1
How has JAIME ESCALANTE MIDDLE changed in the last five years, for better or worse?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
554
Middle
DISTRICT 729 · STATE 643
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·PHARR-SAN JUAN-ALAMO ISD·NCES 483486012589
Jaime Escalante Middle School
6123 S CAGE, PHARR, TX 78577 · (956) 354-2670 · Hidalgo County
GRADES 06–08MIDDLE13-CITYTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL554 STUDENTS
B+
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 69% of Texas public middle schools
- B-Test 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.
- BThree-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
11.0:1
50 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 12.0:1 · STATE 14.4:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
98%
544 students
DISTRICT 94% · 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 | 174 | 31% |
| Grade 7 | 187 | 34% |
| Grade 8 | 193 | 35% |
Student demographics
1%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 2% · 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
54.0%
TX avg 54.5% . +34.0pp since 2020
Mathematics
46.0%
TX avg 45.3% . +42.0pp since 2020
What this means: On the STAAR, Texas's statewide test, about 54 of every 100 students at this school read at grade level and about 46 of 100 do math at grade level. Across all Texas schools, those numbers are about 55 and 45. Reading scores are up about 34 points since 2020, while math scores are up about 42 points.
Performance levels, 2025-26
| Subject | Masters Grade Level | Meets Grade Level | Approaches Grade Level | Did Not Meet Grade Level |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Reading | 28.0% | 26.0% | 23.0% | 23.0% |
| Mathematics | 22.0% | 24.0% | 26.0% | 28.0% |
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 | 54.0% | 46.0% |
| 2024-25 | 53.0% | 38.0% |
| 2023-24 | 49.0% | 39.0% |
| 2022-23 | 40.0% | 36.0% |
| 2021-22 | 37.0% | 32.0% |
| 2020-21 | 20.0% | 4.0% |
% 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
42.4%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
31.8%
based on TX schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
+10.6pp
above demographic expectation
What this means: About 42% of students here test proficient in math and reading, compared with the roughly 32% 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 Jaime Escalante Middle School
Jaime Escalante Middle School's state test result (42.4% proficient) is higher than 2 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jaime Escalante Middle School this school | 554 | 98.2% | 42.4% |
| Dora M Sauceda Middle School DONNA | 553 | 98.0% | 39.2% |
| Domingo Trevino Middle School ALTON | 531 | 97.4% | 43.0% |
| Dr Javier Saenz Middle School PENITAS | 601 | 98.5% | 35.4% |
| Kennedy Middle School PHARR | 519 | 96.7% | 44.9% |
| Lucio Middle School BROWNSVILLE | 627 | 99.7% | 44.8% |
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 Jaime Escalante Middle School ranks
Among middle schools| Measure | This school | In Texas | In Hidalgo County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 42.4% | #823 of 1,635 | #31 of 54 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 46.0% | #697 of 1,670 ▲ 279 | #21 of 54 ▲ 13 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 54.0% | #862 of 1,670 ▼ 23 | #31 of 54 ▼ 8 |
| 3-year test score change ranked biggest gain first | +12.0pp | #684 of 1,570 | #26 of 54 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 554 | #1,006 of 1,749 | #40 of 54 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 11.0:1 | #74 of 1,542 | #3 of 52 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 1.1% | #1,506 of 1,543 | #33 of 52 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 98.2% | #33 of 1,648 | #4 of 54 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked steepest decline first | -11.6% | #579 of 942 | #29 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
554
-15 (-3%) vs 2020
-4% since 2010-11, when it was 577
Student : Teacher
11.0:1
was 11.6:1
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 | 554 | 50.2 | 11.0:1 | 98% (544) |
| 2023-24 | 535 | 50.4 | 10.6:1 | 98% (526) |
| 2022-23 | 566 | 54 | 10.5:1 | 99% (560) |
| 2020-21 | 569 | 49 | 11.6:1 | 98% (558) |
| 2017-18 | 627 | 47.1 | 13.3:1 | 98% (612) |
| 2015-16 | 661 | 48 | 13.8:1 | 97% (641) |
| 2010-11 | 577 | 40 | 14.4:1 | 0% (0) |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Jaime Escalante Middle School.
Since 2017-18: students down 12% (627 to 554); teachers up 7% (47.1 to 50.2).
About Jaime Escalante Middle School
Jaime Escalante Middle School is classified as a middle-grades school. It is located in PHARR, Texas. The school reports 554 students in grades 6 through 8.
Jaime Escalante Middle School is one school in PHARR-SAN JUAN-ALAMO ISD, a system of 44 schools with 29,749 students.
About 99% of the student body at Jaime Escalante Middle School is 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.
Federal staffing data show 50.2 full-time-equivalent teachers at Jaime Escalante Middle School and a ratio of 11.0:1. The school has fewer students per teacher than the 14.4:1 average for middle schools in Texas. The count of students eligible for free or reduced-price lunch equals 98% of enrollment. That rate is above the 85% average among public schools in Hidalgo County.
Jaime Escalante Middle School is graded B+ by allk12, scoring above 69% of Texas public middle schools once test results, poverty-adjusted performance, and the recent trend are combined.
The BeatsExpectations prediction for Jaime Escalante Middle School is 31.8%, and its average proficiency rate on state tests is 42.4%.
Within Hidalgo County, 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.
The closest public school, Cesar Chavez Elementary School, is about 0.3 miles from Jaime Escalante Middle School. Other public schools within five miles: at least 8. Jaime Escalante Middle School is 9th of 9 nearby schools by average proficiency rate.
Jaime Escalante Middle School has an NCES locale of City: Small.
Enrollment has fallen by 15 students since 2020-21, to 554.
Community posts for Jaime Escalante Middle School can cover school safety, transportation, and start times. Questions from prospective families are welcome too.
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 PHARR-SAN JUAN-ALAMO ISD
- Psja Early College High SchoolHigh · 2,300 students
- Psja North Early College High SchoolHigh · 2,166 students
- Psja Memorial Early College High SchoolHigh · 1,997 students
- Psja Southwest Early College High SchoolHigh · 1,588 students
- Lyndon B Johnson Middle SchoolMiddle · 1,006 students
- Austin Middle SchoolMiddle · 833 students
Other schools in PHARR
- Psja North Early College High SchoolHigh · 2,166 students
- Vanguard RembrandtCombined · 1,978 students
- Psja Southwest Early College High SchoolHigh · 1,588 students
- Vanguard Van GoghCombined · 1,048 students
- Lyndon B Johnson Middle SchoolMiddle · 1,006 students
- IDEA College Preparatory PharrHigh · 848 students
Nearby schools
- Cesar Chavez Elementary School0.3 mi · 403
- Berta S Palacios Elementary School0.5 mi · 470
- Graciela Garcia Elementary School1.0 mi · 385
- Carmen Anaya Elementary School1.1 mi · 429
- Jc Kelly Elementary School1.3 mi · 260
- IDEA Academy Pharr1.5 mi · 717
Frequently asked questions
About Jaime Escalante Middle SchoolHow many students attend Jaime Escalante Middle School?
Jaime Escalante Middle School enrolls approximately 554 students in grades 06-08.
Is Jaime Escalante Middle School an elementary, middle, or high school?
Jaime Escalante Middle School is a middle school covering grades 06-08.
How many teachers does Jaime Escalante Middle School have?
Jaime Escalante Middle School employs 50 FTE teachers, for a student-to-teacher ratio of 11.0:1.
What is the student diversity at Jaime Escalante Middle School?
Student demographics at Jaime Escalante Middle School are roughly 0% White, 99% Hispanic, 0% Asian.
What district is Jaime Escalante Middle School in?
Jaime Escalante Middle School is part of PHARR-SAN JUAN-ALAMO ISD.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.