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Honest take: what's the hardest part about being a student at GARLAND MCMEANS J H?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
1,133
Middle
DISTRICT 1,173 · STATE 643
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·KATY ISD·NCES 482517008824
Garland McMeans Junior High School
21001 WESTHEIMER PKWY, KATY, TX 77450 · (281) 237-8006 · Harris County
GRADES 06–08MIDDLE21-SUBURBREGULAR SCHOOL1,133 STUDENTS
A+
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 95% of Texas public middle schools
- A+Test 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.
- C-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
15.6:1
72 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 14.5:1 · STATE 14.4:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
28%
317 students
DISTRICT 46% · 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 | 382 | 34% |
| Grade 7 | 362 | 32% |
| Grade 8 | 389 | 34% |
Student demographics
72%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 75% · 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
School pathway
Students here typically continue to
Garland McMeans Junior High School→Taylor High School
Based on published attendance-zone data from KATY ISD. Zones change; confirm enrollment with the district.
Test scores
STAAR 2025-26 . % Meets Grade Level or AboveReading
85.0%
TX avg 54.5% . +17.0pp since 2020
Mathematics
90.0%
TX avg 45.3% . +11.0pp since 2020
What this means: On the STAAR, Texas's statewide test, about 85 of every 100 students at this school read at grade level and about 90 of 100 do math at grade level. Across all Texas schools, those numbers are about 55 and 45. Reading scores are up about 17 points since 2020, while math scores are up about 11 points.
Performance levels, 2025-26
| Subject | Masters Grade Level | Meets Grade Level | Approaches Grade Level | Did Not Meet Grade Level |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Reading | 67.0% | 18.0% | 10.0% | 5.0% |
| Mathematics | 63.0% | 27.0% | 6.0% | 4.0% |
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 | 85.0% | 90.0% |
| 2024-25 | 87.0% | 88.0% |
| 2023-24 | 88.0% | 86.0% |
| 2022-23 | 81.0% | 85.0% |
| 2021-22 | 75.0% | 84.0% |
| 2020-21 | 68.0% | 79.0% |
% 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
OUTPERFORMING
Top 10% of TX schools after controlling for student poverty
Actual proficiency
82.8%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
61.7%
based on TX schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
+21.1pp
above demographic expectation
What this means: About 83% of students here test proficient in math and reading, well above the roughly 62% typical for Texas schools with a similar share of low-income students. BeatsExpectations ranks schools against others at the same poverty level, not by raw scores, so a school can post high scores and still fall short of its prediction, or post lower scores and still beat it. This school clears its prediction by about 21 points, placing it in Texas's top 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 Garland McMeans Junior High School
Garland McMeans Junior High School's state test result (82.8% proficient) is higher than 5 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Garland McMeans Junior High School this school | 1,133 | 28.0% | 82.8% |
| Raymond B Cooper Junior High School WYLIE | 1,019 | 24.9% | 69.0% |
| Dr Al Draper Intermed WYLIE | 963 | 26.2% | 69.8% |
| Kealing Middle School AUSTIN | 1,196 | 24.7% | 72.2% |
| Cinco Ranch Junior High School KATY | 1,455 | 31.6% | 75.6% |
| Spillane Middle School CYPRESS | 1,436 | 30.9% | 72.3% |
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 Garland McMeans Junior High School ranks
Among middle schools| Measure | This school | In Texas | In Harris County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 82.8% | #17 of 1,635 | #2 of 218 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 90.0% | #11 of 1,670 ▲ 6 | #2 of 219 no change |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 85.0% | #64 of 1,670 ▼ 24 | #10 of 219 ▼ 5 |
| 3-year test score change ranked biggest gain first | +4.5pp | #1,126 of 1,570 | #162 of 216 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 1,133 | #166 of 1,749 | #50 of 227 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 15.6:1 | #1,022 of 1,542 | #134 of 215 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 72.4% | #76 of 1,543 | #9 of 215 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 28.0% | #1,477 of 1,648 | #211 of 221 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked fastest growth first | +2.3% | #380 of 437 | #34 of 41 |
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
1,133
-3 (0%) vs 2020
+6% since 2000-01, when it was 1,068
Student : Teacher
15.6:1
was 14.9:1
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 | 1,133 | 72.4 | 15.6:1 | 28% (317) |
| 2023-24 | 1,168 | 75.8 | 15.4:1 | 29% (340) |
| 2022-23 | 1,169 | 71.6 | 16.3:1 | 30% (352) |
| 2020-21 | 1,136 | 76 | 14.9:1 | 22% (248) |
| 2017-18 | 1,108 | 73.7 | 15.0:1 | 19% (209) |
| 2015-16 | 1,105 | 67 | 16.5:1 | 14% (153) |
| 2010-11 | 1,185 | 66 | 17.9:1 | 11% (126) |
| 2000-01 | 1,068 | 66 | 16.2:1 | 1% (8) |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Garland McMeans Junior High School.
Since 2017-18: students up 2% (1,108 to 1,133); teachers down 2% (73.7 to 72.4).
About Garland McMeans Junior High School
Garland McMeans Junior High School is a middle school in KATY, Texas, reachable at (281) 237-8006. Students in grades 6 through 8 attend, and enrollment is 1,133 students. The average for middle schools in Texas is about 643 students, so this school is 76% bigger than average.
KATY ISD has 96,111 students in 78 schools, and Garland McMeans Junior High School is one of those schools.
No single group makes up more than half of enrollment at Garland McMeans Junior High School. The largest is White students, at 40%. The next largest groups are 24% Asian, 23% Hispanic, 8% Black, and 5% multiracial. Pick two students at random and there is a 72% chance they belong to different racial or ethnic groups; that figure is the school's diversity index.
Teachers at the school number 72.4 full-time equivalents, and the ratio is 15.6:1. On average, middle schools in Texas have 14.4:1, compared with 15.6:1 here. The school's lunch program data list 28% of students as eligible for free or reduced-price meals. On average, public schools in Harris County report 70%.
allk12 grades Garland McMeans Junior High School an A+. The grade compares the school only with Texas public middle schools, because each state gives its own test.
On allk12's BeatsExpectations measure, Garland McMeans Junior High School is among the top 10% of schools in Texas. Predicted: 61.7%. Actual: 82.8%.
County data help place the school in context: in Harris County, the median household income is $74,983, a bachelor's degree or higher is held by about 34% of adults, and the share of residents below the poverty line is 13%. Harris County is home to 1,205 public schools and about 886,911 public school students.
The nearest other public school, Joella Exley Elementary School, is about 0.7 miles away. Inside a five-mile radius, there are at least 8 other public schools. On average proficiency, Garland McMeans Junior High School is 2nd of 9 nearby schools with test data.
Its NCES locale code is Suburb: Large: the school is in a suburban area outside a principal city, within an urbanized area with a population of 250,000 or more.
From 2020-21 to 2024-25, enrollment held near 1,133, starting from 1,136.
If you have questions about school safety, transportation, and start times at Garland McMeans Junior High School, you can post them here. Anyone with firsthand experience at this school can post or comment.
Harris County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
4,838,303
Census ACS
Median income
$74,983
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
34%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
13%
Below federal line
Schools in county
1,205
886,911 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in KATY ISD
- Seven Lakes High SchoolHigh · 3,773 students
- Cinco Ranch High SchoolHigh · 3,740 students
- Katy High SchoolHigh · 3,543 students
- Paetow High SchoolHigh · 3,447 students
- Taylor High SchoolHigh · 3,384 students
- Jordan High SchoolHigh · 3,330 students
Other schools in KATY
- Seven Lakes High SchoolHigh · 3,773 students
- Cinco Ranch High SchoolHigh · 3,740 students
- Katy High SchoolHigh · 3,543 students
- Paetow High SchoolHigh · 3,447 students
- Taylor High SchoolHigh · 3,384 students
- Jordan High SchoolHigh · 3,330 students
Nearby schools
- Joella Exley Elementary School0.7 mi · 868
- Jeanette Hayes Elementary School1.0 mi · 515
- Memorial Parkway Junior High School1.3 mi · 766
- Rodger & Ellen Beck Junior High School1.6 mi · 1,239
- James E Williams Elementary School1.7 mi · 868
- Sue Creech Elementary School1.7 mi · 804
Frequently asked questions
About Garland McMeans Junior High SchoolHow large is Garland McMeans Junior High School?
Garland McMeans Junior High School enrolls approximately 1,133 students in grades 06-08.
Is Garland McMeans Junior High School an elementary, middle, or high school?
Garland McMeans Junior High School is a middle school covering grades 06-08.
How many teachers does Garland McMeans Junior High School have?
Garland McMeans Junior High School employs 72 FTE teachers, for a student-to-teacher ratio of 15.6:1.
What is the student diversity at Garland McMeans Junior High School?
Student demographics at Garland McMeans Junior High School are roughly 40% White, 23% Hispanic, 8% Black, 24% Asian, 5% Two or more.
Who oversees Garland McMeans Junior High School?
Garland McMeans Junior High School is overseen by KATY ISD in Harris County.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.