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What's the vibe like in the hallways at PIERCE MIDDLE SCHOOL right now?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
858
Middle
DISTRICT 834 · STATE 794
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·HILLSBOROUGH·NCES 120087000912
PIERCE MIDDLE SCHOOL
5511 N HESPERIDES ST, TAMPA, FL 33614 · (813) 872-5344 · Hillsborough County
GRADES 06–08MIDDLE21-SUBURBTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL858 STUDENTS
Student : Teacher
22.1:1
39 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 21.5:1 · STATE 19.6:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
67%
578 students
DISTRICT 49% · 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
School pathway
Students here typically continue to
PIERCE MIDDLE SCHOOL→LETO HIGH SCHOOL
Feeds from
Based on published attendance-zone data from HILLSBOROUGH. Zones change; confirm enrollment with the district.
Test scores
FAST / B.E.S.T. 2024-25 . % at Level 3 or AboveEnglish Language Arts
27.2%
FL avg 56.7% . +0.2pp since 2023
Math
44.4%
FL avg 58.9% . +3.3pp since 2023
What this means: On the FAST / B.E.S.T., Florida's statewide test, about 27 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 44 of 100 do math at grade level. Across all Florida schools, those numbers are about 57 and 59. Reading and writing scores have held steady since 2023, while math scores are up about 3 points.
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
35.7%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
47.4%
based on FL schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
-11.7pp
below demographic expectation
What this means: About 36% of students here test proficient in math and reading, compared with the roughly 47% 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 →
7-year change
SY 2017-18 vs SY 2024-25Enrollment
858
-62 (-7%) vs 2017
Student : Teacher
22.1:1
was 14.8:1
% White
5%
was 9%
% Hispanic
84%
was 78%
% Black
9%
was 10%
% Asian
1%
was 3%
Source: NCES Common Core of Data
About PIERCE MIDDLE SCHOOL
As a medium-sized 6-8 campus in TAMPA, Florida, PIERCE MIDDLE SCHOOL caters to 858 students from grades 6 through 8, run under HILLSBOROUGH.
Within HILLSBOROUGH, which oversees 300 schools and 221,318 students, PIERCE MIDDLE SCHOOL is one campus in the system.
Demographically, PIERCE MIDDLE SCHOOL lists that nearly all students (84%) are Hispanic. Other groups include 9% Black, 5% White. By comparison, Hillsborough County as a whole is about 30% Hispanic, so the school skews meaningfully more Hispanic than its surroundings.
In terms of school funding signals, On paper, PIERCE MIDDLE SCHOOL has 39 full-time-equivalent teachers, translating to a class-load average of around 22.1:1. That figure is higher than the state norm's 19.6:1 average. About 67% of enrolled students meet the income threshold for free or reduced-price lunch, a number frequently used as a low-income enrollment indicator. That share is higher than Hillsborough County's rate of about 43%.
Adjusting for the school's free-and-reduced-lunch share, PIERCE MIDDLE SCHOOL sits in the middle band of the BeatsExpectations distribution. Schools with this campus's student mix typically land near 47.4%; this one delivers 35.7%.
Zooming out to the county, ACS estimates for Hillsborough County put median household earnings sit near $79,540, roughly 38% of adults have completed at least a four-year degree, and the poverty rate sits near 9%. Across Hillsborough County's 320 public schools (combined enrollment of about 223,193 students), PIERCE MIDDLE SCHOOL is one campus in the mix.
Nearest neighbor: ALEXANDER ELEMENTARY SCHOOL, around 0.2 miles off. Within five miles, there are 8 other public schools. On composite proficiency, PIERCE MIDDLE SCHOOL comes 6th of 7 in the immediate cluster, beneath the nearby-schools average of 41.3%.
The school occupies a residential site.
Looking at the recent track record. Over the past 7-year window, the student count ticked down 7%: 920 students in 2018 compared to 858 in 2025. Over the same period, the Hispanic share expanded from 78% to 84%. Class-load math has widened: from 14.8:1 in 2018 to 22.1:1 in 2025.
On the community side, members of the PIERCE MIDDLE SCHOOL community share and discuss sports schedules, lunch menu changes, and school spirit week. Contributors range from current parents to recent graduates and teachers.
Hillsborough County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
1,522,748
Census ACS
Median income
$79,540
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
38%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
9%
Below federal line
Schools in county
320
223,193 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in HILLSBOROUGH
- FLORIDA CONNECTIONS ACADEMYCombined · 5,748 students
- JULE F SUMNER HIGH SCHOOLHigh · 3,602 students
- NEWSOME HIGH SCHOOLHigh · 3,157 students
- ALONSO HIGH SCHOOLHigh · 2,863 students
- PLANT CITY HIGH SCHOOLHigh · 2,572 students
- LENNARD HIGH SCHOOLHigh · 2,553 students
Other schools in TAMPA
- ALONSO HIGH SCHOOLHigh · 2,863 students
- SICKLES HIGH SCHOOLHigh · 2,398 students
- PLANT HIGH SCHOOLHigh · 2,391 students
- TAMPA BAY TECH HIGH SCHOOLHigh · 2,181 students
- WHARTON HIGH SCHOOLHigh · 2,130 students
- GAITHER HIGH SCHOOLHigh · 2,040 students
Nearby schools
- ALEXANDER ELEMENTARY SCHOOL0.2 mi · 579
- LETO HIGH SCHOOL1.0 mi · 1,995
- DETENTION CENTER WEST1.3 mi · 26
- LES PETERS ACADEMY1.3 mi · 20
- EGYPT LAKE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL1.4 mi · 488
- CRESTWOOD ELEMENTARY SCHOOL1.5 mi · 731
Frequently asked questions
About PIERCE MIDDLE SCHOOLHow many students attend PIERCE MIDDLE SCHOOL?
PIERCE MIDDLE SCHOOL enrolls approximately 858 students in grades 06-08.
What age range does PIERCE MIDDLE SCHOOL serve?
PIERCE MIDDLE SCHOOL serves students from grade 06 through grade 08.
What is the student-teacher ratio at PIERCE MIDDLE SCHOOL?
The student-to-teacher ratio at PIERCE MIDDLE SCHOOL is approximately 22.1:1 (39 FTE teachers).
What is the racial breakdown of students at PIERCE MIDDLE SCHOOL?
At PIERCE MIDDLE SCHOOL, the student body is approximately 5% White, 84% Hispanic, 9% Black, 1% Asian, 1% Two or more.
Is PIERCE MIDDLE SCHOOL public or private?
PIERCE MIDDLE SCHOOL is a public K-12 school, overseen by HILLSBOROUGH.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.