D a Hulcy Steam Middle, Dallas TX

Original Research by School Decision on D a Hulcy Steam Middle

D A Hulcy STEAM Middle is a regular public middle school serving grades six through eight in southern Dallas. It is a mid-sized school with balanced enrollments across its three grade levels. The school draws a student body that is predominantly Hispanic and Black, with a substantial share of students qualifying for free or reduced-price lunch, indicating a population facing economic pressure.

On state testing, Hulcy shows a profile of uneven performance across subjects and grades. In ELA, the school demonstrates solid across-the-board results, with a majority of students meeting or exceeding proficiency in each grade. Reading appears to be the school's clearer strength. Math tells a different story: sixth and seventh grade proficiency is quite low, but eighth grade jumps sharply upward, suggesting either a significant instructional shift in the upper grade, different cohort composition, or students gaining ground as they mature. The school also tested eighth graders in science and social studies; science proficiency was respectable, while social studies performance was below that of science and ELA. A parent may want to ask the school directly about the causes of the seventh-to-eighth grade math turnaround and what supports exist for struggling math learners in the earlier grades. State testing data for earlier school years were unavailable, so the school's trajectory cannot be assessed from the materials provided.

The school sits in a southern Dallas location in a neighborhood where housing values remain relatively modest compared to state and national benchmarks. The wider Dallas context is one of substantial growth and development, with the district undertaking a major infrastructure push that includes bond-funded school replacements and the elimination of portable classrooms over the next several years. At the policy level, Dallas ISD shifted advanced-course enrollment from opt-in to opt-out in recent years, automatically placing strong test performers into honors math, reading, science, and social studies. The district also adopted a new math curriculum and reduced reliance on test-prep activities, changes that ripple through daily instruction.

The school carries the STEAM designation in its name, indicating a focus on science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics, though specific program details were not available in the data provided. For families considering this school, the most useful next steps would be asking the campus directly about STEAM course specifics, the math curriculum implementation at the middle-grade level, and what interventions support students in sixth and seventh grade math before the documented jump in eighth grade.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 627%

School 27% · District 32% · ▼ 5 pts below district

▼ 7 pts below state median · ▼ 3 pts below county median

Grade 711%

School 11% · District 7% · ▲ 4 pts above district

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

Grade 859%

School 59% · District 39% · ▲ 20 pts above district

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

English language arts

Grade 667%

School 67% · District 48% · ▲ 19 pts above district

▲ 15 pts above state median · ▲ 23 pts above county median

Grade 765%

School 65% · District 48% · ▲ 17 pts above district

▲ 16 pts above state median · ▲ 23 pts above county median

Grade 864%

School 64% · District 52% · ▲ 12 pts above district

▲ 9 pts above state median · ▲ 17 pts above county median

Science

Grade 865%

School 65% · District 37% · ▲ 28 pts above district

▲ 23 pts above state median · ▲ 30 pts above county median

Social studies

Grade 848%

School 48% · District 27% · ▲ 21 pts above district

▲ 24 pts above state median · ▲ 29 pts above county median

This schoolDALLAS ISD, 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-income65%Higher-income90%25 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income63%Higher-income90%27 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income64%Higher-income71%7 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 6Lower-income27%Higher-income30%3 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income11%Higher-income0%11 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income59%Higher-income57%2 pp gap