The top reported proficiency rate is 61% in English language arts. The lowest is 15% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Malakoff Int
Malakoff Intermediate sits in the center of a small, rural city in western Henderson County, about a mid-length drive southeast of Dallas in the rolling East Texas countryside near Cedar Creek Lake. The school serves fifth and sixth graders and is a product of a district-wide campus reconfiguration that took effect for the 2024-25 school year: when a brand-new high school opened, the former middle school became the intermediate campus for these grades. That context matters because this school is genuinely new in its current role, and families should keep that in mind when reading any data.
On the state assessment, the picture is mixed and worth reading carefully by subject. In reading and language arts, most students across both grade levels reach the approaches-grade-level bar on Texas's STAAR exam, and the sixth-grade results push meaningfully above what fifth grade shows. Math follows a similar pattern, with sixth graders performing noticeably better than fifth graders. The share of students reaching the highest performance tier, masters grade level, is modest in both subjects across the school. Science is the area that stands out most: only a small fraction of fifth graders, who are the only tested grade in science, reached proficiency, and that rate is considerably lower than math or reading. Social studies, tested at sixth grade, shows the majority of students approaching grade level but far fewer meeting or mastering the standard. A parent would be reasonable to ask the school directly about science and social studies supports, since those gaps are visible in a single year of data and there is no multi-year trend available to judge whether results are improving.
When the school's overall proficiency index is placed relative to districts in Henderson County, it lands in the top quartile of that group of eight districts. That is a meaningful position, though it comes with the caveat that the school is newly configured, and a single year of data in a new structure limits what can be read into it.
Enrollment and demographic data were not available in the dataset, so the school's size, free-and-reduced-lunch share, and student composition cannot be characterized here. No information on chronic absenteeism, discipline, or program offerings was present in the data either.
The community around the school is Malakoff itself, a small, self-reliant city shaped historically by lignite coal mining and now anchored in part by a power station south of town that publicly reported accounts describe as supporting a skilled blue-collar workforce and a tax base stronger than the city's size alone would suggest. The district serves not just Malakoff but also surrounding communities including Star Harbor, portions of Tool, Caney City, and areas of Log Cabin and Trinidad. Life here is car-dependent, quiet, and practical. Cedar Creek Reservoir, one of the largest lakes in Texas by shoreline, sits nearby and draws both second-home buyers and long-term residents, which gives the local housing market a slightly broader base than a town this size might otherwise have.
Housing values in the Malakoff area run below the Texas state benchmark and well below the national median, and have dipped modestly in the past year. The price-to-income relationship here is relatively accessible compared to the national picture, which is consistent with what publicly reported sources describe as one of the more affordable corners of the broader Athens area. Rental data was not available.
The district passed a bond a few years ago that funded the new high school construction and renovations across all campuses, a major infrastructure commitment publicly reported as being designed with years of enrollment growth in mind. That investment is visible and recent. On property taxes, the district is subject to Texas recapture, meaning a share of locally generated revenue flows back to the state; the district lowered its nominal tax rate in recent years while rising valuations kept total collections up. Families considering buying in the area may want to follow how that dynamic evolves.
Because Malakoff Intermediate is operating in its first year in this configuration, the data available offers a starting point rather than a settled picture. The reading and math results are encouraging relative to peers in the county; the science result at fifth grade is a real gap that deserves follow-up.
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