Summary:
Zip code 78224 in San Antonio, Texas, is home to two middle schools serving grades 6-8: Robert C Zamora Middle and Greg A Garcia Early College Intermediate, offering a clear contrast between a large traditional public school and a smaller, higher-performing charter school.
Greg A Garcia Early College Intermediate is the standout school in the area, consistently outperforming Robert C Zamora Middle across nearly every academic metric. Garcia Intermediate, part of the highly-ranked New Frontiers Public Schools Inc district (86th percentile), ranks in the 68th percentile statewide, while Zamora, in the struggling South San Antonio Independent School District (Isd) (10th percentile), ranks in the 33rd percentile. For example, 73% of Garcia's 8th graders were proficient in Reading compared to 50% at Zamora, and Garcia reported a 0.0% dropout rate versus Zamora's 0.4%. Garcia's "Early College" designation allows students to take high school courses like Algebra I and Biology, with 67.5% proficient in Biology, a high school exam. Notably, Garcia achieves these results despite a higher student-teacher ratio (20.7:1 vs. 15.6:1) and a lower percentage of students receiving free/reduced lunch (55.56% vs. 83.66%), suggesting that curriculum and school culture are powerful drivers of success.
Both schools face a significant challenge in math proficiency, with Garcia's 6th and 8th graders scoring only 7% and 9% proficient, respectively, and Zamora's 8th graders at 29%—all well below state averages. However, both schools show positive improvement trajectories: Zamora's ranking rose from the 19th to the 33rd percentile, and Garcia's jumped from the 38th to the 68th percentile over recent years. While Garcia spends slightly more per student ($12,405 vs. $11,118), the data strongly indicates that its charter model and academic focus, rather than funding alone, drive its superior performance.
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