Summary:
The 12 middle schools in the Garland Independent School District (Isd), serving grades 6 through 8, present a stark performance divide, with a few schools achieving exceptional results while a majority struggle to meet state averages, particularly in Mathematics.
The district’s clear academic leader is Austin Academy For Excell, a 5-star school ranked in the 93rd percentile with a 0% dropout rate and proficiency scores far above state averages in every subject. A strong second tier includes Jackson Technology Center, B G Hudson Middle, and Classical Center At Brandenburg Middle, all earning 4-star ratings and consistently outperforming district averages. At the other end, Bussey Middle is the lowest-ranked school (9th percentile), followed closely by O'Banion Middle and Sam Houston Middle, all of which have very high rates of economic disadvantage and test scores significantly below district and state averages. Notably, higher per-student spending does not correlate with better outcomes; the three lowest-performing schools have the highest spending, while top-ranked Jackson Technology Center has the lowest spending in the district.
A universal strength across all schools is Algebra I proficiency, with every school dramatically outperforming the state average, from 77.97% at Vernon Schrade Middle to 97.3% at Webb Middle. However, this creates an "Algebra I Paradox," as grade-level Math is a systemic weakness, with only a few schools meeting state averages in 6th and 8th-grade Math. Reading is a relative strength across the district, but the socioeconomic achievement gap is pronounced: the top four schools average 59.1% economically disadvantaged students, while the bottom four average 88.9%.
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