Hemphill Middle, Hemphill TX - Test Scores & Data

Original Research by School Decision on Hemphill Middle

Hemphill Middle is a small rural middle school serving fifth through eighth grade in the East Texas county seat of Hemphill. The school draws enrollment of roughly mid-sized for its grade band from Sabine County, with a substantial share of students qualifying for free or reduced price meals, reflecting the economics of a rural timber-country region.

State test results show a profile of uneven proficiency. In reading and language arts, the school reports mixed performance by grade: fifth grade at a solid mid-range level, sixth grade lower, seventh grade stronger again, and eighth grade near mid-range. Math performance is more sharply divided. Fifth graders show solid proficiency, but sixth and seventh grade math proficiency drops noticeably, while eighth graders rebound sharply with the highest proficiency rate the school reports across any grade and subject. In science, proficiency in fifth grade is below half, but improves in eighth grade. Social studies proficiency in eighth grade is below mid-range. Overall across all tested subjects, just under half the school's students are meeting or exceeding grade-level standards. This grade-by-grade volatility, particularly the sixth-to-seventh grade math dip followed by eighth grade recovery, suggests the school may have stronger instructional capacity in some grades or cohorts than others, a pattern a parent may want to look into further with the school.

The school sits in town at a clustered campus address shared with Hemphill's elementary and high schools, placing it within walking range of the historic courthouse square and downtown. Hemphill is a small working county seat surrounded by the Sabine National Forest and Toledo Bend Reservoir, with an economy centered on timber, government, education, and lake recreation. The town is car-dependent outside the compact downtown core but retains small-town civic anchors: the courthouse square, public library, and museum. Housing values in the zip code are modest relative to state and national benchmarks, and property tax is a live issue: Hemphill ISD recently pursued a voter-approval tax rate increase in November 2025 to fund staff raises, infrastructure repair, and facilities additions. Rising property appraisals have pushed effective tax bills upward even when the district's posted rate has fallen slightly, a dynamic worth understanding before committing to the area.

The school's standing among its county's districts is below the midpoint on overall proficiency index, suggesting that other schools in Sabine County are currently attaining higher average test results. No data on graduation rate or chronic absenteeism was available; these measures do not apply to middle school. The district's strategic priorities and any recent programmatic changes beyond the tax initiative were not available in the data reviewed.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 554%

School 54% · District 54%

▲ 13 pts above state median

Grade 625%

School 25% · District 25%

▼ 9 pts below state median

Grade 719%

School 19% · District 19%

▼ 8 pts below state median

Grade 877%

School 77% · District 77%

▲ 35 pts above state median

English language arts

Grade 556%

School 56% · District 56%

▲ 2 pts above state median

Grade 644%

School 44% · District 44%

▼ 8 pts below state median

Grade 760%

School 60% · District 60%

▲ 11 pts above state median

Grade 854%

School 54% · District 54%

▼ 1 pts below state median

Science

Grade 537%

School 37% · District 37%

▲ 14 pts above state median

Grade 852%

School 52% · District 52%

▲ 10 pts above state median

Social studies

Grade 835%

School 35% · District 35%

▲ 11 pts above state median

This schoolHEMPHILL 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 5Lower-income50%Higher-income67%17 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income43%Higher-income42%1 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income53%Higher-income71%18 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income58%Higher-income53%5 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 5Lower-income50%Higher-income62%12 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income21%Higher-income32%11 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income12%Higher-income29%17 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income85%Higher-income69%16 pp gap