Elizabeth Cobb Middle School, Tallahassee FL

Original Research by School Decision on Elizabeth Cobb Middle School

Elizabeth Cobb Middle School sits on Hillcrest Avenue in Tallahassee, serving sixth through eighth graders in the Leon County public school system. Tallahassee itself is a city of government, universities, and healthcare, anchored by state agencies, Florida State University, Florida A&M University, and Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare. The east side of the city, where Cobb is located, includes newer residential development, and the broader metro has been on a slow but steady growth path. Planners have flagged a coming need for substantial additional housing, and new communities have been appearing along eastern corridors.

The school enrolls several hundred middle schoolers across its three grade levels, a size typical for its grade band. A substantial share of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, suggesting a meaningfully economically mixed population. Racially, Black students make up the largest group, followed by white students, with Hispanic, multiracial, and Asian students each represented. Data on English learner and special education populations was not available in the records we reviewed.

On Florida's FAST assessments, the picture is mixed and shifts by grade and subject. In math, sixth and seventh graders score above the midpoint on proficiency, which is a genuine positive relative to state standards, while eighth grade math proficiency falls considerably lower. ELA follows a similar trajectory: sixth graders are above the halfway mark, but proficiency edges down through seventh and drops further in eighth grade. The eighth grade Florida Statewide Science Assessment result is the sharpest concern in the data, with a very small share of students reaching proficiency. Taken together, across tested subjects and grades, Cobb's overall proficiency index places it below the midpoint relative to other districts in Leon County. A parent whose child is entering sixth grade may want to ask the school directly about its math and science pathway through eighth grade and what supports are in place for students who fall behind as the content accelerates.

One note on the comparison: the county set used here includes only three schools or districts with proficiency index data, so this is a narrow reference group rather than a broad state picture.

The housing market in the zip code around the school is priced below the Florida statewide median and has seen modest appreciation over the past year. Rents in the area are comparatively affordable against the national shelter cost trend, and the rent-to-income ratio for the zone is within a reasonable range by national standards. For a family weighing a move, the east Tallahassee area offers access to the city's employment base, which leans heavily public sector, without the premium attached to neighborhoods closer to FSU or the city's historic core.

No program-specific data, course access information, or discipline records were available for Cobb in the sources we reviewed. The district brief search returned no confirmed parent-relevant changes to curriculum, budget, or policy within the Leon County system in the period covered, so we left that section out rather than speculate. Chronic absenteeism and graduation rate data do not apply here, the first because no rate was reported in the records, and the second because Cobb serves only middle grades.

For a family in the Hillcrest Avenue zone whose child is entering sixth grade with solid foundational skills, the school's sixth grade results suggest a reasonable starting point. The eighth grade picture across math, reading, and science is worth a candid conversation with school administrators before enrolling, particularly for families whose students may need extra support in the upper middle grades.

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Academic performance

How students perform on state tests, by grade, set against the district.

Math

Grade 650%

School 50% · District 59% · ▼ 9 pts below district

▼ 12 pts below state median · even with county median

Grade 760%

School 60% · District 55% · ▲ 5 pts above district

▲ 11 pts above state median · even with county median

Grade 835%

School 35% · District 46% · ▼ 11 pts below district

▼ 16 pts below state median · ▼ 7 pts below county median

English language arts

Grade 658%

School 58% · District 58%

▼ 2 pts below state median · ▲ 2 pts above county median

Grade 754%

School 54% · District 55% · ▼ 1 pts below district

▼ 1 pts below state median · ▲ 6 pts above county median

Grade 847%

School 47% · District 54% · ▼ 7 pts below district

▼ 7 pts below state median · ▼ 4 pts below county median

Science

Grade 813%

School 13% · District 41% · ▼ 28 pts below district

▼ 33 pts below state median · ▼ 26 pts below county median

This schoolLEON, same grade

Graduation rate (ACGR) reflects the federally published Adjusted Cohort Graduation Rate for the most recent year available. We refresh this data annually at the close of each academic year in June. The federal source publishes a banded rate (for example, "90-94%") instead of an exact number for cohorts small enough to risk identifying individual students. The state distribution chart, where shown, plots every school in the state with a published rate or band; schools whose rate is federally suppressed are excluded. Where the federal source publishes a band rather than an exact rate, the school is placed within its band using a stable, ID-derived offset, so its position is consistent across visits.

Proficiency by household income

English language arts

Grade 6Lower-income50%Higher-income63%13 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income21%Higher-income74%53 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income39%Higher-income52%13 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 6Lower-income39%Higher-income57%18 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income41%Higher-income74%33 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income33%Higher-income36%3 pp gap