The top reported proficiency rate is 59% in English language arts. The lowest is 49% in Math.
Original Research by School Decision on Burns Middle School
Burns Middle School sits on Brooker Road in Brandon, a large unincorporated suburban community roughly a dozen miles east of downtown Tampa. The school serves sixth through eighth grade as a regular public school within Hillsborough County Public Schools, one of the largest districts in the country.
Brandon itself is a built-out, car-dependent suburb organized around major arterial roads and highway access rather than any walkable center. Healthcare, finance, and retail drive the local economy, and most residents commute into Tampa or toward the I-75 corridor. The community has county parks, a regional library branch, and transit connections to Tampa through HART, though service frequency is a known limitation. New housing still arrives in the form of infill enclaves on tighter lots, and Hillsborough County continues to rank among Florida's fastest-growing counties, so the surrounding neighborhood remains in motion even as the core is largely built out.
On academic performance, Burns's FAST results from the most recent school year present a mixed picture. Sixth and eighth graders score well above the halfway mark in both math and ELA, which is a genuine strength relative to what middle schools statewide typically produce. Eighth-grade science proficiency comes in around the same range, also a solid result. The exception is seventh-grade math, where proficiency falls substantially and stands well below the school's own performance in the other grades and subjects. That gap is striking enough that a parent would be well-served asking the school directly about what is driving it and what support is in place for students who struggle in that year. ELA results across all three grades are reasonably consistent with each other, narrowing toward the low sixties, which represents a middle-of-the-road but not alarming picture. No multi-year trend data was available, so it is not possible from this data alone to say whether results are improving, declining, or holding steady.
The student body is moderately large for a middle school. White students make up the largest single group, with Hispanic students the second largest, followed by smaller shares of Black, multiracial, and Asian students. Close to two-fifths of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, indicating a meaningful share of economically disadvantaged families. Data on English learners and students with IEPs was not reported in the available data, so families with children in those programs should ask the school directly about services and staffing.
No program information was available in the data, so it is not possible to characterize elective offerings, athletics, extracurriculars, or enrichment pathways from this profile.
The housing market surrounding Burns reflects the broader Brandon area. Home values here are running slightly below the Florida state benchmark and very close to the national median, with both values having slipped modestly over the past year. Rents have also dipped slightly. Mortgage costs remain elevated given current rates, and rent-to-income ratios are high enough to press renters, so affordability is a real consideration for families weighing this area. The county recently passed a one-mill property tax referendum, running through mid-2029, that adds a meaningful annual cost for homeowners and directs the funds toward teacher and staff pay raises across the district. That is a structural change worth factoring into housing cost estimates.
Families should also be aware that Hillsborough County approved a significant district-wide boundary rezoning for the 2024-2025 school year, affecting a large number of schools and potentially displacing students from their previously assigned schools. Whether Burns's attendance zone was affected is worth confirming with the district directly, particularly for families who are new to the area or whose address sits near a zone boundary.
The neighbor comparison data was not applicable here because Burns is part of the only district in the county's comparison set, so no meaningful peer positioning against other local districts is possible.
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