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Teachers: what resource would make the biggest difference at THOMAS L SIMS MIDDLE SCHOOL this year?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
823
Middle
DISTRICT 797 · STATE 794
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·SANTA ROSA·NCES 120165003504
THOMAS L SIMS MIDDLE SCHOOL
5500 EDUCATION DR, PACE, FL 32571 · (850) 995-3676 · Santa Rosa County
GRADES 06–08MIDDLE21-SUBURBTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL823 STUDENTS
A
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 90% of Florida public middle schools
- ATest scores Share of students meeting the state standard in reading, math, and other tested subjects, 2023-24 and 2024-25.
- ABeats 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
20.6:1
40 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 20.5:1 · STATE 19.6:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
40%
330 students
DISTRICT 48% · 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 | 265 | 32% |
| Grade 7 | 267 | 32% |
| Grade 8 | 291 | 35% |
Student demographics
40%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 44% · 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
69.3%
FL avg 56.7% . +2.8pp since 2023
Math
79.1%
FL avg 58.9% . +1.0pp since 2023
What this means: On the FAST / B.E.S.T., Florida's statewide test, about 69 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 79 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 3 points since 2023, while math scores are up about 1 points.
FAST / B.E.S.T. results by year
| School year | English Language Arts | Math |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 69.3% | 79.1% |
| 2023-24 | 66.5% | 78.0% |
% 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
AS EXPECTED
Performing as predicted given the school's student profile
Actual proficiency
72.4%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
61.1%
based on FL schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
+11.3pp
above demographic expectation
What this means: About 72% of students here test proficient in math and reading, compared with the roughly 61% 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 THOMAS L SIMS MIDDLE SCHOOL
THOMAS L SIMS MIDDLE SCHOOL's state test result (72.4% proficient) is higher than 5 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| THOMAS L SIMS MIDDLE SCHOOL this school | 823 | 40.1% | 72.4% |
| LECANTO MIDDLE SCHOOL LECANTO | 786 | 40.6% | 58.8% |
| VENICE MIDDLE SCHOOL VENICE | 732 | 39.5% | 66.2% |
| HOLLEY-NAVARRE MIDDLE SCHOOL NAVARRE | 823 | 41.4% | 70.2% |
| CITRUS SPRINGS MIDDLE SCHOOL CITRUS SPRINGS | 752 | 44.5% | 59.0% |
| L. A. AINGER MIDDLE SCHOOL ROTONDA WEST | 625 | 37.0% | 60.7% |
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 THOMAS L SIMS MIDDLE SCHOOL ranks
Among middle schools| Measure | This school | In Florida | In Santa Rosa County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 72.4% | #73 of 560 | #2 of 7 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 79.1% | #84 of 560 ▼ 13 | #2 of 7 no change |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 69.3% | #108 of 560 ▼ 22 | #2 of 7 no change |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 823 | #277 of 584 | #4 of 7 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 20.6:1 | #386 of 547 | #5 of 7 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 40.4% | #455 of 553 | #6 of 7 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 40.1% | #408 of 565 | #5 of 7 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked steepest decline first | -18.8% | #139 of 379 | #2 of 7 |
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
823
-181 (-18%) vs 2020
-10% since 2000-01, when it was 915
Student : Teacher
20.6:1
was 20.1:1
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 | 823 | 40 | 20.6:1 | 40% (330) |
| 2023-24 | 850 | 40 | 21.3:1 | 43% (364) |
| 2022-23 | 1,098 | 50 | 22.0:1 | 34% (375) |
| 2020-21 | 1,004 | 50 | 20.1:1 | 26% (262) |
| 2017-18 | 1,013 | 53 | 19.1:1 | 31% (313) |
| 2015-16 | 932 | 51 | 18.3:1 | 31% (289) |
| 2010-11 | 836 | 43 | 19.4:1 | 34% (282) |
| 2000-01 | 915 | 44 | 20.8:1 | 24% (222) |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for THOMAS L SIMS MIDDLE SCHOOL.
About THOMAS L SIMS MIDDLE SCHOOL
THOMAS L SIMS MIDDLE SCHOOL is a public middle school run by SANTA ROSA in PACE, Florida. Enrollment totals 823 students across grades 6 through 8.
SANTA ROSA enrolls 29,643 students in 38 schools, including THOMAS L SIMS MIDDLE SCHOOL.
More than half of enrollment at THOMAS L SIMS MIDDLE SCHOOL is White: 76%. The remaining shares are 10% multiracial, 8% Hispanic, 3% Black, and 2% Asian. Measured by the diversity index, the student body scores 40%.
Its staff includes 40 full-time-equivalent teachers, for about 20.6 students per teacher. Across middle schools in Florida, the average ratio is 19.6:1. THOMAS L SIMS MIDDLE SCHOOL has a free or reduced-price lunch rate of 40%.
Among Florida public middle schools, THOMAS L SIMS MIDDLE SCHOOL outscored 90%, which works out to an A on the allk12 Grade.
In Florida, THOMAS L SIMS MIDDLE SCHOOL is in the middle band of BeatsExpectations: 72.4% actual against a predicted 61.1%.
In Santa Rosa County, home to about 198,472 people, the median household earns about $91,922 a year, a bachelor's degree or higher is held by about 32% of adults, and the share of residents below the poverty line is 7%. Public schools in Santa Rosa County number 42, with about 29,382 students.
S. S. DIXON INTERMEDIATE SCHOOL is the nearest public school to THOMAS L SIMS MIDDLE SCHOOL, about 0.2 miles away. Counting only straight-line distance, at least 8 other public schools are within five miles. Of 6 schools in the immediate area with test results, THOMAS L SIMS MIDDLE SCHOOL ranks 2nd on average proficiency.
THOMAS L SIMS MIDDLE SCHOOL is coded as Suburb: Large in federal locale data.
Enrollment was 823 in 2024-25. In 2020-21, it was 1,004.
Anyone can start a thread about athletics, class schedules, and weather closures at THOMAS L SIMS MIDDLE SCHOOL. Teachers and staff are welcome to share updates too.
Santa Rosa County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
198,472
Census ACS
Median income
$91,922
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
32%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
7%
Below federal line
Schools in county
42
29,382 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in SANTA ROSA
- NAVARRE HIGH SCHOOLHigh · 2,410 students
- PACE HIGH SCHOOLHigh · 2,316 students
- MILTON HIGH SCHOOLHigh · 1,985 students
- GULF BREEZE HIGH SCHOOLHigh · 1,946 students
- EAST BAY K-8 SCHOOLElementary · 1,100 students
- WALLACE LAKE K-8Elementary · 1,061 students
Other schools in PACE
- PACE HIGH SCHOOLHigh · 2,316 students
- WALLACE LAKE K-8Elementary · 1,061 students
- PEA RIDGE ELEMENTARY SCHOOLElementary · 846 students
- S. S. DIXON INTERMEDIATE SCHOOLElementary · 676 students
- S. S. DIXON PRIMARY SCHOOLElementary · 611 students
Nearby schools
- S. S. DIXON INTERMEDIATE SCHOOL0.2 mi · 676
- HIGH ROAD1.4 mi · 102
- PACE HIGH SCHOOL1.7 mi · 2,316
- S. S. DIXON PRIMARY SCHOOL2.4 mi · 611
- BERRYHILL ELEMENTARY SCHOOL3.1 mi · 802
- WALLACE LAKE K-83.6 mi · 1,061
Frequently asked questions
About THOMAS L SIMS MIDDLE SCHOOLHow many students attend THOMAS L SIMS MIDDLE SCHOOL?
THOMAS L SIMS MIDDLE SCHOOL enrolls approximately 823 students in grades 06-08.
What grades does THOMAS L SIMS MIDDLE SCHOOL serve?
THOMAS L SIMS MIDDLE SCHOOL serves grades 06-08.
What is the student-teacher ratio at THOMAS L SIMS MIDDLE SCHOOL?
The student-to-teacher ratio at THOMAS L SIMS MIDDLE SCHOOL is approximately 20.6:1 (40 FTE teachers).
What is the racial breakdown of students at THOMAS L SIMS MIDDLE SCHOOL?
At THOMAS L SIMS MIDDLE SCHOOL, the student body is approximately 76% White, 8% Hispanic, 3% Black, 2% Asian, 10% Two or more.
Is THOMAS L SIMS MIDDLE SCHOOL public or private?
THOMAS L SIMS MIDDLE SCHOOL is a public K-12 school, overseen by SANTA ROSA.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.