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What's the vibe like in the hallways at HIGHLANDS MIDDLE SCHOOL right now?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
685
Middle
DISTRICT 718 · STATE 794
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·DUVAL·NCES 120048000765
HIGHLANDS MIDDLE SCHOOL
10913 PINE ESTATES RD E, JACKSONVILLE, FL 32218 · (904) 696-8771 · Duval County
GRADES 06–08MIDDLE11-CITYTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL685 STUDENTS
Student : Teacher
22.1:1
31 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 19.7:1 · STATE 19.6:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
61%
420 students
DISTRICT 51% · STATE 50%
Community
3
0 members
Enrollment and student:teacher ratio compared against other middle schools. Free/Reduced Lunch and demographics compared against all schools.
Enrollment by grade
Student demographics
Student head counts by race/ethnicity from federal NCES enrollment data. Very small groups may be suppressed in the source, so categories do not always sum exactly to total enrollment.
Gender split
Test scores
FAST / B.E.S.T. 2024-25 . % at Level 3 or AboveEnglish Language Arts
28.1%
FL avg 56.7% . -4.6pp since 2023
Math
37.7%
FL avg 58.9% . -5.1pp since 2023
What this means: On the FAST / B.E.S.T., Florida's statewide test, about 28 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 38 of 100 do math at grade level. Across all Florida schools, those numbers are about 57 and 59. Reading and writing scores are down about 5 points since 2023, while math scores are down about 5 points.
Source: FAST / B.E.S.T.. All students, all grades. See all years and grades →
BeatsExpectations
Demographically-adjusted score · methodologyTier
UNDERPERFORMING
Bottom 10% of FL schools after controlling for student poverty
Actual proficiency
36.1%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
50.4%
based on FL schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
-14.3pp
below demographic expectation
What this means: About 36% of students here test proficient in math and reading, below the roughly 50% typical for Florida schools with a similar share of low-income students. BeatsExpectations compares each school with others at the same poverty level, not by raw scores, so a school lands here when its results trail those comparable schools, which is not the same as having low scores. A higher-scoring school can still fall in this tier if similar schools score higher still.
BeatsExpectations runs a per-state regression of proficiency on free/reduced-lunch share, then scores each school by residual. How this is calculated →
7-year change
SY 2017-18 vs SY 2024-25Enrollment
685
-132 (-16%) vs 2017
Student : Teacher
22.1:1
was 20.9:1
% White
9%
was 8%
% Hispanic
10%
was 4%
% Black
75%
was 84%
% Asian
1%
was 0%
Source: NCES Common Core of Data
About HIGHLANDS MIDDLE SCHOOL
HIGHLANDS MIDDLE SCHOOL is one of the mid-sized intermediate schools in JACKSONVILLE, Florida, operated by DUVAL, with 685 students on its rolls from grades 6 through 8.
DUVAL runs 206 schools in total, collectively educating 131,562 students. HIGHLANDS MIDDLE SCHOOL is one of those campuses.
In terms of who attends, HIGHLANDS MIDDLE SCHOOL logs that 75% of the student body identifies as Black. The remainder reads as 10% Hispanic, 9% White, 4% multiracial. By comparison, Duval County as a whole is about 29% Black, so the school skews noticeably more Black than its surroundings.
On the resource side, On paper, HIGHLANDS MIDDLE SCHOOL has 31 full-time-equivalent teachers, translating to a class-load average of around 22.1:1. Statewide, the average ratio sits near 19.6:1, putting HIGHLANDS MIDDLE SCHOOL higher than the state norm the norm. An estimated 61% of students are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch, which schools and policymakers use as a rough income-mix signal. That share is above Duval County's rate of about 47%.
On a demographically-adjusted basis, HIGHLANDS MIDDLE SCHOOL is in the bottom 10% of Florida public schools. The BeatsExpectations model predicts schools with this FRL share to land around 50.4%; HIGHLANDS MIDDLE SCHOOL posts 36.1%, -14.3 points below that line.
In the broader community, community-level numbers for Duval County indicate the typical household earns roughly $71,277 per year, 34% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, and census figures put the poverty rate at about 10%. Across Duval County's 220 public schools (combined enrollment of about 141,209 students), HIGHLANDS MIDDLE SCHOOL is one campus in the mix.
Nearest neighbor: PINE ESTATES ELEMENTARY SCHOOL, around 0.2 miles off. Within five miles, there are 8 other public schools. On composite proficiency, HIGHLANDS MIDDLE SCHOOL comes 6th of 8 in the immediate cluster, beneath the nearby-schools average of 41.4%.
Geographically, the school is in a city-core area.
Five-year trend. Looking back 7 years, enrollment at HIGHLANDS MIDDLE SCHOOL has ticked down 16%, going from 817 students in 2018 to 685 in 2025. Black enrollment moved from 84% to 75% across the same window. Class-load math has rose: from 20.9:1 in 2018 to 22.1:1 in 2025.
Inside the community feed, posts here usually surface around pickup logistics, teacher feedback, and after-school programs. The community welcomes input from current and former families.
Duval County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
1,023,153
Census ACS
Median income
$71,277
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
34%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
10%
Below federal line
Schools in county
220
141,209 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in DUVAL
- ATLANTIC COAST HIGH SCHOOLHigh · 2,887 students
- SANDALWOOD HIGH SCHOOLHigh · 2,627 students
- MANDARIN HIGH SCHOOLHigh · 2,343 students
- DUNCAN U. FLETCHER HIGH SCHOOLHigh · 2,184 students
- FIRST COAST HIGH SCHOOLHigh · 2,098 students
- ENGLEWOOD HIGH SCHOOLHigh · 1,896 students
Other schools in JACKSONVILLE
- DIGITAL ACADEMY OF FLORIDACombined · 6,069 students
- ATLANTIC COAST HIGH SCHOOLHigh · 2,887 students
- SANDALWOOD HIGH SCHOOLHigh · 2,627 students
- MANDARIN HIGH SCHOOLHigh · 2,343 students
- FIRST COAST HIGH SCHOOLHigh · 2,098 students
- ENGLEWOOD HIGH SCHOOLHigh · 1,896 students
Nearby schools
- PINE ESTATES ELEMENTARY SCHOOL0.2 mi · 220
- SOMERSET ACADEMY-MIDDLE EAGLE CAMPUS0.3 mi · 177
- SOMERSET ACADEMY-ELEMENTARY EAGLE CAMPUS0.3 mi · 324
- BISCAYNE HIGH SCHOOL0.3 mi · 217
- GARDEN CITY ELEMENTARY SCHOOL0.7 mi · 390
- BISCAYNE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL1.4 mi · 818
Frequently asked questions
About HIGHLANDS MIDDLE SCHOOLHow many students attend HIGHLANDS MIDDLE SCHOOL?
HIGHLANDS MIDDLE SCHOOL enrolls approximately 685 students in grades 06-08.
Is HIGHLANDS MIDDLE SCHOOL an elementary, middle, or high school?
HIGHLANDS MIDDLE SCHOOL is a middle school covering grades 06-08.
How many students per teacher at HIGHLANDS MIDDLE SCHOOL?
Approximately 22.1:1 students per teacher at HIGHLANDS MIDDLE SCHOOL.
How diverse is HIGHLANDS MIDDLE SCHOOL?
HIGHLANDS MIDDLE SCHOOL reports a student body of 9% White, 10% Hispanic, 75% Black, 1% Asian, 4% Two or more.
Who oversees HIGHLANDS MIDDLE SCHOOL?
HIGHLANDS MIDDLE SCHOOL is overseen by DUVAL in Duval County.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.