Summary
Jefferson Middle in Port Arthur, TX, serves 857 students in grades 6-8 within the Port Arthur Independent School District (Isd), where over 92% of students qualify for free or reduced lunch. The school has faced significant academic challenges, consistently ranking in the bottom 20% of Texas middle schools over the past decade. However, it stands out for its exceptional Algebra I program, where 100% of students taking the End-of-Course exam have scored proficient for four consecutive years—far exceeding the state average of 54% and the district average of 36.6%. This perfect record is unmatched by nearby schools like Bridge City Middle and Port Neches Middle, which also have high Algebra I scores but lack Jefferson's consistency.
Jefferson Middle also shows promising improvements in serving specific student groups. The school's Hispanic students saw a dramatic leap from the 20th percentile in 2024-2025 to the 73rd percentile in 2025-2026, while Special Education students improved from the 14th percentile to the 54th percentile over the same period. Additionally, the school has maintained a low dropout rate, consistently below the district average, dropping to 0.3% in 2020-2021. Despite these bright spots, overall reading and math proficiency rates remain low, hovering between 20-40%, well below state averages. The school spends over $10,000 per student, higher than many higher-performing nearby schools like Bridge City Middle ($7,627) and Bob Hope School ($8,468), yet test scores do not reflect this investment.
Interestingly, Bob Hope School, a charter school just 1.3 miles away serving a similarly high-poverty population, achieves reading and math proficiency rates often double or triple those of Jefferson Middle, despite having a higher student-teacher ratio. This comparison suggests that factors like school culture and curriculum may matter more than class size or spending alone. Within the Port Arthur Independent School District (Isd), Jefferson Middle is the highest-ranked middle school, outperforming its peer Lincoln Middle, which ranks in the bottom 9% of the state. The school's inconsistent performance by grade—with 8th-grade reading (42%) and math (32.7%) notably higher than 6th grade (21%)—suggests that students may catch up as they progress, offering a glimmer of hope for families seeking a school with targeted strengths and recent improvements.
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