Rio Hondo Middle, Rio Hondo TX - Test Scores & Data

Original Research by School Decision on Rio Hondo Middle

Rio Hondo Middle is a small rural school serving grades five through eight in Rio Hondo, a small city in north-central Cameron County, Texas. The school sits on State Highway 345 on the eastern edge of the community, away from the downtown core along Colorado Street.

The student body reflects the composition of the surrounding region: nearly all students are Hispanic, and a very substantial share qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, which is consistent with the economic circumstances of Cameron County. The overall enrollment is modest for a full four-grade middle school, and students come from a community rooted in agriculture and small-town commerce, with the school district itself serving as a major local employer.

In academic terms, Rio Hondo Middle's performance presents a mixed picture tied mainly to subject. English language arts is a relative strength. Fifth-grade ELA proficiency sits at roughly the midpoint, sixth-grade hovers in the mid-range, seventh-grade dips to below that, and eighth-grade rebounds to above midpoint. This progression, with eighth graders showing the strongest performance, suggests some students gain ground as they advance through middle school.

Mathematics is substantially weaker. Proficiency rates are low across all grades, with fifth grade at the bottom of the range, sixth and eighth grades in the low single digits, and seventh grade slightly higher. The school's overall math proficiency falls notably short of the county median among districts.

Science shows a steep split between fifth grade, where proficiency is very low, and eighth grade, where it climbs to near the midpoint. Social studies, tested only in eighth grade, sits at a low level.

When looking at the broader proficiency landscape, the school's overall index places it in the bottom tier among the nine districts in Cameron County. About three in five students reached the "approaches grade level" threshold across tested subjects, but only a small share reached "meets" or "masters" levels.

The data does not include information on chronic absenteeism, disciplinary patterns, teacher staffing levels, or counts of students with individualized education plans or English learner status, so a full picture of school environment and supports is not available from this source.

Rio Hondo High School has recently shifted toward college and career pathways through its P-TECH designation and dual-enrollment programs, an evolution that creates a stronger academic pipeline for students willing to pursue it. Whether comparable pathways or supports exist at the middle school level is not documented in the available information. A parent considering Rio Hondo Middle may want to look into the school's intervention strategies in math and how eighth-grade gains in ELA are built on and sustained.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 525%

School 25% · District 25%

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

Grade 69%

School 9% · District 9%

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

Grade 715%

School 15% · District 15%

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

Grade 814%

School 14% · District 14%

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

English language arts

Grade 548%

School 48% · District 48%

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

Grade 645%

School 45% · District 45%

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

Grade 737%

School 37% · District 37%

▼ 12 pts below state median · ▼ 15 pts below county median

Grade 855%

School 55% · District 55%

even with state median · ▲ 2 pts above county median

Science

Grade 59%

School 9% · District 9%

▼ 14 pts below state median · ▼ 17 pts below county median

Grade 839%

School 39% · District 39%

▼ 3 pts below state median · even with county median

Social studies

Grade 814%

School 14% · District 14%

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

This schoolRIO HONDO 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-income45%Higher-income64%19 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income41%Higher-income80%39 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income33%Higher-income53%20 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income52%Higher-income77%25 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 5Lower-income24%Higher-income36%12 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income8%Higher-income20%12 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income11%Higher-income32%21 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income12%Higher-income40%28 pp gap