Summary:
The Palmer Independent School District (Isd) is home to one middle school, Palmer Middle, which serves grades 5 through 8 and has an enrollment of 423 students, with 53.9% of students eligible for free or reduced lunch.
Palmer Middle shows standout performance in advanced mathematics, with 100% of students proficient in Algebra I in the 2025-2026 school year, far exceeding the state average of 54.03%. The school also demonstrated remarkable improvement in 8th-grade math, jumping from 47.78% proficiency in 2024-2025 to 76.34% in 2025-2026, well above the state average of 47.24%. Reading is a consistent strength across all grade levels, with 8th-grade reading proficiency at 74.31% versus the state's 58.69%. The school has a favorable student-teacher ratio of 15:1, a 0.0% dropout rate, and per-student spending of $10,188. Its state ranking is strong, sitting in the 77th percentile for the 2025-2026 school year.
However, the school faces significant challenges in specific areas. A critical concern is the "7th-grade math slump," where only 20.69% of 7th graders were proficient in math in 2025-2026, compared to the state average of 29.41%. This is a sharp drop from 5th-grade math proficiency of 51.11%. Additionally, 8th-grade social studies is a consistent weakness, with proficiency at 26.61% in 2025-2026, below the state average of 31.69%. Science performance also declines by 8th grade, with 36.19% proficiency versus the state's 46.25%. These uneven results suggest that while Palmer Middle excels in reading and advanced math, targeted interventions are needed for 7th-grade math and 8th-grade social studies and science to ensure more balanced academic success.
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