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Teachers: what resource would make the biggest difference at TARKINGTON MIDDLE this year?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
411
Middle
DISTRICT 477 · STATE 643
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·TARKINGTON ISD·NCES 484221004803
Tarkington Middle School
2770 FM 163, CLEVELAND, TX 77327 · (281) 592-7737 · Liberty County
GRADES 06–08MIDDLE42-RURALTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL411 STUDENTS
C-
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 15% of Texas public middle schools
- CTest scores Share of students meeting the state standard in reading, math, and other tested subjects, 2023-24 and 2024-25.
- DBeats 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
15.2:1
27 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 15.9:1 · STATE 14.4:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
54%
222 students
DISTRICT 58% · 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 | 143 | 35% |
| Grade 7 | 133 | 32% |
| Grade 8 | 135 | 33% |
Student demographics
41%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 40% · 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
Tarkington Middle School→Tarkington High School
Feeds from
Based on grade levels within TARKINGTON ISD. Attendance zones can vary; confirm enrollment with the district.
Test scores
STAAR 2025-26 . % Meets Grade Level or AboveReading
45.0%
TX avg 54.5% . +8.0pp since 2020
Mathematics
28.0%
TX avg 45.3% . -4.0pp since 2020
What this means: On the STAAR, Texas's statewide test, about 45 of every 100 students at this school read at grade level and about 28 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 down about 4 points.
Performance levels, 2025-26
| Subject | Masters Grade Level | Meets Grade Level | Approaches Grade Level | Did Not Meet Grade Level |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Reading | 23.0% | 22.0% | 25.0% | 30.0% |
| Mathematics | 10.0% | 18.0% | 33.0% | 39.0% |
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 | 45.0% | 28.0% |
| 2024-25 | 41.0% | 35.0% |
| 2023-24 | 49.0% | 38.0% |
| 2022-23 | 39.0% | 39.0% |
| 2021-22 | 32.0% | 40.0% |
| 2020-21 | 37.0% | 32.0% |
% 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
37.3%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
50.6%
based on TX schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
-13.3pp
below demographic expectation
What this means: About 37% of students here test proficient in math and reading, compared with the roughly 51% 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 Tarkington Middle School
Tarkington Middle School's state test result (37.3% proficient) is higher than 0 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tarkington Middle School this school | 411 | 54.0% | 37.3% |
| Brownsboro Junior High School BROWNSBORO | 395 | 54.4% | 51.9% |
| Mt Vernon Middle School MOUNT VERNON | 456 | 55.9% | 50.9% |
| Brownsboro Intermediate School BROWNSBORO | 323 | 55.4% | 49.7% |
| Graham Junior High School GRAHAM | 473 | 49.5% | 46.0% |
| Van Junior High School VAN | 360 | 57.5% | 54.1% |
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 Tarkington Middle School ranks
Among middle schools| Measure | This school | In Texas | In Liberty County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 37.3% | #1,073 of 1,635 | #1 of 8 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 28.0% | #1,455 of 1,670 ▼ 343 | #3 of 8 ▼ 2 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 45.0% | #1,297 of 1,670 ▲ 68 | #4 of 8 no change |
| 3-year test score change ranked biggest drop first | -2.5pp | #166 of 1,570 | #1 of 7 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 411 | #1,241 of 1,749 | #7 of 10 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 15.2:1 | #914 of 1,542 | #1 of 8 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 40.7% | #1,083 of 1,543 | #4 of 8 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 54.0% | #1,069 of 1,648 | #8 of 8 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked steepest decline first | -6.8% | #736 of 942 | 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
411
+14 (+4%) vs 2020
+95% since 1990-91, when it was 211
Student : Teacher
15.2:1
was 12.0:1
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 | 411 | 27 | 15.2:1 | 54% (222) |
| 2023-24 | 411 | 25 | 16.5:1 | 57% (235) |
| 2022-23 | 414 | 29.4 | 14.1:1 | 57% (238) |
| 2020-21 | 397 | 33 | 12.0:1 | 50% (199) |
| 2017-18 | 441 | 31 | 14.2:1 | 43% (191) |
| 2015-16 | 460 | 35 | 13.1:1 | 45% (207) |
| 2010-11 | 468 | 35 | 13.4:1 | 48% (226) |
| 2000-01 | 393 | 27 | 14.6:1 | 25% (97) |
| 1990-91 | 211 | 15 | 14.1:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Tarkington Middle School.
Since 2017-18: students down 7% (441 to 411); teachers down 13% (31 to 27).
About Tarkington Middle School
Tarkington Middle School is a middle school in CLEVELAND, Texas, and it is part of TARKINGTON ISD. The school teaches grades 6 through 8 and enrolls 411 students. Middle schools in Texas have about 643 students on average; enrollment here is 36% lower.
Tarkington Middle School is part of a district of 4 schools: TARKINGTON ISD, with 1,907 students.
The share of White students at Tarkington Middle School is 74%, a majority. The school is also 21% Hispanic and 4% multiracial. That is higher than the 57% White share among all Liberty County residents. Its diversity index, the chance that two randomly chosen students belong to different racial or ethnic groups, is 41%.
The school's 27 full-time-equivalent teachers translate to a student-to-teacher ratio of 15.2:1. The average for middle schools in Texas is 14.4:1, so this school has more students per teacher. At Tarkington Middle School, 54% of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch in 2024-25. For comparison, public schools in Liberty County average 80%.
Tarkington Middle School holds a C- allk12 Grade, placing it above 15% of Texas public middle schools.
Test results at Tarkington Middle School are 13.3 points below what its free or reduced-price lunch share predicts (37.3% actual, 50.6% predicted).
Looking at the county, Liberty County, the median household earns about $68,703 a year, the share of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher is 12%, and roughly 16% of residents are in poverty. Liberty County has 41 public schools with about 27,599 students, including Tarkington Middle School.
Of the public schools around it, Tarkington Middle School is closest to Tarkington Early Childhood School, about 0.2 miles away. The count of other public schools within five miles is 3. Compared with its nearest neighbors, Tarkington Middle School ranks 2nd of 6 on average proficiency.
NCES lists the school's locale as Rural: Distant. That means it sits in rural territory some distance from an urban area.
The school's student count increased 4% between the 2020-21 and 2024-25 school years. The school's ratio increased from 12.0:1 to 15.2:1 between 2020-21 and 2024-25.
Anyone can start a thread about athletics, class schedules, and weather closures at Tarkington Middle School. Teachers and staff are welcome to share updates too.
Liberty County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
103,380
Census ACS
Median income
$68,703
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
12%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
16%
Below federal line
Schools in county
41
27,599 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in TARKINGTON ISD
- Tarkington Elementary SchoolElementary · 738 students
- Tarkington High SchoolHigh · 544 students
- Tarkington Early Childhood SchoolElementary · 214 students
Other schools in CLEVELAND
- Cleveland High SchoolHigh · 3,627 students
- Cleveland Middle SchoolMiddle · 1,446 students
- Santa Fe Middle SchoolMiddle · 1,117 students
- Northside Elementary SchoolElementary · 1,073 students
- Santa Fe Elementary SchoolElementary · 1,072 students
- Cottonwood Elementary SchoolElementary · 1,023 students
Nearby schools
- Tarkington Early Childhood School0.2 mi · 214
- Tarkington High School0.2 mi · 544
- Tarkington Elementary School0.3 mi · 738
- Cleveland Middle School6.5 mi · 1,446
- Cleveland High School6.7 mi · 3,627
- Eastside Elementary School6.8 mi · 867
Frequently asked questions
About Tarkington Middle SchoolHow many students attend Tarkington Middle School?
Tarkington Middle School enrolls approximately 411 students in grades 06-08.
Is Tarkington Middle School an elementary, middle, or high school?
Tarkington Middle School is a middle school covering grades 06-08.
How many students per teacher at Tarkington Middle School?
Approximately 15.2:1 students per teacher at Tarkington Middle School.
How diverse is Tarkington Middle School?
Tarkington Middle School reports a student body of 74% White, 21% Hispanic, 4% Two or more.
What district is Tarkington Middle School in?
Tarkington Middle School is part of TARKINGTON ISD.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.