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What's the most underrated thing about BETTY HARWELL MIDDLE that outsiders don't know?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
1,301
Middle
DISTRICT 1,077 · STATE 643
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·EDINBURG CISD·NCES 481818012228
Betty Harwell Middle School
9207 N AVILA RD, EDINBURG, TX 78542 · (956) 289-2440 · Hidalgo County
GRADES 06–08MIDDLE41-RURALTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL1,301 STUDENTS
B
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 56% of Texas public middle schools
- CTest scores Share of students meeting the state standard in reading, math, and other tested subjects, 2023-24 and 2024-25.
- A-Beats expectations How far test scores land above or below what the share of low-income students predicts for a school in this state.
- B+Three-year trend Change in reading and math proficiency over the last three test years.
Grades compare a school only with schools in the same state, because every state gives its own test. How grades work · Top-graded Texas public middle schools
Student : Teacher
13.5:1
96 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 12.7:1 · STATE 14.4:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
95%
1,234 students
DISTRICT 81% · STATE 65%
Community
1
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 | 425 | 33% |
| Grade 7 | 427 | 33% |
| Grade 8 | 449 | 35% |
Student demographics
1%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 4% · STATE 63% · 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
STAAR 2025-26 . % Meets Grade Level or AboveReading
53.0%
TX avg 54.5% . +30.0pp since 2020
Mathematics
43.0%
TX avg 45.3% . +34.0pp since 2020
What this means: On the STAAR, Texas's statewide test, about 53 of every 100 students at this school read at grade level and about 43 of 100 do math at grade level. Across all Texas schools, those numbers are about 55 and 45. Reading scores are up about 30 points since 2020, while math scores are up about 34 points.
Performance levels, 2025-26
| Subject | Masters Grade Level | Meets Grade Level | Approaches Grade Level | Did Not Meet Grade Level |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Reading | 25.0% | 28.0% | 23.0% | 24.0% |
| Mathematics | 16.0% | 27.0% | 25.0% | 32.0% |
Share of tested students at each STAAR level. Each student counts in one level, so a row adds to about 100%.
STAAR results by year
| School year | Reading | Mathematics |
|---|---|---|
| 2025-26 | 53.0% | 43.0% |
| 2024-25 | 47.0% | 33.0% |
| 2023-24 | 45.0% | 34.0% |
| 2022-23 | 39.0% | 27.0% |
| 2021-22 | 32.0% | 25.0% |
| 2020-21 | 23.0% | 9.0% |
% Meets Grade Level or Above, all students and all tested grades.
Source: STAAR. 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
37.7%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
33.2%
based on TX schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
+4.5pp
above demographic expectation
What this means: About 38% of students here test proficient in math and reading, compared with the roughly 33% typical for Texas 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 Texas'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 Betty Harwell Middle School
Betty Harwell Middle School's state test result (37.7% proficient) is higher than 2 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Betty Harwell Middle School this school | 1,301 | 94.9% | 37.7% |
| Lamar Middle School LAREDO | 1,204 | 94.6% | 38.8% |
| Santa Fe Middle School CLEVELAND | 1,117 | 96.2% | 16.9% |
| Christen Middle School LAREDO | 1,115 | 99.4% | 40.3% |
| Memorial Middle School EDINBURG | 1,045 | 90.9% | 43.1% |
| Joaquin Cigarroa Middle School LAREDO | 1,053 | 99.6% | 37.5% |
Matched among Texas 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 Betty Harwell Middle School ranks
Among middle schools| Measure | This school | In Texas | In Hidalgo County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 37.7% | #1,047 of 1,635 | #43 of 54 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 43.0% | #797 of 1,670 ▲ 385 | #25 of 54 ▲ 20 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 53.0% | #894 of 1,670 ▲ 199 | #32 of 54 ▲ 4 |
| 3-year test score change ranked biggest gain first | +15.0pp | #499 of 1,570 | #12 of 54 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 1,301 | #71 of 1,749 | #1 of 54 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 13.5:1 | #470 of 1,542 | #30 of 52 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 0.8% | #1,516 of 1,543 | #39 of 52 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 94.9% | #118 of 1,648 | #15 of 54 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked steepest decline first | -6.3% | #751 of 942 | #37 of 44 |
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
1,301
-67 (-5%) vs 2020
Student : Teacher
13.5:1
was 13.5:1
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 | 1,301 | 96.3 | 13.5:1 | 95% (1,234) |
| 2023-24 | 1,330 | 100.5 | 13.2:1 | 97% (1,291) |
| 2022-23 | 1,453 | 96.5 | 15.1:1 | 96% (1,400) |
| 2020-21 | 1,368 | 101 | 13.5:1 | 96% (1,308) |
| 2017-18 | 1,389 | 99.4 | 14.0:1 | 97% (1,348) |
| 2015-16 | 1,382 | 97 | 14.3:1 | 95% (1,310) |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Betty Harwell Middle School.
Since 2017-18: students down 6% (1,389 to 1,301); teachers down 3% (99.4 to 96.3).
About Betty Harwell Middle School
Betty Harwell Middle School is a public large middle school in EDINBURG, Texas. It educates 1,301 students in grades 6 through 8. The school's enrollment is 102% above the 643 average for middle schools in Texas.
The 44 schools in EDINBURG CISD enroll 33,343 students altogether, Betty Harwell Middle School among them.
The student body at Betty Harwell Middle School is 100% Hispanic. The school's diversity index is 1%, meaning two students picked at random have a 1% chance of belonging to different racial or ethnic groups.
The school employs the equivalent of 96.3 full-time teachers, for a ratio of 13.5:1. That is lower than the 14.4:1 average for middle schools in Texas. The free or reduced-price lunch share, often used to gauge student poverty, is 95%. For comparison, public schools in Hidalgo County average 85%.
Measured against Texas public middle schools, Betty Harwell Middle School receives a B. The grade weighs proficiency most heavily, then how results compare with what the school's low-income share predicts, then the three-year change.
Schools in Texas with a similar free or reduced-price lunch share are predicted to score about 33.2%. Betty Harwell Middle School scores 37.7%.
Census estimates describe Hidalgo County this way: the median household income is $54,338, a bachelor's degree or higher is held by about 21% of adults, and the share of residents below the poverty line is 23%. In all, Hidalgo County has 364 public schools and roughly 212,859 students.
Nearest public school: Hargill Elementary School, about 0.3 miles away. Within five miles are 7 other public schools. Compared with its nearest neighbors, Betty Harwell Middle School ranks 7th of 8 on average proficiency.
NCES describes the area around Betty Harwell Middle School as Rural: Fringe, meaning in rural territory close to an urban area.
Betty Harwell Middle School's enrollment dropped from 1,368 in 2020-21 to 1,301 in 2024-25.
Community posts for Betty Harwell Middle School can cover enrollment questions, class placement, and PTA news. Alumni can share how the school prepared them.
Hidalgo County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
891,977
Census ACS
Median income
$54,338
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
21%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
23%
Below federal line
Schools in county
364
212,859 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in EDINBURG CISD
- Economedes High SchoolHigh · 2,689 students
- Edinburg North High SchoolHigh · 2,542 students
- Edinburg High SchoolHigh · 2,267 students
- Robert R Vela High SchoolHigh · 2,101 students
- South Middle SchoolMiddle · 1,246 students
- Francisco Barrientes Middle SchoolMiddle · 1,064 students
Other schools in EDINBURG
- Economedes High SchoolHigh · 2,689 students
- Edinburg North High SchoolHigh · 2,542 students
- Edinburg High SchoolHigh · 2,267 students
- Robert R Vela High SchoolHigh · 2,101 students
- Vanguard BeethovenCombined · 1,782 students
- South Middle SchoolMiddle · 1,246 students
Nearby schools
- Hargill Elementary School0.3 mi · 520
- Carmen V Avila Elementary School0.3 mi · 636
- Dr Kay Teer Crawford Elementary School3.7 mi · 625
- Guerra Elementary School3.8 mi · 545
- Villarreal Elementary School4.2 mi · 543
- Lone Star H S South (tjjd)4.2 mi · 159
Frequently asked questions
About Betty Harwell Middle SchoolWhat is the total enrollment at Betty Harwell Middle School?
Betty Harwell Middle School enrolls approximately 1,301 students in grades 06-08.
What grades does Betty Harwell Middle School serve?
Betty Harwell Middle School serves grades 06-08.
What is the student-teacher ratio at Betty Harwell Middle School?
The student-to-teacher ratio at Betty Harwell Middle School is approximately 13.5:1 (96 FTE teachers).
How diverse is Betty Harwell Middle School?
Betty Harwell Middle School reports a student body of 0% White, 100% Hispanic.
Who oversees Betty Harwell Middle School?
Betty Harwell Middle School is overseen by EDINBURG CISD in Hidalgo County.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.