Ser-ninos Charter Middle, Houston TX

Original Research by School Decision on Ser-ninos Charter Middle

SER-NINOS CHARTER MIDDLE serves grades six through eight as a charter school in Houston, located in the 77081 zip code on the city's southwest side. The school enrolls roughly a quarter-thousand students, with enrollment distributed fairly evenly across the three middle grades. The student body is overwhelmingly Hispanic and economically disadvantaged; nearly all students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, and the median home value and rental costs in the surrounding area sit slightly below the state benchmark, suggesting a working-class neighborhood.

State testing data for the most recent school year shows mixed academic performance across subjects and grades. In English language arts, proficiency hovers in the mid-range: sixth-graders showed solid performance while seventh-graders slipped slightly, and eighth-graders recovered to just above halfway toward proficiency. Math presents a more uneven picture. Sixth and seventh graders showed low proficiency rates, meaning most did not meet state standards; eighth grade is where the school sees marked improvement, with performance rising to about three-fifths of students meeting proficiency. Eighth-grade science testing shows that a slim minority of students reached proficiency, and social studies proficiency was even lower. Across all tested subjects, the school's overall proficiency index placed it above the midpoint among the county's other districts, a position that reflects strength in upper-grade math offsetting lower performance elsewhere.

The data available focuses on achievement outcomes and does not include attendance rates, discipline records, or details about special-education or English-learner services, so a parent may want to ask the school directly about those areas. The school's website and publicly reported strategic priorities were not accessible during research, so the direction the charter operator is setting is unclear from available sources. Growth in Houston has been rapid and suburban; housing in the school's immediate area appears stable and modestly priced compared to the broader region.

Academically, the school's profile suggests that students enter middle school with lower-than-state-average skills in math, particularly in the lower grades, but the meaningful jump in eighth-grade math proficiency indicates the school may be moving students forward meaningfully in that subject by their final year. Reading and writing proficiency is somewhat stronger, though still below state midpoints in most grades. The relatively low proficiency in science and social studies across eighth grade suggests these subjects may be areas the school has not yet emphasized with the same intensity. For a family considering this option, the question is whether the lower entry-level performance and mixed results in some subjects represent a school that is still building, or signal more persistent gaps. That question, combined with the school's service model and any alternative programs offered, would be worth exploring directly with the school.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 628%

School 28% · District 28%

▼ 6 pts below state median · ▼ 5 pts below county median

Grade 730%

School 30% · District 30%

▲ 3 pts above state median · ▲ 3 pts above county median

Grade 861%

School 61% · District 61%

▲ 19 pts above state median · ▲ 18 pts above county median

English language arts

Grade 648%

School 48% · District 48%

▼ 4 pts below state median · ▼ 1 pts below county median

Grade 744%

School 44% · District 44%

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

Grade 853%

School 53% · District 53%

▼ 2 pts below state median · ▼ 1 pts below county median

Science

Grade 834%

School 34% · District 34%

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

Social studies

Grade 828%

School 28% · District 28%

▲ 4 pts above state median · ▲ 6 pts above county median

This schoolSER-NINOS CHARTER SCHOOL, 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.