Best Middle Schools in Zip Code 77048

Zip code 77048 in Houston, Texas, is served by two middle schools for grades 6-8: Iltexas Houston Orem Middle (part of the International Leadership Of Texas (Iltexas) charter network) and Thomas Middle (part of the Houston Independent School District (Isd)). Both schools have similar enrollments (around 400 students each) and serve predominantly low-income families, though Thomas Middle has a slightly higher rate of economic disadvantage.

Neither school is a top performer overall, but each has distinct strengths. Iltexas Houston Orem Middle stands out for its exceptional results in advanced, high-school-level coursework: over 96% of its students taking Algebra I and English I End-of-Course exams scored proficient, far exceeding state averages. This suggests a strong program for accelerating top students. Thomas Middle excels in 6th-grade Reading, where 54.64% of students were proficient—above the state average of 53.52%. Both schools have shown dramatic year-over-year improvement, with 6th-grade Math proficiency at both schools jumping from around 8-21% to over 35% in one year. However, 8th-grade Social Studies is a universal weakness, with proficiency rates below 14% at both schools—less than half the state average.

Resource allocation differs significantly: Thomas Middle spends $10,521 per student with a 12.1:1 student-teacher ratio, while Iltexas Houston Orem Middle spends $7,510 per student with a 17.1:1 ratio. Despite this resource advantage, Thomas does not consistently outperform Iltexas in academics, suggesting factors like curriculum and school culture play a major role. Both schools rank in the bottom 30th percentile of Texas middle schools but have improved significantly from the 9th percentile the previous year. Dropout rates are very low at both schools (0.3% at Iltexas, 1.6% at Thomas), with Thomas's rate notably lower than its district average of 3.8%.