas, where individual school enrollments range from 510 to 1,162 students.
When comparing schools, Young J H stands out as the top performer, consistently earning the highest state rankings (68th percentile in 2025-2026) and exceeding state averages in core subjects like 8th Grade Reading and 7th Grade Math, while maintaining a 0.0% dropout rate. Ousley J H and Boles J H are consistent high achievers with solid 3-star ratings, strong Algebra I scores (93.64% and 87.65% respectively), and very low dropout rates. At the other end, Carter J H and Nichols J H face significant challenges, ranking in the bottom 10-14% of Texas middle schools, with Carter J H scoring only 8.03% in 7th Grade Math and Nichols J H having the district's highest dropout rate at 5.3%. Workman J H is the largest school (1,162 students) but is among the lowest-performing, while Shackelford J H is the smallest (510 students) with mid-tier results.
Key takeaways include a striking Algebra I anomaly: all schools dramatically outperform the state average (54.03%) in Algebra I EOC exams, with Barnett J H scoring 96.67%, yet many struggle in standard 7th and 8th-grade math, suggesting advanced math pathways are highly selective. There is no clear link between spending per student (ranging from $8,823 at Workman J H to $11,578 at Gunn J H) and academic outcomes, indicating resource allocation matters more than total spending. The district shows inconsistent performance in core subjects, with many schools performing better in Reading than Mathematics, and a stark divide exists between top-tier schools like Young J H and struggling ones like Carter J H, highlighting a district with two distinct realities.
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