Roosevelt Middle School, West Palm Beach FL

Original Research by School Decision on Roosevelt Middle School

Roosevelt Middle School sits on North Australian Avenue in West Palm Beach, a few blocks inland from the Intracoastal Waterway and north of the downtown core. It serves sixth through eighth grade as a regular public school within the Palm Beach County School District, the countywide district that operates all public schools in the area.

The school draws a student body that is predominantly Black and Hispanic, with a very high share of students qualifying for free or reduced-price lunch, indicating that most families here are navigating real economic constraints. Data on English learners and students with IEPs was not available in what we reviewed, so parents of students in those groups will want to ask the school directly about services and staffing.

On Florida's FAST assessments, the picture is mixed and worth sitting with honestly. Math shows a meaningful spread across grades: eighth graders perform solidly, clearing the bar at a rate well above the state's typical middle school range, while seventh grade math proficiency lands noticeably lower, closer to the middle of the pack. Sixth grade math falls in between. ELA is more consistent across all three grades but consistently below half of students reaching proficiency at each level, which means a parent should ask what reading and writing support looks like for students who are not yet meeting the standard. Eighth grade science proficiency, measured by the Florida Statewide Science Assessment, is low, with only about a third of students reaching the benchmark. Relative to districts in Palm Beach County, the school's overall proficiency index places it in the bottom quartile of that comparison set, which is a small set of districts. Trend data was not available, so it is not possible to say from this data whether results are improving, stable, or declining.

No information about course offerings, programs, clubs, arts, or athletics came through in what we reviewed. The programs field in the data returned nothing, and the district brief search was exhausted without surfacing confirmed parent-relevant changes. A parent curious about electives, accelerated coursework, or extracurriculars should contact the school directly.

The surrounding neighborhood is in the northern residential stretch of West Palm Beach, away from the luxury tower boom concentrated along South Flagler Drive but still inside a city undergoing broad transformation. Home values in the zip code are currently near the Florida state median, though slightly below it, and have dipped modestly year over year even as rents have ticked up. The affordability picture is tight: rent-to-income ratios locally run high by conventional standards, and the estimated monthly carrying cost of a home purchase, at current mortgage rates, sits well above what most households in a working-class neighborhood can absorb comfortably. West Palm Beach has unusual transit access for South Florida, including the Brightline rail station downtown, Tri-Rail, Palm Tran buses, and a free downtown circulator, which can matter for families without reliable car access.

Chronic absenteeism data was not available, which is a gap worth noting since attendance patterns at the middle school level often shape outcomes as much as instruction does.

For a family whose child is on grade level or above and who wants to understand what academic supports exist for students who are not, this school warrants a direct conversation. The eighth grade math result shows that strong outcomes are possible here. The ELA and science numbers, and the school's position relative to other Palm Beach County district schools, suggest this is a place where asking specific questions about tutoring, reading intervention, and teacher continuity will give a clearer picture than any summary can.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 663%

School 63% · District 65% · ▼ 2 pts below district

▲ 1 pts above state median · ▼ 31 pts below county median

Grade 744%

School 44% · District 42% · ▲ 2 pts above district

▼ 5 pts below state median · even with county median

Grade 873%

School 73% · District 65% · ▲ 8 pts above district

▲ 22 pts above state median · ▲ 13 pts above county median

English language arts

Grade 648%

School 48% · District 62% · ▼ 14 pts below district

▼ 12 pts below state median · ▼ 14 pts below county median

Grade 746%

School 46% · District 60% · ▼ 14 pts below district

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

Grade 846%

School 46% · District 56% · ▼ 10 pts below district

▼ 8 pts below state median · ▼ 10 pts below county median

Science

Grade 835%

School 35% · District 51% · ▼ 16 pts below district

▼ 11 pts below state median · ▼ 10 pts below county median

This schoolPALM BEACH, 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-income48%Higher-income49%1 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income46%Higher-income48%2 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income44%Higher-income52%7 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 6Lower-income64%Higher-income61%3 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income44%Higher-income42%2 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income70%Higher-income81%11 pp gap