The top reported proficiency rate is 27% in Math. The lowest is 15% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Griffin Middle School
Griffin Middle School sits on Alabama Street in Tallahassee's west side, serving sixth through eighth graders as a conventional public middle school within the Leon County Schools district. It is a school with a clear identity in terms of who it serves, and parents considering it should go in with an accurate picture of both the community it anchors and the academic gaps that need attention.
The student body is predominantly Black, with Hispanic students making up the next largest group and smaller shares of white and multiracial students. A large majority of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, which places Griffin squarely among the higher-poverty schools in Tallahassee. That economic context matters for understanding what the school is navigating day to day. Data on students with IEPs and English learners was not available in what we reviewed.
On Florida's state assessments, proficiency rates across all three grades and all tested subjects fall well below state midpoints. In reading and math, fewer than a third of students at each grade level scored proficient, and the gap widens in eighth-grade math and eighth-grade science, where proficiency drops lower still. Placed against other districts in Leon County, Griffin's overall proficiency index lands in the bottom quartile of that comparison set. These are the reported numbers, and they are sobering. A parent whose child enters Griffin should ask the school directly about how it identifies students who are behind grade level, what intervention supports are in place, and how progress is tracked across the three middle school years. Multi-year trend data was not available, so it is not possible to say from this data alone whether results have been improving, holding flat, or declining.
No program-specific information was available for Griffin, so it is not possible to describe any enrichment tracks, electives, or extracurriculars from the data on hand. That is a meaningful gap for a parent deciding whether this school fits a particular student, and it would be worth contacting the school directly.
The housing market in the zip code where Griffin sits is one of Tallahassee's more accessible. Home values in that corridor run well below the Florida state median and also below the national median, which makes the surrounding neighborhoods among the more affordable entry points into Tallahassee's otherwise tightening market. Rents have been rising modestly. Tallahassee overall is on a slow growth path, and county planners are working to add housing density to address projected shortfalls, but the west-side neighborhoods near Griffin remain comparatively affordable.
Tallahassee itself is a government and university city, anchored by the State of Florida as its largest employer, followed by Florida State University, Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare, Florida A&M University, and Leon County Schools itself. The city's bus system, StarMetro, runs routes that serve multiple parts of town from a downtown hub, and a new south-side transit center broke ground in 2024. Parks, a public library system, and a downtown core with genuine walkability round out the civic picture, though most daily errands in most parts of the city still require a car.
We searched for recent district-level changes in Leon County Schools, including budget decisions, curriculum shifts, or school-level initiatives, but did not find confirmed reporting substantial enough to include. Parents should check directly with the district for current priorities.
Griffin is a neighborhood school in a part of Tallahassee with real economic challenges, and its academic numbers reflect that context. The school serves a community that needs well-resourced, attentive instruction, and the test results say that a substantial share of students are not yet reaching grade-level proficiency. That does not tell a parent everything, but it tells them something important, and the questions worth asking the school are specific: what does support for struggling students look like, what are the options for students who are ready to move faster, and what does the school do well that the state tests do not capture.
See more original research from School Decision →