Summary:
The Castleberry Independent School District (Isd) is home to a single middle school, Irma Marsh Middle, which serves grades 6 through 8 and enrolls 840 students in an area where 94.4% of students are economically disadvantaged. This school presents a striking contrast in performance: while its advanced students achieve near-perfect scores on high-school-level End-of-Course exams like Algebra I (85.23% proficient) and Biology (100% proficient), the general student body struggles significantly in grade-level subjects, particularly in 8th Grade Social Studies (18.99% proficient vs. 31.69% state average) and 6th Grade Math (26.15% proficient vs. 38.57% state average).
Key metrics reveal a school with a promising upward trend but persistent core challenges. Irma Marsh Middle improved its state ranking from the 28th percentile (1 Star) in 2024-2025 to the 43rd percentile (2 Stars) in 2025-2026, a significant single-year jump. However, grade-level proficiency remains below state averages in most areas, with a critical red flag in 7th Grade Math, where only 9.77% of students were proficient in 2024-2025. The school’s dropout rate is very low at 0.2%, lower than the district average of 0.3%, indicating strong student retention despite academic struggles.
The most interesting takeaway is the "two schools" phenomenon at Irma Marsh Middle. The school’s advanced program rivals the best in the state, yet its core academic program for the majority of students is significantly below state averages. This suggests a resource allocation that heavily prioritizes top performers. The school’s recent ranking improvement is a positive sign, but the persistent weakness in grade-level Math and Social Studies, especially the alarming 7th-grade math scores, represent the most critical areas for strategic focus. With a student-teacher ratio of 17.1:1 and spending of $8,557 per student, the challenge is to translate the success seen in advanced courses to the broader student population.
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