Martin vs Small Middle School: F vs A in Austin ISD (2026)

Same district, same zip codes a few miles apart, and a 35-point gap on the most recent TEA report card. Martin Middle landed an F at 56 out of 100 in 2025. Small Middle landed an A at 91. Both schools sit inside Austin ISD, both serve grades six through eight (well, Martin is currently grades seven and eight), and both have feeder patterns that send students into well-known Austin high schools. But the day-to-day reality at these two campuses, and the housing markets around them, look very different.

I have walked buyers through this comparison more times than I can count, usually because someone fell in love with a house in East Austin and then started asking school questions. The answers are not simple, and the TEA score is only one piece. Lets break it down the way a buyer actually needs to see it.

Martin vs Small Middle: Quick Comparison

TEA 2025 School Performance

The Texas Education Agency rates every Texas public school across three accountability domains: Student Achievement, School Progress (which includes an Academic Growth sub-score), and Closing the Gaps. Here is how the two campuses compared in 2025.

A quick note on distinctions, because the numbers floating around online get this wrong all the time. Per the TEA 2025 Accountability Manual, middle schools can earn up to seven TEA distinction designations: ELA/Reading, Mathematics, Science, Social Studies, Comparative Academic Growth, Closing the Gaps, and Postsecondary Readiness. All seven apply to middle schools. Schools rated D or F generally do not earn distinctions in 2025, so Martin’s distinction count for the current cycle is zero of seven. Small earned distinctions across multiple areas as a high-performing campus, and the official list of designations earned is published on the TEA campus report card each year.

The Academic Growth score is the one I tell buyers to look at hardest. It measures how much each student improved year over year, regardless of where they started. Martin scored a 52 here. Small scored an 87. That is the gap that actually predicts what your kid’s classroom experience looks like.

For the full TEA breakdown including the most current rating history, see the Martin Middle school page or the Small Middle school page.

Martin Middle: A Small East Austin Campus in Transition

Martin sits in East Austin and currently serves only grades seven and eight, with about 247 students. That is unusually small for an Austin ISD middle school, and it reflects ongoing district decisions about consolidation in this part of the city. The student body is 95% economically disadvantaged and 45% English learners, which puts Martin in the same category as many Title I middle schools across the state.

The rating history matters here. Martin pulled a C in 2022, then dropped to F in 2023, 2024, and now 2025. So this is not a one-bad-year story. It is a multi-year pattern, and the district has acknowledged it publicly. Austin ISD is currently weighing structural changes for the Martin campus as part of broader consolidation discussions, including a proposal to relocate Garza Independent High School to the Martin site as early as 2026-27. None of that is final, and anything affecting your specific home address needs to be confirmed directly with the district. But buyers should know that the Martin attendance zone is a moving target right now.

The neighborhoods around Martin are some of the most interesting in Austin. Chernosky, Johnston Terrace, Magnolia, and Cherrylawn deliver classic East Austin bungalows. The Sexton Springdale and Brooksdale areas have newer construction townhomes. Riverside sits near the Colorado River trail system. Median closed single-family home in the Martin zone over the last twelve months: $540,000, across 224 closings. That is a real, large sample. Active inventory currently sits cheaper because more condos are listed, but if you are buying a house, $540K is the honest middle of the market.

Small Middle: A Large Southwest Austin A-Rated Campus

Small Middle is on the other end of nearly every metric. About 1,253 students, grades six through eight, located in southwest Austin off Slaughter Lane near the Oak Hill area. The student body is 25% economically disadvantaged and 14% English learners. TEA gave Small an A overall in 2025 with a 91, and the rating history is steady: B in 2019, B in 2022, A in 2023, B in 2024, A in 2025. So one of the most consistent middle school performance records in Austin ISD.

The neighborhoods that feed Small are mostly southwest Austin established communities and newer planned developments. Westcreek and Village Western Oaks are the mature, tree-canopied side. Lantana is the master-planned community with the resort-style amenities most buyers know it for. Median closed single-family home in the Small zone over the last twelve months: $625,000, across 249 closings. About $85K above Martin on the median, and the inventory mix skews more toward larger single-family homes.

The High School Feeder Pattern (This Part Surprises People)

Here is the piece almost nobody gets right when they are searching online, because Austin ISD’s actual feeder pattern document is buried in a planning PDF that most agents never read.

Martin Middle feeds into five different high schools depending on the student’s home address: Austin High, Travis High, Eastside Early College, LBJ, and McCallum. Students who qualify through Austin ISD’s competitive magnet admissions process can also attend the Liberal Arts and Science Academy (LASA), which is on the LBJ campus and is consistently ranked among the top public high schools in the country. So while Martin itself rates an F, the high school pathways available to Martin students include some of Austin’s most academically respected programs. The LASA magnet is the wildcard, and it is genuinely competitive to get into.

Small Middle feeds into two high schools: Akins High or Bowie High, depending on the home address. Bowie has long been one of Austin ISD’s most respected comprehensive high schools academically. Akins is a large campus with strong career and technical pathways. Both are solid, predictable, and traditional in the way most buyers expect from a southwest Austin pipeline. Source: Austin ISD’s official 2024-25 Feeder Pattern document published by the Planning and Asset Management department.

That is a real difference. If you are buying for a 12-year-old today and you want a predictable, A-rated middle school plus a traditional, well-established high school, Small Middle delivers that. If you are buying for a kid who you think might compete for LASA admission and you want access to a wider set of high school programs (including some specialty campuses), Martin’s zone offers more variety, even though the home middle school itself rates low.

Which School Fits You?

This is not a one-size answer. Here is how I think about it with buyers.

You might lean toward Small Middle if:

• You want a consistently A or B-rated middle school over multiple years, not just one report card.
• You value a larger campus (1,250+ students) with the full slate of electives, athletics, and fine arts that scale brings.
• You prefer a predictable two-option high school pathway (Akins or Bowie) over a five-option pathway.
• You like established southwest Austin neighborhoods near the Hill Country edge.

You might lean toward Martin Middle’s zone if:

• You are buying for the high school pipeline (Austin High, McCallum, or a LASA magnet shot) more than the assigned middle school itself.
• You want to be inside the urban core, walkable to East Austin’s food and creative corridors.
• You are comfortable considering private school or magnet enrollment for the middle school years if the home campus does not fit.
• You have done the homework on Austin ISD’s pending consolidation discussions and you are okay with a zone that may see structural changes in the next few years.

The honest assessment: if a 12-year-old is moving into the home next month and you want the easiest, lowest-friction middle school experience, Small is the clearer choice on paper. If your kid is younger and the high school question matters more, the Martin zone gets a lot more interesting because of LASA and the McCallum fine arts pathway, but you need a plan for the middle school years. I have had buyers go both directions, and both have worked out. The plan matters more than the rating.

Ready to Find Your Home?

Schools are one piece of a much bigger buying decision, and the TEA score on a single campus is almost never the whole story. I have spent 19+ years helping buyers navigate Austin ISD attendance zones, magnet pathways, and the question of whether to buy for the elementary, the middle, or the high school. If you want to talk through how the Martin or Small zone fits your situation, lets find time to sit down.

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