Best Schools in Jacksonville, Texas

Jacksonville, Texas offers parents a compact but consistently strong public school landscape. The city has 8 ranked public schools with an average score of 7.3 out of 10 — a mark that reflects genuine, system-wide performance rather than a few outliers pulling the number up. Five of those eight schools, or 62%, score 7.0 or higher, meaning the odds of landing in a quality school are solid regardless of where a family settles within district boundaries.

East Side Elementary leads the city at 8.3 out of 10, making it the benchmark for elementary education in Jacksonville. Nichols Intermediate follows closely at 8.2, which is notable: strong intermediate schools are often the weakest link in a district's pipeline, and Jacksonville bucks that pattern. Jacksonville Middle earns a 7.7, so students moving from Nichols face a comparable academic environment rather than a significant drop. That continuity from elementary through middle school is one of the city's clearest strengths.

At the elementary level, parents have real choices. Joe Wright Elementary (7.4) and Fred Douglass Elementary (7.3) both clear the 7.0 threshold, giving families in different parts of the city access to above-average options. With three elementary schools scoring between 7.3 and 8.3, Jacksonville avoids the split that plagues many small Texas cities — where one standout school masks weaker alternatives across town.

For parents comparing Jacksonville against other small East Texas cities, the 7.3 average and 62% above-7.0 rate are the numbers to stress-test against peer markets. Those figures suggest a district that performs with meaningful consistency, not just at the top. Families prioritizing elementary years should put East Side El and Nichols Intermediate at the top of their visit list. Those entering the middle school years will find Jacksonville Middle and Nichols both performing well above what the district's size might suggest. The practical takeaway: Jacksonville punches above its weight for a city its size, and the middle school transition carries less risk here than in many comparable districts.