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Best kept secret at MERRITT BROWN MIDDLE SCHOOL?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
634
Middle
DISTRICT 587 · STATE 794
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·BAY·NCES 120009002589
MERRITT BROWN MIDDLE SCHOOL
5044 MERRITT BROWN WAY, PANAMA CITY, FL 32404 · (850) 767-3976 · Bay County
GRADES 06–08MIDDLE22-SUBURBTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL634 STUDENTS
C-
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 21% of Florida public middle schools
- CTest scores Share of students meeting the state standard in reading, math, and other tested subjects, 2023-24 and 2024-25.
- C-Beats expectations How far test scores land above or below what the share of low-income students predicts for a school in this state.
- ·Three-year trend Not available for this school, so the grade uses the other parts.
Grades compare a school only with schools in the same state, because every state gives its own test. How grades work · Top-graded Florida public middle schools
Student : Teacher
17.1:1
37 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 18.9:1 · STATE 19.6:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
51%
324 students
DISTRICT 46% · 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 | 200 | 32% |
| Grade 7 | 211 | 33% |
| Grade 8 | 223 | 35% |
Student demographics
45%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 59% · 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
47.8%
FL avg 56.7% . +9.7pp since 2023
Math
44.9%
FL avg 58.9% . +5.3pp since 2023
What this means: On the FAST / B.E.S.T., Florida's statewide test, about 48 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 45 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 10 points since 2023, while math scores are up about 5 points.
FAST / B.E.S.T. results by year
| School year | English Language Arts | Math |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 47.8% | 44.9% |
| 2023-24 | 38.0% | 39.6% |
% 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
44.6%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
55.6%
based on FL schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
-11.0pp
below demographic expectation
What this means: About 45% of students here test proficient in math and reading, compared with the roughly 56% 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 MERRITT BROWN MIDDLE SCHOOL
MERRITT BROWN MIDDLE SCHOOL's state test result (44.6% proficient) is higher than 1 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| MERRITT BROWN MIDDLE SCHOOL this school | 634 | 51.1% | 44.6% |
| CREWS LAKE MIDDLE SCHOOL. SPRING HILL | 709 | 48.7% | 44.5% |
| SEBASTIAN MIDDLE SCHOOL ST AUGUSTINE | 690 | 47.7% | 68.5% |
| AVALON MIDDLE SCHOOL MILTON | 768 | 55.5% | 58.9% |
| LAKE BUTLER MIDDLE SCHOOL LAKE BUTLER | 752 | 46.7% | 53.3% |
| CRYSTAL RIVER MIDDLE SCHOOL CRYSTAL RIVER | 906 | 49.0% | 46.3% |
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 MERRITT BROWN MIDDLE SCHOOL ranks
Among middle schools| Measure | This school | In Florida |
|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 44.6% | #405 of 560 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 44.9% | #432 of 560 ▲ 16 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 47.8% | #355 of 560 ▲ 56 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 634 | #418 of 584 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 17.1:1 | #102 of 547 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 44.6% | #431 of 553 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 51.1% | #283 of 565 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked steepest decline first | -16.7% | #163 of 379 |
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
634
+13 (+2%) vs 2020
-23% since 1990-91, when it was 823
Student : Teacher
17.1:1
was 15.5:1
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 | 634 | 37 | 17.1:1 | 51% (324) |
| 2023-24 | 680 | 37.5 | 18.1:1 | 54% (365) |
| 2022-23 | 701 | 40 | 17.5:1 | 55% (383) |
| 2020-21 | 621 | 40 | 15.5:1 | 54% (335) |
| 2017-18 | 761 | 45 | 16.9:1 | 62% (472) |
| 2015-16 | 731 | 44 | 16.6:1 | 64% (470) |
| 2010-11 | 766 | 46 | 16.6:1 | 58% (444) |
| 2000-01 | 998 | 49 | 20.4:1 | 46% (459) |
| 1990-91 | 823 | 44 | 18.7:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for MERRITT BROWN MIDDLE SCHOOL.
About MERRITT BROWN MIDDLE SCHOOL
MERRITT BROWN MIDDLE SCHOOL is a public small middle school in PANAMA CITY, Florida. Enrollment stands at 634 students, covering grades 6 through 8. That puts enrollment 20% below the 794-student average for middle schools in Florida.
Across its 47 schools, BAY enrolls 27,494 students. MERRITT BROWN MIDDLE SCHOOL is one of those schools.
More than half of the students at MERRITT BROWN MIDDLE SCHOOL are White (73%). Beyond that, enrollment is 10% Hispanic, 9% Black, and 6% multiracial. That is in line with Bay County, where about 75% of residents are White. On the diversity index, which measures the chance that two random students are from different groups, MERRITT BROWN MIDDLE SCHOOL scores 45%.
Its ratio of 17.1:1 is based on 37 full-time-equivalent teachers. Middle schools in Florida average 19.6:1, 2.4 more students per teacher than here. The share of students eligible for free or reduced-price lunch is 51%.
MERRITT BROWN MIDDLE SCHOOL holds a C- allk12 Grade, placing it above 21% of Florida public middle schools.
Based on its free or reduced-price lunch share, the BeatsExpectations model predicts an average proficiency rate across its state test results of 55.6% for MERRITT BROWN MIDDLE SCHOOL. The school posts 44.6%, 11.0 points below the prediction.
In Bay County, median household income comes to about $73,533, a bachelor's degree or higher is held by about 30% of adults, and the poverty rate is about 8%. The county's public schools total 50, with about 27,672 students.
TOMMY SMITH ELEMENTARY SCHOOL is the nearest public school to MERRITT BROWN MIDDLE SCHOOL, about 0.1 miles away. Counting only straight-line distance, at least 8 other public schools are within five miles. On proficiency, MERRITT BROWN MIDDLE SCHOOL is behind the 63.2% nearby average, ranking 7th of 9.
The school's setting, by NCES definition, is Suburb: Mid-size: in a suburban area outside a principal city, within an urbanized area with a population between 100,000 and 250,000.
Compared with 2020-21, when it had 621 students, enrollment in 2024-25 was about the same at 634. There were more students per teacher in 2024-25 (17.1:1) than in 2020-21 (15.5:1).
This page is set up for the MERRITT BROWN MIDDLE SCHOOL community to discuss special education services, counseling, and support programs. Current and former families are welcome to add their experience.
Bay County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
186,393
Census ACS
Median income
$73,533
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
30%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
8%
Below federal line
Schools in county
50
27,672 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in BAY
- A. CRAWFORD MOSLEY HIGH SCHOOLHigh · 1,864 students
- DEANE BOZEMAN SCHOOLCombined · 1,690 students
- J.R. ARNOLD HIGH SCHOOLHigh · 1,629 students
- RUTHERFORD HIGH SCHOOLHigh · 1,394 students
- BAY HIGH SCHOOLHigh · 1,289 students
- BREAKFAST POINT ACADEMYElementary · 1,089 students
Other schools in PANAMA CITY
- DEANE BOZEMAN SCHOOLCombined · 1,690 students
- RUTHERFORD HIGH SCHOOLHigh · 1,394 students
- BAY HIGH SCHOOLHigh · 1,289 students
- NORTH BAY HAVEN CAREER ACADEMYHigh · 865 students
- BAY HAVEN CHARTER ACADEMYElementary · 766 students
- DEER POINT ELEMENTARY SCHOOLElementary · 735 students
Nearby schools
- TOMMY SMITH ELEMENTARY SCHOOL0.1 mi · 677
- NORTH BAY HAVEN CHARTER ACADEMY MIDDLE SCHOOL2.1 mi · 526
- NORTH BAY HAVEN CHARTER ACADEMY ELEMENTARY SCHOOL2.1 mi · 696
- NORTH BAY HAVEN CAREER ACADEMY2.1 mi · 865
- DEER POINT ELEMENTARY SCHOOL2.1 mi · 735
- BAY HAVEN CHARTER MIDDLE SCHOOL4.4 mi · 429
Frequently asked questions
About MERRITT BROWN MIDDLE SCHOOLHow many students attend MERRITT BROWN MIDDLE SCHOOL?
MERRITT BROWN MIDDLE SCHOOL enrolls approximately 634 students in grades 06-08.
Is MERRITT BROWN MIDDLE SCHOOL an elementary, middle, or high school?
MERRITT BROWN MIDDLE SCHOOL is a middle school covering grades 06-08.
What is the student-teacher ratio at MERRITT BROWN MIDDLE SCHOOL?
The student-to-teacher ratio at MERRITT BROWN MIDDLE SCHOOL is approximately 17.1:1 (37 FTE teachers).
What is the racial breakdown of students at MERRITT BROWN MIDDLE SCHOOL?
At MERRITT BROWN MIDDLE SCHOOL, the student body is approximately 73% White, 10% Hispanic, 9% Black, 1% Asian, 6% Two or more.
Who oversees MERRITT BROWN MIDDLE SCHOOL?
MERRITT BROWN MIDDLE SCHOOL is overseen by BAY in Bay County.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.