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Alumni: what's one memory from SHIELDS MIDDLE SCHOOL that still sticks with you?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
1,593
Middle
DISTRICT 834 · STATE 794
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·HILLSBOROUGH·NCES 120087004156
SHIELDS MIDDLE SCHOOL
15732 BETH SHIELDS WAY, RUSKIN, FL 33573 · (813) 672-5338 · Hillsborough County
GRADES 06–08MIDDLE21-SUBURBTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL1,593 STUDENTS
Student : Teacher
26.5:1
60 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 21.5:1 · STATE 19.6:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
60%
959 students
DISTRICT 49% · 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 | 466 | 29% |
| Grade 7 | 478 | 30% |
| Grade 8 | 649 | 41% |
Student demographics
56%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 71% · 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
School pathway
Students here typically continue to
SHIELDS MIDDLE SCHOOL→HIGH SCHOOL UUU
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
29.1%
FL avg 56.7% . +4.0pp since 2023
Math
39.0%
FL avg 58.9% . +6.0pp since 2023
What this means: On the FAST / B.E.S.T., Florida's statewide test, about 29 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 39 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 4 points since 2023, while math scores are up about 6 points.
FAST / B.E.S.T. results by year
| School year | English Language Arts | Math |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 29.1% | 39.0% |
| 2023-24 | 25.1% | 33.0% |
% 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
UNDERPERFORMING
Bottom 10% of FL schools after controlling for student poverty
Actual proficiency
33.3%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
51.0%
based on FL schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
-17.7pp
below demographic expectation
What this means: About 33% of students here test proficient in math and reading, below the roughly 51% 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 →
Schools most like SHIELDS MIDDLE SCHOOL
SHIELDS MIDDLE SCHOOL's state test result (33.3% proficient) is higher than 2 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| SHIELDS MIDDLE SCHOOL this school | 1,593 | 60.2% | 33.3% |
| LEHIGH ACRES MIDDLE SCHOOL LEHIGH ACRES | 1,509 | 58.8% | 44.4% |
| PALM SPRINGS MIDDLE SCHOOL WEST PALM BEACH | 1,397 | 60.2% | 46.2% |
| SHELLEY S. BOONE MIDDLE SCHOOL HAINES CITY | 1,329 | 64.7% | 30.4% |
| HORIZON ACADEMY AT MARION OAKS OCALA | 1,260 | 60.2% | 40.6% |
| LAKE WORTH COMMUNITY MIDDLE LAKE WORTH | 1,136 | 62.3% | 32.5% |
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 SHIELDS MIDDLE SCHOOL ranks
Among middle schools| Measure | This school | In Florida | In Hillsborough County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 33.3% | #531 of 560 | #37 of 43 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 39.0% | #488 of 560 ▲ 12 | #32 of 43 ▲ 3 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 29.1% | #534 of 560 ▲ 4 | #38 of 43 ▲ 1 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 1,593 | #5 of 584 | #1 of 44 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 26.5:1 | #538 of 547 | #43 of 43 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 55.7% | #311 of 553 | #32 of 43 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 60.2% | #171 of 565 | #18 of 43 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked fastest growth first | +12.9% | #58 of 137 | #6 of 15 |
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
1,593
-52 (-3%) vs 2020
+16% since 2010-11, when it was 1,373
Student : Teacher
26.5:1
was 16.0:1
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 | 1,593 | 60 | 26.5:1 | 60% (959) |
| 2023-24 | 1,746 | 79.5 | 22.0:1 | 67% (1,172) |
| 2022-23 | 1,867 | 86 | 21.7:1 | 68% (1,264) |
| 2020-21 | 1,645 | 103 | 16.0:1 | 89% (1,460) |
| 2017-18 | 1,411 | 85 | 16.6:1 | 87% (1,225) |
| 2015-16 | 1,368 | 96 | 14.3:1 | 87% (1,188) |
| 2010-11 | 1,373 | 82 | 16.7:1 | 82% (1,130) |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for SHIELDS MIDDLE SCHOOL.
About SHIELDS MIDDLE SCHOOL
RUSKIN, Florida, is home to SHIELDS MIDDLE SCHOOL, a high-enrollment middle-grades school. The school's enrollment of 1,593 students covers grades 6 through 8. Enrollment is 101% higher than the average for middle schools in Florida, which is about 794.
Within HILLSBOROUGH, SHIELDS MIDDLE SCHOOL is one of 300 schools. The district enrolls 221,318 students.
By race and ethnicity, SHIELDS MIDDLE SCHOOL is 60% Hispanic. The rest of enrollment is 26% Black, 9% White, and 3% multiracial. Census estimates put the Hispanic share of Hillsborough County's population at about 30%. The chance that two students picked at random at SHIELDS MIDDLE SCHOOL belong to different racial or ethnic groups, known as the diversity index, is 56%.
The school has about 26.5 students per teacher and 60 full-time-equivalent teachers. The average ratio among middle schools in Florida is 19.6:1, lower than at this school. About 60% of enrolled students meet the income rules for free or reduced-price lunch. That is 17 points above the 43% average for public schools in Hillsborough County.
In Florida, SHIELDS MIDDLE SCHOOL is one of the bottom 10% of schools on BeatsExpectations, with an average proficiency rate on state tests of 33.3% compared with a predicted 51.0%.
Recent Census Bureau figures for Hillsborough County show that median household income is about $79,540, about 38% of adults have at least a bachelor's degree, and roughly 9% of residents are in poverty. SHIELDS MIDDLE SCHOOL is one of 320 public schools in Hillsborough County, which together enroll about 223,193 students.
Of nearby public schools, CYPRESS CREEK ELEMENTARY SCHOOL is the closest, at less than a tenth of a mile. Inside a five-mile radius, there are at least 8 other public schools. SHIELDS MIDDLE SCHOOL comes in 9th of 9 nearby schools on average proficiency.
The school is in a suburban area outside a principal city, within an urbanized area with a population of 250,000 or more, according to its NCES locale (Suburb: Large).
Between 2020-21 and 2024-25, the student count declined from 1,645 to 1,593. There were more students per teacher in 2024-25 (26.5:1) than in 2020-21 (16.0:1).
Threads on this page can be about school events, clubs, and volunteer needs. Anyone with firsthand experience at this school can post or comment.
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 RUSKIN
- LENNARD HIGH SCHOOLHigh · 2,553 students
- RUSKIN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLElementary · 838 students
- CYPRESS CREEK ELEMENTARY SCHOOLElementary · 834 students
- LITERACY LEADERSHIP TECHNOLOGY ACADEMY SOUTH BAYElementary · 813 students
- THOMPSON ELEMENTARYElementary · 789 students
- SOUTH COUNTY CAREER CENTERCombined · 168 students
Other Shields Middle schools
One other US public school is named Shields Middle. SHIELDS MIDDLE SCHOOL is the largest of the 2.
- Shields Middle SchoolChicago, IL · 330 students
Nearby schools
- CYPRESS CREEK ELEMENTARY SCHOOL0.1 mi · 834
- DOROTHY C YORK PK-8 MAGNET SCHOOL1.5 mi · 1,381
- LITERACY LEADERSHIP TECHNOLOGY ACADEMY SOUTH BAY1.7 mi · 813
- LENNARD HIGH SCHOOL2.5 mi · 2,553
- THOMPSON ELEMENTARY2.7 mi · 789
- BELMONT ELEMENTARY SCHOOL2.7 mi · 776
Frequently asked questions
About SHIELDS MIDDLE SCHOOLHow many students attend SHIELDS MIDDLE SCHOOL?
SHIELDS MIDDLE SCHOOL enrolls approximately 1,593 students in grades 06-08.
What grades does SHIELDS MIDDLE SCHOOL serve?
SHIELDS MIDDLE SCHOOL serves grades 06-08.
How many teachers does SHIELDS MIDDLE SCHOOL have?
SHIELDS MIDDLE SCHOOL employs 60 FTE teachers, for a student-to-teacher ratio of 26.5:1.
What is the student diversity at SHIELDS MIDDLE SCHOOL?
Student demographics at SHIELDS MIDDLE SCHOOL are roughly 9% White, 60% Hispanic, 26% Black, 1% Asian, 3% Two or more.
What district is SHIELDS MIDDLE SCHOOL in?
SHIELDS MIDDLE SCHOOL is part of HILLSBOROUGH.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.