HILL-GUSTAT MIDDLE SCHOOL

As a low-enrollment middle-grades school in SEBRING, Florida, HILL-GUSTAT MIDDLE SCHOOL works with 669 students from grades 6 through 12, one of the schools within HIGHLANDS.

HIGHLANDS runs 22 schools in total, collectively educating 12,040 students. HILL-GUSTAT MIDDLE SCHOOL is one of those campuses.

On the student-mix side, HILL-GUSTAT MIDDLE SCHOOL reports that 37% of students identify as White, with the remaining enrollment distributed across several groups. Beyond that, the school shows 35% Hispanic, 19% Black, 5% Asian, 3% multiracial. By comparison, Highlands County as a whole is about 68% White, so the school skews meaningfully less White than its surroundings.

Looking at school resources, The school currently runs with 34 full-time-equivalent teachers, for a student-teacher ratio near 19.7:1. That tracks the state average closely. Roughly 54% of students at HILL-GUSTAT MIDDLE SCHOOL qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, which schools and policymakers use as a rough income-mix signal. That share is noticeably below Highlands County's rate of about 63%.

On a residual basis (actual vs predicted given the student mix), HILL-GUSTAT MIDDLE SCHOOL sits in the middle band of the BeatsExpectations distribution. Schools with this campus's student mix typically land near 54.2%; this one delivers 51.5%.

Across the wider county, the surrounding county (Highlands County) reports that the typical household earns roughly $54,897 per year, 21% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, and census figures put the poverty rate at about 11%. Across Highlands County's 24 public schools (combined enrollment of about 12,040 students), HILL-GUSTAT MIDDLE SCHOOL is one campus in the mix.

SUN 'N LAKE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL is the nearest neighboring public school, about 1.5 miles from this campus. 4 of the 8 nearest public schools sit inside a five-mile radius. Among the 9 schools in that immediate cluster with test data (this one included), HILL-GUSTAT MIDDLE SCHOOL ranks 4th on composite proficiency, above the local average of 51.3%.

Geographically, the school is in a countryside area.

Looking at the recent track record. Looking back 7 years, enrollment at HILL-GUSTAT MIDDLE SCHOOL has remained close to its prior level, going from 671 students in 2018 to 669 in 2025. The student-to-teacher ratio rose from 16.4:1 in 2018 to 19.7:1 today.

On this page, posts here usually surface around science fair prep, picture-day reminders, and bus-route questions. Posting is open to anyone connected to the school.