Live Oak Ridge Middle, Killeen TX

Original Research by School Decision on Live Oak Ridge Middle

Live Oak Ridge Middle serves about a mid-sized cohort of sixth through eighth graders in Killeen, a fast-growing military-connected city anchored by Fort Cavazos. The school's academic results show strain across core subjects. In math, proficiency spans a narrow range from the lowest to highest grade tested, with eighth grade performing somewhat better than the younger cohorts. English language arts results are similarly modest, hovering in the low-to-mid range across all three grades. Science and social studies proficiency are lower still, particularly in social studies where the school's rate was notably below the math and ELA bands. The data suggests students are developing foundational skills—a meaningful share show the lowest performance level across-the-board—but the trajectory into secondary school pathways is weak. A parent may want to look into this further with the school, both to understand the driver of these patterns and to ask what support structures exist for students entering high school.

The school population is substantially low-income, with the large majority of students qualifying for free or reduced-price lunch. Racially, the enrollment is majority Black, with a substantial Hispanic contingent and smaller populations of Asian and multiracial students. The school sits in Killeen, which is diverse and young by design: military churn through Fort Cavazos shapes the city's character, and the median age is around thirty. Housing is affordable relative to state benchmarks, and the city is expanding rapidly, ranked the second fastest-growing place in the nation. New residential development concentrates in subdivisions to the southwest and east.

Killeen ISD itself is undergoing substantial reorganization. The district approved a closure of three schools—including an adjacent middle school—at the end of the current school year as part of a multi-phase optimization plan spanning through 2028. The closures and resulting rezoning mean families in the district are experiencing attendance boundary shifts and program consolidations. The district has also seen its property tax rate compress significantly over the past several years, which lowers household tax burden. Offsetting that, the district faces declining enrollment and a projected loss of federal Impact Aid, which will strain resources in the years ahead. A family considering this school should factor in both the near-term boundary redrawn and the longer-term curriculum redesign the district is planning, particularly any expansion of career and technical education and dual enrollment that may open new pathways for eighth graders entering high school.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 616%

School 16% · District 25% · ▼ 9 pts below district

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

Grade 718%

School 18% · District 22% · ▼ 4 pts below district

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

Grade 826%

School 26% · District 25% · ▲ 1 pts above district

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

English language arts

Grade 632%

School 32% · District 43% · ▼ 11 pts below district

▼ 20 pts below state median · ▼ 13 pts below county median

Grade 730%

School 30% · District 38% · ▼ 8 pts below district

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

Grade 832%

School 32% · District 45% · ▼ 13 pts below district

▼ 23 pts below state median · ▼ 20 pts below county median

Science

Grade 820%

School 20% · District 34% · ▼ 14 pts below district

▼ 22 pts below state median · ▼ 18 pts below county median

Social studies

Grade 815%

School 15% · District 21% · ▼ 6 pts below district

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

This schoolKILLEEN 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-income29%Higher-income44%15 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income27%Higher-income38%11 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income30%Higher-income44%14 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 6Lower-income13%Higher-income28%15 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income15%Higher-income26%11 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income24%Higher-income39%15 pp gap