1
What's one thing SOUTH TEXAS ISD RISING SCHOLARS ACADEMY gets right about preparing students for what comes next?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
781
Middle
DISTRICT 792 · STATE 643
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·SOUTH TEXAS ISD·NCES 483715013137
South Texas ISD Rising Scholars Academy
151 S HELEN MOORE RD, SAN BENITO, TX 78586 · (956) 399-4358 · Cameron County
GRADES 06–08MIDDLE22-SUBURBTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL781 STUDENTS
A
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 92% 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
15.9:1
49 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 14.9:1 · STATE 14.4:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
57%
445 students
DISTRICT 59% · 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 | 228 | 29% |
| Grade 7 | 289 | 37% |
| Grade 8 | 264 | 34% |
Student demographics
13%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 24% · 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
79.0%
TX avg 54.5% . +42.0pp since 2020
Mathematics
64.0%
TX avg 45.3% . +24.0pp since 2020
What this means: On the STAAR, Texas's statewide test, about 79 of every 100 students at this school read at grade level and about 64 of 100 do math at grade level. Across all Texas schools, those numbers are about 55 and 45. Reading scores are up about 42 points since 2020, while math scores are up about 24 points.
Performance levels, 2025-26
| Subject | Masters Grade Level | Meets Grade Level | Approaches Grade Level | Did Not Meet Grade Level |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Reading | 51.0% | 28.0% | 14.0% | 7.0% |
| Mathematics | 31.0% | 33.0% | 28.0% | 8.0% |
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 | 79.0% | 64.0% |
| 2024-25 | 82.0% | 67.0% |
| 2023-24 | 83.0% | 76.0% |
| 2022-23 | 72.0% | 63.0% |
| 2021-22 | 63.0% | 43.0% |
| 2020-21 | 37.0% | 40.0% |
% 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
73.2%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
49.4%
based on TX schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
+23.8pp
above demographic expectation
What this means: About 73% of students here test proficient in math and reading, well above the roughly 49% 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 24 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 South Texas ISD Rising Scholars Academy
South Texas ISD Rising Scholars Academy's state test result (73.2% proficient) is higher than 5 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| South Texas ISD Rising Scholars Academy this school | 781 | 57.0% | 73.2% |
| B L Gray Junior High School MISSION | 775 | 60.8% | 60.4% |
| Michael E Fossum Middle School MCALLEN | 791 | 60.2% | 62.4% |
| Trautmann Middle School LAREDO | 756 | 58.6% | 65.8% |
| Canutillo Middle School CANUTILLO | 717 | 60.3% | 40.5% |
| D J Red Simon Middle School KYLE | 898 | 58.7% | 30.5% |
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 South Texas ISD Rising Scholars Academy ranks
Among middle schools| Measure | This school | In Texas | In Cameron County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 73.2% | #67 of 1,635 | #1 of 30 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 64.0% | #227 of 1,670 ▼ 52 | #2 of 30 ▼ 1 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 79.0% | #133 of 1,670 ▼ 40 | #2 of 30 ▼ 1 |
| 3-year test score change ranked biggest gain first | +4.0pp | #1,160 of 1,570 | #28 of 29 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 781 | #596 of 1,749 | #7 of 30 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 15.9:1 | #1,075 of 1,542 | #25 of 28 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 12.7% | #1,365 of 1,543 | #5 of 28 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 57.0% | #1,008 of 1,648 | #30 of 30 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked fastest growth first | +57.1% | #31 of 437 | N/A |
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
781
+185 (+31%) vs 2020
Student : Teacher
15.9:1
was 14.2:1
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 | 781 | 49.2 | 15.9:1 | 57% (445) |
| 2023-24 | 682 | 44 | 15.5:1 | 59% (400) |
| 2022-23 | 609 | 40.9 | 14.9:1 | 57% (345) |
| 2020-21 | 596 | 42 | 14.2:1 | 45% (266) |
| 2017-18 | 497 | 39.3 | 12.7:1 | 42% (209) |
| 2015-16 | 247 | 21 | 11.8:1 | 46% (114) |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for South Texas ISD Rising Scholars Academy.
Since 2017-18: students up 57% (497 to 781); teachers up 25% (39.3 to 49.2).
About South Texas ISD Rising Scholars Academy
South Texas ISD Rising Scholars Academy is a mid-sized middle school with an address in SAN BENITO, Texas. The school runs grades 6 through 8 and enrolls 781 students. By comparison, middle schools in Texas enroll about 643 students on average.
South Texas ISD Rising Scholars Academy falls under SOUTH TEXAS ISD, which has 7 schools enrolling 4,639 students.
A large majority of enrollment at South Texas ISD Rising Scholars Academy is Hispanic, at 93%. The rest of enrollment is 3% White and 2% Asian. Measured by the diversity index, the student body scores 13%.
The school has 49.2 full-time-equivalent teachers and a ratio of 15.9 students per teacher. Middle schools in Texas have an average ratio of 14.4:1. The school reported 57% of students eligible for free or reduced-price lunch in 2024-25. That rate is below the 84% average among public schools in Cameron County.
South Texas ISD Rising Scholars Academy earns an A on the allk12 Grade, which blends test scores, results against poverty-based expectations, and the three-year trend. It scored higher than 92% of Texas public middle schools.
South Texas ISD Rising Scholars Academy outperforms its prediction by 23.8 points. The model expects 49.4% for a school with its free or reduced-price lunch share in Texas; the school's rate is 73.2%.
The county, Cameron County, is where the school is located. The median household earns about $52,601 a year, the share of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher is 22%, and about 21% of people live in poverty. Counting South Texas ISD Rising Scholars Academy, Cameron County has 187 public schools.
Among nearby public schools, Berta Cabaza Middle School is closest at about 0.4 miles. South Texas ISD Rising Scholars Academy is one of several public schools in the area, with at least 8 others within five miles.
The National Center for Education Statistics classifies the school's location as Suburb: Mid-size, meaning it is in a suburban area outside a principal city, within an urbanized area with a population between 100,000 and 250,000.
By 2024-25, enrollment had risen to 781, from 596 in 2020-21. By 2024-25, the school had 15.9 students per teacher, compared with 14.2 in 2020-21.
Anyone can start a thread about pickup and drop-off, after-school programs, and teacher feedback at South Texas ISD Rising Scholars Academy. Teachers and staff are welcome to share updates too.
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 SOUTH TEXAS ISD
- South Texas ISD Science AcademyHigh · 840 students
- South Texas ISD Medical ProfessionsHigh · 820 students
- South Texas ISD Preparatory AcademyMiddle · 802 students
- South Texas ISD Health ProfessionsHigh · 781 students
- South Texas ISD World ScholarsHigh · 403 students
- South Texas ISD Virtual AcademyHigh · 212 students
Other schools in SAN BENITO
- San Benito High SchoolHigh · 2,057 students
- IDEA College Preparatory San BenitoHigh · 780 students
- Berta Cabaza Middle SchoolMiddle · 695 students
- IDEA Academy San BenitoElementary · 685 students
- Liberty Memorial Middle SchoolMiddle · 673 students
- San Benito Veterans Memorial AcademyHigh · 645 students
Nearby schools
- Berta Cabaza Middle School0.4 mi · 695
- Amador R Rodriguez Juvenile Boot Camp0.6 mi · 15
- Cameron County JJAEP0.6 mi · 1
- Cameron Co J J Alternative Education Program0.6 mi · 1
- Cameron Co J J Alternative Education Program0.6 mi · 9
- Cameron Co J J Alternative Education Program0.6 mi · 8
Frequently asked questions
About South Texas ISD Rising Scholars AcademyHow large is South Texas ISD Rising Scholars Academy?
South Texas ISD Rising Scholars Academy enrolls approximately 781 students in grades 06-08.
What age range does South Texas ISD Rising Scholars Academy serve?
South Texas ISD Rising Scholars Academy serves students from grade 06 through grade 08.
How many teachers does South Texas ISD Rising Scholars Academy have?
South Texas ISD Rising Scholars Academy employs 49 FTE teachers, for a student-to-teacher ratio of 15.9:1.
What is the student diversity at South Texas ISD Rising Scholars Academy?
Student demographics at South Texas ISD Rising Scholars Academy are roughly 3% White, 93% Hispanic, 1% Black, 2% Asian, 0% Two or more.
What district is South Texas ISD Rising Scholars Academy in?
South Texas ISD Rising Scholars Academy is part of SOUTH TEXAS ISD.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.