1
What tradition at NICHOLS J H should never be changed?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
586
Middle
DISTRICT 656 · STATE 643
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·ARLINGTON ISD·NCES 480870000256
Nichols Junior High School
2201 ASCENSION BLVD, ARLINGTON, TX 76006 · (682) 867-2600 · Tarrant County
GRADES 07–08MIDDLE11-CITYTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL586 STUDENTS
D
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 7% of Texas public middle schools
- DTest scores Share of students meeting the state standard in reading, math, and other tested subjects, 2023-24 and 2024-25.
- C-Beats expectations How far test scores land above or below what the share of low-income students predicts for a school in this state.
- DThree-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
12.1:1
48 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 12.2:1 · STATE 14.4:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
85%
497 students
DISTRICT 78% · 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 7 | 302 | 52% |
| Grade 8 | 284 | 48% |
Student demographics
56%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 65% · 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
39.0%
TX avg 54.5% . +8.0pp since 2020
Mathematics
25.0%
TX avg 45.3% . +1.0pp since 2020
What this means: On the STAAR, Texas's statewide test, about 39 of every 100 students at this school read at grade level and about 25 of 100 do math at grade level. Across all Texas schools, those numbers are about 55 and 45. Reading scores are up about 8 points since 2020, while math scores are up about 1 points.
Performance levels, 2025-26
| Subject | Masters Grade Level | Meets Grade Level | Approaches Grade Level | Did Not Meet Grade Level |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Reading | 15.0% | 24.0% | 26.0% | 35.0% |
| Mathematics | 6.0% | 19.0% | 32.0% | 43.0% |
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 | 39.0% | 25.0% |
| 2024-25 | 40.0% | 28.0% |
| 2023-24 | 31.0% | 21.0% |
| 2022-23 | 34.0% | 30.0% |
| 2021-22 | 43.0% | 30.0% |
| 2020-21 | 31.0% | 24.0% |
% 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
26.9%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
37.5%
based on TX schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
-10.5pp
below demographic expectation
What this means: About 27% of students here test proficient in math and reading, compared with the roughly 37% 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 Nichols Junior High School
Nichols Junior High School's state test result (26.9% proficient) is higher than 3 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nichols Junior High School this school | 586 | 84.8% | 26.9% |
| Lincoln Middle School PORT ARTHUR | 619 | 85.1% | 22.5% |
| Uplift Hampton Prep Middle School DALLAS | 510 | 83.5% | 32.4% |
| Giles Middle School TEXAS CITY | 553 | 86.4% | 22.1% |
| Terry Middle School MESQUITE | 780 | 83.7% | 35.5% |
| H Bob Daniel Sr Intermediate School DUNCANVILLE | 443 | 83.5% | 21.8% |
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 Nichols Junior High School ranks
Among middle schools| Measure | This school | In Texas | In Tarrant County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 26.9% | #1,479 of 1,635 | #87 of 108 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 25.0% | #1,527 of 1,670 ▼ 172 | #100 of 112 ▼ 17 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 39.0% | #1,473 of 1,670 ▼ 101 | #93 of 112 ▼ 6 |
| 3-year test score change ranked biggest gain first | +0.0pp | #1,327 of 1,570 | #88 of 110 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 586 | #953 of 1,749 | #78 of 115 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 12.1:1 | #184 of 1,542 | #5 of 112 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 56.1% | #658 of 1,543 | #80 of 112 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 84.8% | #393 of 1,648 | #27 of 109 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked steepest decline first | -25.6% | #214 of 942 | #17 of 74 |
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
586
-153 (-21%) vs 2020
-43% since 1990-91, when it was 1,023
Student : Teacher
12.1:1
was 13.2:1
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 | 586 | 48.5 | 12.1:1 | 85% (497) |
| 2023-24 | 588 | 53.1 | 11.1:1 | 87% (509) |
| 2022-23 | 692 | 55.9 | 12.4:1 | 83% (577) |
| 2020-21 | 739 | 56 | 13.2:1 | 84% (619) |
| 2017-18 | 788 | 66.4 | 11.9:1 | 75% (588) |
| 2015-16 | 762 | 71 | 10.7:1 | 76% (580) |
| 2010-11 | 825 | 66 | 12.5:1 | 69% (568) |
| 2000-01 | 982 | 72 | 13.6:1 | 50% (494) |
| 1990-91 | 1,023 | 60 | 17.1:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Nichols Junior High School.
Since 2017-18: students down 26% (788 to 586); teachers down 27% (66.4 to 48.5).
About Nichols Junior High School
Nichols Junior High School is a medium-sized middle school located in ARLINGTON, Texas. It educates 586 students in grades 7 through 8.
Nichols Junior High School is one of the 75 schools that make up ARLINGTON ISD (53,394 students in total).
Nichols Junior High School is 55% Black by enrollment. The rest of enrollment is 36% Hispanic, 5% White, and 2% multiracial. Census estimates put the Black share of Tarrant County's population at about 18%. Nichols Junior High School's diversity index is 56%, against a US figure of 70%.
The ratio of students to teachers is 12.1:1, with 48.5 full-time-equivalent teachers on staff. The school has fewer students per teacher than the 14.4:1 average for middle schools in Texas. Lunch subsidy eligibility at Nichols Junior High School is 85%. Across public schools in Tarrant County, the average is 63%.
allk12 grades Nichols Junior High School a D. The grade compares the school only with Texas public middle schools, because each state gives its own test.
Nichols Junior High School scores 26.9% on state tests, averaged across results. The predicted figure, based on its student poverty level, is 37.5%.
Nichols Junior High School is located in Tarrant County, where the median household income is $84,207, the share of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher is 35%, and roughly 8% of residents are in poverty. Besides Nichols Junior High School, Tarrant County has 638 other public schools.
Trinity Leadership is the nearest neighboring public school, about 0.3 miles away. Within five miles of Nichols Junior High School, there are at least 8 other public schools. On proficiency, Nichols Junior High School is behind the 31.1% nearby average, ranking 4th of 6.
NCES assigns Nichols Junior High School the locale City: Large, meaning inside a principal city with a population of 250,000 or more.
Enrollment at Nichols Junior High School dropped 21% between 2020-21 and 2024-25, from 739 to 586 students. There were fewer students per teacher in 2024-25 (12.1:1) than in 2020-21 (13.2:1).
Topics for discussion here include science fairs, picture day, and bus routes. Anyone with firsthand experience at this school can post or comment.
Tarrant County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
2,167,390
Census ACS
Median income
$84,207
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
35%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
8%
Below federal line
Schools in county
639
385,835 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in ARLINGTON ISD
- Martin High SchoolHigh · 3,535 students
- Sam Houston High SchoolHigh · 3,208 students
- Arlington High SchoolHigh · 2,580 students
- Lamar High SchoolHigh · 2,457 students
- Bowie High SchoolHigh · 2,140 students
- Seguin High SchoolHigh · 1,554 students
Other schools in ARLINGTON
- Martin High SchoolHigh · 3,535 students
- Sam Houston High SchoolHigh · 3,208 students
- Arlington High SchoolHigh · 2,580 students
- Lamar High SchoolHigh · 2,457 students
- Bowie High SchoolHigh · 2,140 students
- Mansfield Timberview High SchoolHigh · 1,788 students
Nearby schools
- Trinity Leadership0.3 mi · 990
- Peach Elementary School0.5 mi · 936
- Ellis Elementary School0.8 mi · 753
- Premier H S of Arlington1.6 mi · 176
- Texasworks - Irving1.6 mi · 30
- Premier H S of South Irving1.6 mi · 18
Frequently asked questions
About Nichols Junior High SchoolWhat is the total enrollment at Nichols Junior High School?
Nichols Junior High School enrolls approximately 586 students in grades 07-08.
What age range does Nichols Junior High School serve?
Nichols Junior High School serves students from grade 07 through grade 08.
What is the student-teacher ratio at Nichols Junior High School?
The student-to-teacher ratio at Nichols Junior High School is approximately 12.1:1 (48 FTE teachers).
What is the racial breakdown of students at Nichols Junior High School?
At Nichols Junior High School, the student body is approximately 5% White, 36% Hispanic, 55% Black, 1% Asian, 2% Two or more.
Is Nichols Junior High School public or private?
Nichols Junior High School is a public K-12 school, overseen by ARLINGTON ISD.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.