1
Honest take: what's the hardest part about being a student at PORT ISABEL J H?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
396
Middle
DISTRICT 357 · STATE 643
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·POINT ISABEL ISD·NCES 483525003990
PORT ISABEL J H
17001 HWY 100, PORT ISABEL, TX 78578 · (956) 943-0060 · Cameron County
GRADES 06–08MIDDLE41-RURALTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL396 STUDENTS
Student : Teacher
12.2:1
32 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 13.6:1 · STATE 14.4:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
84%
334 students
DISTRICT 86% · 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
Student demographics
Student head counts by race/ethnicity from federal NCES enrollment data. 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
PORT ISABEL J H→PORT ISABEL EARLY COLLEGE H S
Feeds from
Based on grade levels within POINT ISABEL ISD. Attendance zones can vary; confirm enrollment with the district.
Test scores
STAAR 2023-24 . % Meets Grade Level or AboveReading
51.0%
TX avg 51.8% . +32.0pp since 2020
Mathematics
25.0%
TX avg 42.0% . +17.0pp since 2020
What this means: On the STAAR, Texas's statewide test, about 51 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 52 and 42. Reading scores are up about 32 points since 2020, while math scores are up about 17 points.
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
37.9%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
37.0%
based on TX schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
+0.8pp
above demographic expectation
What this means: About 38% 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 →
7-year change
SY 2017-18 vs SY 2024-25Enrollment
396
-105 (-21%) vs 2017
Student : Teacher
12.2:1
was 16.2:1
% White
6%
was 8%
% Hispanic
93%
was 91%
% Black
0%
was 0%
% Asian
0%
was 1%
Source: NCES Common Core of Data
About PORT ISABEL J H
As a cozy middle school in PORT ISABEL, Texas, PORT ISABEL J H caters to 396 students from grades 6 through 8, run under POINT ISABEL ISD. That puts it 38% below the typical public school in Texas, which averages around 643 students.
POINT ISABEL ISD comprises 5 schools with combined enrollment of 1,786 students; PORT ISABEL J H is among them.
On demographics, PORT ISABEL J H lists that 93% of students identify as Hispanic, making the school strongly Hispanic-majority. Beyond that, the school reports 6% White. That mix tracks the wider county fairly closely.
Looking at school resources, The school currently runs with 32 full-time-equivalent teachers, for a student-teacher ratio near 12.2:1. Statewide, the average ratio sits near 14.4:1, putting PORT ISABEL J H tighter than the state norm the norm. Roughly 84% of students at PORT ISABEL J H qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, often used as a Title I proxy.
With demographic context factored in, PORT ISABEL J H sits in the middle band of the BeatsExpectations distribution. Schools with this campus's student mix typically land near 37.0%; this one delivers 37.9%.
In the broader community, Cameron County reports that median household earnings sit near $52,601, 22% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, and census figures put the poverty rate at about 21%. Across Cameron County's 187 public schools (combined enrollment of about 97,392 students), PORT ISABEL J H is one campus in the mix.
The closest other public school is PORT ISABEL EARLY COLLEGE H S, roughly 0.3 miles away. 3 of the 8 nearest public schools sit inside a five-mile radius. On composite proficiency, PORT ISABEL J H comes 9th of 9 in the immediate cluster, beneath the nearby-schools average of 47.9%.
The school occupies a small-town site.
Five-year trend. Looking back 7 years, enrollment at PORT ISABEL J H has shrank 21%, going from 501 students in 2018 to 396 in 2025. The student-to-teacher ratio pulled in from 16.2:1 in 2018 to 12.2:1 today.
In the discussion threads here, members of the PORT ISABEL J H community share and discuss open house dates, ride-share offers, and field-trip permission slips. Anyone with firsthand experience at this school can post or comment.
Cameron County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
426,120
Census ACS
Median income
$52,601
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
22%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
21%
Below federal line
Schools in county
187
97,392 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in POINT ISABEL ISD
- PORT ISABEL EARLY COLLEGE H SHigh · 585 students
- GARRIGA ELElementary · 410 students
- DERRY ELElementary · 392 students
- CAMERON CO J J A E PHigh · 3 students
Other schools in PORT ISABEL
- PORT ISABEL EARLY COLLEGE H SHigh · 585 students
- GARRIGA ELElementary · 410 students
- DERRY ELElementary · 392 students
- CAMERON CO J J A E PHigh · 3 students
Nearby schools
- PORT ISABEL EARLY COLLEGE H S0.3 mi · 585
- DERRY EL1.1 mi · 392
- GARRIGA EL2.1 mi · 410
- RIVERA EARLY COLLEGE H S14.2 mi · 2,150
- LOS FRESNOS H S14.2 mi · 3,285
- VERMILLION ROAD EL14.3 mi · 654
Frequently asked questions
About PORT ISABEL J HWhat is the total enrollment at PORT ISABEL J H?
PORT ISABEL J H enrolls approximately 396 students in grades 06-08.
What grades does PORT ISABEL J H serve?
PORT ISABEL J H serves grades 06-08.
What is the student-teacher ratio at PORT ISABEL J H?
The student-to-teacher ratio at PORT ISABEL J H is approximately 12.2:1 (32 FTE teachers).
What is the racial breakdown of students at PORT ISABEL J H?
At PORT ISABEL J H, the student body is approximately 6% White, 93% Hispanic, 0% Black, 0% Asian, 1% Two or more.
Who oversees PORT ISABEL J H?
PORT ISABEL J H is overseen by POINT ISABEL ISD in Cameron County.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.