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What advice would you give to incoming students at CESAR CHAVEZ MIDDLE?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
786
Middle
DISTRICT 824 · STATE 643
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·WACO ISD·NCES 484428009345
Cesar Chavez Middle School
700 S 15TH ST, WACO, TX 76706 · (254) 750-3736 · McLennan County
GRADES 06–08MIDDLE12-CITYTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL786 STUDENTS
Student : Teacher
13.9:1
57 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 14.2:1 · STATE 14.4:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
94%
735 students
DISTRICT 89% · 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 | 260 | 33% |
| Grade 7 | 264 | 34% |
| Grade 8 | 262 | 33% |
Student demographics
38%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 53% · 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
27.0%
TX avg 54.5% . +6.0pp since 2020
Mathematics
13.0%
TX avg 45.3% . -3.0pp since 2020
What this means: On the STAAR, Texas's statewide test, about 27 of every 100 students at this school read at grade level and about 13 of 100 do math at grade level. Across all Texas schools, those numbers are about 55 and 45. Reading scores are up about 6 points since 2020, while math scores are down about 3 points.
Performance levels, 2025-26
| Subject | Masters Grade Level | Meets Grade Level | Approaches Grade Level | Did Not Meet Grade Level |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Reading | 7.0% | 20.0% | 28.0% | 45.0% |
| Mathematics | 2.0% | 11.0% | 29.0% | 58.0% |
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 | 27.0% | 13.0% |
| 2024-25 | 24.0% | 13.0% |
| 2023-24 | 34.0% | 21.0% |
| 2022-23 | 27.0% | 20.0% |
| 2021-22 | 28.0% | 17.0% |
| 2020-21 | 21.0% | 16.0% |
% 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
21.9%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
33.8%
based on TX schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
-11.8pp
below demographic expectation
What this means: About 22% of students here test proficient in math and reading, compared with the roughly 34% 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 Cesar Chavez Middle School
Cesar Chavez Middle School's state test result (21.9% proficient) is higher than 1 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cesar Chavez Middle School this school | 786 | 93.5% | 21.9% |
| Benjamin Franklin International Exploratory Academy DALLAS | 808 | 90.8% | 40.0% |
| Aldine Middle School HOUSTON | 842 | 91.4% | 21.3% |
| Dailey Middle School AUSTIN | 767 | 92.3% | 24.5% |
| KIPP Mosaic Academy School HOUSTON | 788 | 89.5% | 33.4% |
| Cobb 6th Grade Campus HOUSTON | 991 | 91.0% | 50.0% |
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 Cesar Chavez Middle School ranks
Among middle schools| Measure | This school | In Texas | In McLennan County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 21.9% | #1,575 of 1,635 | #19 of 21 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 13.0% | #1,657 of 1,670 ▼ 7 | #20 of 21 no change |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 27.0% | #1,651 of 1,670 ▲ 2 | #19 of 21 ▲ 1 |
| 3-year test score change ranked biggest drop first | -3.5pp | #132 of 1,570 | #4 of 21 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 786 | #584 of 1,749 | #4 of 21 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 13.9:1 | #562 of 1,542 | #10 of 17 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 38.1% | #1,124 of 1,543 | #17 of 17 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 93.5% | #146 of 1,648 | #2 of 21 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked steepest decline first | -7.2% | #723 of 942 | #4 of 6 |
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
786
-145 (-16%) vs 2020
+70% since 2010-11, when it was 463
Student : Teacher
13.9:1
was 14.8:1
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 | 786 | 56.6 | 13.9:1 | 94% (735) |
| 2023-24 | 813 | 57.6 | 14.1:1 | 94% (766) |
| 2022-23 | 840 | 63.4 | 13.3:1 | 94% (786) |
| 2020-21 | 931 | 63 | 14.8:1 | 96% (892) |
| 2017-18 | 847 | 62.5 | 13.6:1 | 93% (786) |
| 2015-16 | 859 | 58 | 14.8:1 | 91% (778) |
| 2010-11 | 463 | 35 | 13.2:1 | 96% (446) |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Cesar Chavez Middle School.
Since 2017-18: students down 7% (847 to 786); teachers down 9% (62.5 to 56.6).
About Cesar Chavez Middle School
In WACO, Texas, Cesar Chavez Middle School is a medium-sized middle-grades school. The school counts 786 students across grades 6 through 8. The typical figure for middle schools in Texas is about 643 students.
The district, WACO ISD, has 13,476 students enrolled across 24 schools.
At 76%, Hispanic students outnumber all other groups at Cesar Chavez Middle School combined. After that, the student body is 18% Black and 4% White. Among all residents of McLennan County, the Hispanic share is about 27%. Cesar Chavez Middle School has a diversity index of 38%, compared with 70% for all US public school students.
The school employs the equivalent of 56.6 full-time teachers, for a ratio of 13.9:1. Across middle schools in Texas, the average ratio is about 14.4:1. The free or reduced-price lunch rate at Cesar Chavez Middle School is 94%. Across public schools in McLennan County, the average is 62%.
Schools in Texas with a similar free or reduced-price lunch share are predicted to score about 33.8%. Cesar Chavez Middle School scores 21.9%.
McLennan County has these Census figures: median household income is about $66,643, the share of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher is 29%, and roughly 11% of residents are in poverty. Cesar Chavez Middle School is among the 124 public schools in McLennan County.
The closest public school, Bell's Hill Elementary School, is about 0.5 miles from Cesar Chavez Middle School. Around the school, at least 8 other public schools are within five miles. Of the 9 nearby schools with scores, including this one, Cesar Chavez Middle School is 6th on average proficiency.
The National Center for Education Statistics classifies the school's location as City: Mid-size, meaning it is inside a principal city with a population between 100,000 and 250,000.
The student count in 2024-25 was 786, 16% below the 931 of 2020-21.
Discussion on this page can cover sports tryouts, band and choir, and theater. Posting is open to anyone connected to the school.
McLennan County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
266,067
Census ACS
Median income
$66,643
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
29%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
11%
Below federal line
Schools in county
124
45,703 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in WACO ISD
- Waco High SchoolHigh · 1,885 students
- University High SchoolHigh · 1,752 students
- Tennyson Middle SchoolMiddle · 963 students
- Bell's Hill Elementary SchoolElementary · 786 students
- Lake Air Montessori SchoolElementary · 734 students
- G W Carver Middle SchoolMiddle · 723 students
Other schools in WACO
- Midway High SchoolHigh · 2,687 students
- Waco High SchoolHigh · 1,885 students
- University High SchoolHigh · 1,752 students
- Tennyson Middle SchoolMiddle · 963 students
- La Vega High SchoolHigh · 881 students
- Bell's Hill Elementary SchoolElementary · 786 students
Other Cesar Chavez Middle schools
5 other US public schools in 2 states are named Cesar Chavez Middle. Cesar Chavez Middle School is the 3rd largest of the 6.
- Cesar Chavez Middle SchoolMISSION, TX · 625 students
- Cesar Chavez MiddleUnion City, CA · 990 students
- Cesar Chavez MiddleLynwood, CA · 882 students
- Cesar Chavez MiddleOceanside, CA · 557 students
- Cesar Chavez MiddleHayward, CA · 453 students
Nearby schools
- Bell's Hill Elementary School0.5 mi · 786
- Kendrick Elementary School1.3 mi · 446
- West Avenue Elementary School1.4 mi · 249
- Harmony School of Innovation - Waco1.4 mi · 614
- Provident Heights Elementary School1.6 mi · 383
- South Waco Elementary School1.6 mi · 490
Frequently asked questions
About Cesar Chavez Middle SchoolHow many students attend Cesar Chavez Middle School?
Cesar Chavez Middle School enrolls approximately 786 students in grades 06-08.
What grades does Cesar Chavez Middle School serve?
Cesar Chavez Middle School serves grades 06-08.
What is the student-teacher ratio at Cesar Chavez Middle School?
The student-to-teacher ratio at Cesar Chavez Middle School is approximately 13.9:1 (57 FTE teachers).
What is the racial breakdown of students at Cesar Chavez Middle School?
At Cesar Chavez Middle School, the student body is approximately 4% White, 76% Hispanic, 18% Black, 1% Two or more.
Is Cesar Chavez Middle School public or private?
Cesar Chavez Middle School is a public K-12 school, overseen by WACO ISD.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.