Summary:
Zip code 78631, covering the rural community of Harper, Texas, is served by a single middle school, Harper Middle, which educates students in grades 5 through 8 within the highly-rated Harper Independent School District (Isd).
Harper Middle is a small school with 197 students and a low student-teacher ratio of 12.6:1, which often allows for more individualized attention. The school has earned a 4-star rating and consistently ranks in the 75th percentile among Texas middle schools, reflecting stable, above-average performance. A standout strength is 8th-grade Social Studies, where 65.31% of students were proficient—more than double the state average of 31.69%. The school also boasts a perfect 0.0% dropout rate and strong reading scores across all grades, with 8th graders achieving 77.55% proficiency compared to the state's 58.69%.
However, the data reveals a significant challenge in mathematics, particularly for 7th graders. In the most recent testing year, only 8% of 7th graders were proficient in math, a dramatic drop from the 51.67% proficiency seen in 6th grade and far below the state average of 29.41%. This "7th grade math cliff" is a critical area for concern and likely reflects the difficulty of pre-algebra concepts for a small cohort. Overall, Harper Middle provides a nurturing environment with strong humanities instruction, but parents should be aware of the volatility in math scores that can occur in small schools and inquire about support for 7th-grade mathematics.
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