The top reported proficiency rate is 45% in English language arts. The lowest is 7% in Math.
Original Research by School Decision on William R Martin Middle School
William R Martin Middle School in Valley Grande serves seventh and eighth graders within the Dallas County school system. It is a regular public school, not a magnet or charter, and its enrollment is moderately sized for a two-grade middle school. The student body is predominantly Black, with a sizable White minority and a smaller share of students identifying as two or more races. A substantial majority of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, indicating a high-poverty school community. Data on students with disabilities and English learners was not available in the public record, a gap a parent may want to clarify directly with the school.
Academically, the picture is uneven. On the state’s ACAP assessments administered in the 2024-25 school year, reading proficiency reached around half of eighth graders and a somewhat lower share of seventh graders, placing the school’s overall English language arts performance in a mixed range. Math proficiency was markedly lower — only a small fraction of seventh graders and an even smaller share of eighth graders met the standard. Science proficiency for eighth graders was just under a third. When compared with other districts in Dallas County — a two-district county — the school’s combined proficiency index ranked at the top of that very small cohort. That position reflects a relative standing within a limited local set rather than a strong absolute result; the numbers themselves are soft, particularly in mathematics. Only a single year of state testing data was available for this school, so there is no trend to examine. A parent looking for signs of improvement or decline will have to wait for subsequent years to judge trajectory.
The school operates within the Dallas County district, which serves a largely rural area. The district brief turned up no recent parent-relevant changes such as boundary shifts, program additions, or leadership transitions. For families considering this school, the academic context of the community matters. Valley Grande, where the school is located, is a low-density, auto-dependent town with a small commercial strip and no traditional downtown. The housing market is inexpensive — home values are well below state and national averages, with modest year-over-year appreciation — making the area financially accessible for many buyers. The town’s population has been declining since the 2020 census, and new development has focused on recreational amenities such as a sports complex and walking trail rather than housing growth. Major employers are not concentrated within Valley Grande; nearby Selma likely serves as the regional employment hub.
What this means for a family is that the school sits in a quiet, rural setting with limited street life and amenities. The peer environment reflects a high-poverty student population. Academically, the school’s performance in reading offers a more hopeful picture than its performance in math, which is a significant concern. Support services and academic intervention programs were not documented in the available data, so a parent would need to ask the school directly about tutoring, remediation, or enrichment offerings. Because the school only covers two grades, students move on to Dallas County High School in Plantersville after eighth grade; the middle school years are a short segment of a longer K-12 path within the district.
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