The top reported proficiency rate is 60% in Math. The lowest is 51% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Sergeant Paul R Smith Middle School
Sergeant Paul R. Smith Middle School sits in the Citrus Park area of northwest Tampa, serving sixth through eighth graders in Hillsborough County's public school system. It is a neighborhood middle school, not a magnet or charter, with an enrollment that places it in a modest size range for a school of this grade band.
The student body is predominantly Hispanic, with smaller shares of white, Black, and Asian students, and a small multiracial population. A substantial majority of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, which means this school serves a population with meaningful economic need. Data on English learner rates and special education (IEP) enrollment were not available in the records provided.
Academic performance on Florida's FAST assessments for the most recent year shows a clear split by grade level and subject. In math, sixth and eighth graders performed well, with eighth graders posting the strongest results of any subject or grade at the school, well above the majority mark. Seventh-grade math results, however, were noticeably weaker, falling well below half of students scoring proficient. That gap within the same subject across consecutive years is unusual and worth asking the school about directly. In ELA, results were more consistent across grades but hovered just below or right at the midpoint, meaning roughly half of students in each grade reached proficiency in reading and writing. Eighth-grade science came in at about the midpoint. Trend data was not available, so it is not possible to say whether these numbers represent improvement, decline, or stability.
The comparison framework for this school against other districts in Hillsborough County could not produce a meaningful benchmark because only one district operates in the county at that level of aggregation, so no relative positioning is possible from that data. A parent wanting context would need to look at how these results compare to other Hillsborough County middle schools specifically, which this data set does not resolve.
No program information was available. Course access, staffing ratios, discipline data, and attendance figures were also absent from the records, which leaves meaningful gaps for a family trying to understand the day-to-day environment. These are reasonable questions to raise with the school directly.
The surrounding area of northwest Tampa, near Citrus Park, is suburban residential in character, somewhat removed from the walkable downtown core and the civic and cultural anchors along the Hillsborough River. The housing market in the zip code reflects values somewhat above both the Florida state midpoint and the national average, though they have edged down slightly in the past year. Rents in the area run at a level that places a meaningful share of household income toward housing for families at or near the national median income figure. The broader Hillsborough district approved a one-mill property tax referendum in late 2024, publicly reported as raising teacher and staff pay through a supplement funded over a four-year levy beginning July 2025. Homeowners in the district will see that reflected in their tax bills.
The district also carried out a major school boundary rezoning for the 2024-25 school year, affecting a large number of schools and a substantial number of students. Families should verify that their current address assignment to Smith Middle School remains stable, since boundary lines in Hillsborough have recently shifted in ways that moved many students to different buildings.
For a family weighing this school, the strongest signal in the data is the eighth-grade math performance, which stands out as a genuine strength. The seventh-grade math result and the ELA results across all grades suggest there are parts of the academic program where outcomes fall short of where most families would want them. The absence of program and staffing data makes it harder to understand what supports or enrichment exist. A visit to the school and direct conversation with administrators about those seventh-grade numbers and about available academic support resources would give a more complete picture than the data alone can provide.
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