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Does HOWARD MIDDLE SCHOOL have enough mental health and stress support?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
917
Middle
DISTRICT 952 · STATE 794
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·MARION·NCES 120126001251
HOWARD MIDDLE SCHOOL
1655 NW 10TH ST, OCALA, FL 34475 · (352) 671-7225 · Marion County
GRADES 06–08MIDDLE13-CITYTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL917 STUDENTS
Student : Teacher
18.7:1
49 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 18.8:1 · STATE 19.6:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
54%
492 students
DISTRICT 57% · STATE 50%
Community
6
0 members
Enrollment and student:teacher ratio compared against other middle schools. Free/Reduced Lunch and demographics compared against all schools.
Enrollment by grade, 2024-25
| Grade | Students | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Grade 6 | 339 | 37% |
| Grade 7 | 270 | 29% |
| Grade 8 | 308 | 34% |
Student demographics
73%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 69% · STATE 70% · US 70%
Student head counts by race/ethnicity from federal NCES enrollment data. District, state, and US figures are each group's share of all public school students in that area (US excludes territories). 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
52.7%
FL avg 56.7% . +4.5pp since 2023
Math
53.9%
FL avg 58.9% . +2.2pp since 2023
What this means: On the FAST / B.E.S.T., Florida's statewide test, about 53 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 54 of 100 do math at grade level. Across all Florida schools, those numbers are about 57 and 59. Reading and writing scores are up about 5 points since 2023, while math scores are up about 2 points.
FAST / B.E.S.T. results by year
| School year | English Language Arts | Math |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 52.7% | 53.9% |
| 2023-24 | 48.1% | 51.7% |
% at Level 3 or Above, all students and all tested grades.
Source: FAST / B.E.S.T.. All students, all grades. See all years and grades →
BeatsExpectations
Demographically-adjusted score · methodologyTier
AS EXPECTED
Performing as predicted given the school's student profile
Actual proficiency
50.7%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
54.3%
based on FL schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
-3.6pp
below demographic expectation
What this means: About 51% of students here test proficient in math and reading, compared with the roughly 54% typical for Florida schools with a similar share of low-income students. BeatsExpectations measures results against demographically similar schools rather than by raw scores, and this school falls within the typical range, neither among Florida's top nor bottom 10%.
BeatsExpectations runs a per-state regression of proficiency on free/reduced-lunch share, then scores each school by residual. How this is calculated →
Schools most like HOWARD MIDDLE SCHOOL
HOWARD MIDDLE SCHOOL's state test result (50.7% proficient) is higher than 1 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| HOWARD MIDDLE SCHOOL this school | 917 | 53.7% | 50.7% |
| KANAPAHA MIDDLE SCHOOL GAINESVILLE | 1,014 | 49.9% | 58.9% |
| OAKLEAF JUNIOR HIGH ORANGE PARK | 906 | 54.3% | 66.6% |
| FORT CLARKE MIDDLE SCHOOL GAINESVILLE | 840 | 51.3% | 55.7% |
| MARKHAM WOODS MIDDLE SCHOOL LAKE MARY | 900 | 49.4% | 57.2% |
| WESTWOOD MIDDLE SCHOOL GAINESVILLE | 854 | 47.9% | 43.1% |
Matched among Florida middle schools on enrollment, the share of students from low-income families (eligible for free or reduced-price lunch), and racial and ethnic makeup. Proficient is the average share of students meeting the state standard across all of the school's state tests in 2023-24 and 2024-25, the same combined score our test-score rankings use. Online schools and schools serving specialized populations are not matched.
Where HOWARD MIDDLE SCHOOL ranks
Among middle schools| Measure | This school | In Florida | In Marion County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 50.7% | #325 of 560 | #4 of 10 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 53.9% | #318 of 560 ▼ 11 | #5 of 10 ▼ 1 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 52.7% | #295 of 560 ▼ 3 | #5 of 10 ▼ 1 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 917 | #205 of 584 | #6 of 10 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 18.7:1 | #227 of 547 | #4 of 9 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 73.0% | #12 of 553 | #1 of 9 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 53.7% | #254 of 565 | #6 of 10 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked steepest decline first | -15.5% | #178 of 379 | N/A |
Ranked against other public middle schools. Online schools are left out of every list, and test-score lists leave out schools that serve specialized populations. Each rank links to the full list. Arrows under a test-score rank show places moved since the prior test year, among schools tested both years.
4-year change
SY 2020-21 vs SY 2024-25Enrollment
917
-153 (-14%) vs 2020
+11% since 1990-91, when it was 823
Student : Teacher
18.7:1
was 20.6:1
Source: NCES Common Core of Data
Enrollment and staffing by year
| School year | Students | Teachers (FTE) | Students per teacher | Free and reduced lunch |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 917 | 49 | 18.7:1 | 54% (492) |
| 2023-24 | 891 | 46 | 19.4:1 | 60% (538) |
| 2022-23 | 980 | 47 | 20.9:1 | 60% (589) |
| 2020-21 | 1,070 | 52 | 20.6:1 | 63% (669) |
| 2017-18 | 1,085 | 59 | 18.4:1 | 62% (676) |
| 2015-16 | 1,156 | 61 | 18.9:1 | 62% (714) |
| 2010-11 | 951 | 59 | 16.1:1 | 55% (522) |
| 2000-01 | 1,259 | 75 | 16.8:1 | 56% (699) |
| 1990-91 | 823 | 55 | 15.0:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for HOWARD MIDDLE SCHOOL.
About HOWARD MIDDLE SCHOOL
HOWARD MIDDLE SCHOOL is a medium-sized middle school in Florida, with an address in OCALA. The school's enrollment of 917 students covers grades 6 through 8.
Within MARION, HOWARD MIDDLE SCHOOL is one of 62 schools. The district enrolls 46,349 students.
The most common group at HOWARD MIDDLE SCHOOL is Black students, at 36%. After that, the student body is 27% White, 25% Hispanic, 7% Asian, and 5% multiracial. Among all residents of Marion County, the Black share is about 12%. Pick two students at random and there is a 73% chance they belong to different racial or ethnic groups; that figure is the school's diversity index.
The teaching staff at HOWARD MIDDLE SCHOOL is 49 full-time-equivalent teachers, and the ratio is 18.7:1. The school has fewer students per teacher than the 19.6:1 average for middle schools in Florida. About 54% of students, or 492, qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. That tracks the 57% average for public schools in Marion County.
Compared with Florida schools that have similar shares of low-income students, HOWARD MIDDLE SCHOOL's results are 3.6 points below predicted: 50.7% against 54.3%.
Federal survey data for Marion County show that the median household income is $61,010, 23% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, and about 10% of people live in poverty. There are 68 public schools in Marion County, enrolling about 46,349 students in all.
Nearby, MADISON STREET ACADEMY OF VISUAL AND PERFORMING ARTS is about 0.6 miles away. There are at least 8 more public schools inside five miles. Ranking the closest schools with test data puts HOWARD MIDDLE SCHOOL at 4th of 5.
The National Center for Education Statistics classifies the school's location as City: Small, meaning it is inside a principal city with a population under 100,000.
Enrollment has fallen by 153 students since 2020-21, to 917. By 2024-25, the school had 18.7 students per teacher, compared with 20.6 in 2020-21.
If you have questions about enrollment questions, class placement, and PTA news at HOWARD MIDDLE SCHOOL, you can post them here. Posting is open to anyone connected to the school.
Marion County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
400,078
Census ACS
Median income
$61,010
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
23%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
10%
Below federal line
Schools in county
68
46,349 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in MARION
- WEST PORT HIGH SCHOOLHigh · 3,022 students
- FOREST HIGH SCHOOLHigh · 2,387 students
- BELLEVIEW HIGH SCHOOLHigh · 1,904 students
- VANGUARD HIGH SCHOOLHigh · 1,684 students
- BELLEVIEW MIDDLE SCHOOLMiddle · 1,600 students
- DUNNELLON HIGH SCHOOLHigh · 1,562 students
Other schools in OCALA
- WEST PORT HIGH SCHOOLHigh · 3,022 students
- FOREST HIGH SCHOOLHigh · 2,387 students
- VANGUARD HIGH SCHOOLHigh · 1,684 students
- LAKE WEIR HIGH SCHOOLHigh · 1,447 students
- SUNRISE ELEMENTARY SCHOOLElementary · 1,402 students
- HORIZON ACADEMY AT MARION OAKSMiddle · 1,260 students
Other Howard Middle schools
2 other US public schools in 2 states are named Howard Middle. HOWARD MIDDLE SCHOOL is the 3rd largest of the 3.
- HOWARD MIDDLEORLANDO, FL · 1,185 students
- Howard Middle SchoolMacon, GA · 973 students
Nearby schools
- MADISON STREET ACADEMY OF VISUAL AND PERFORMING ARTS0.6 mi · 467
- PACE CENTER FOR GIRLS INC.1.2 mi · 40
- DR N H JONES ELEMENTARY SCHOOL1.2 mi · 789
- MARION REG. JUVENILE DETENTION CENTER1.3 mi · 94
- MCSO ADULTS1.4 mi · 10
- VANGUARD HIGH SCHOOL1.6 mi · 1,684
Frequently asked questions
About HOWARD MIDDLE SCHOOLWhat is the total enrollment at HOWARD MIDDLE SCHOOL?
HOWARD MIDDLE SCHOOL enrolls approximately 917 students in grades 06-08.
What grades does HOWARD MIDDLE SCHOOL serve?
HOWARD MIDDLE SCHOOL serves grades 06-08.
How many students per teacher at HOWARD MIDDLE SCHOOL?
Approximately 18.7:1 students per teacher at HOWARD MIDDLE SCHOOL.
What is the student diversity at HOWARD MIDDLE SCHOOL?
Student demographics at HOWARD MIDDLE SCHOOL are roughly 27% White, 25% Hispanic, 36% Black, 7% Asian, 5% Two or more.
What district is HOWARD MIDDLE SCHOOL in?
HOWARD MIDDLE SCHOOL is part of MARION.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.