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What's something Thornton Middle School does better than most schools?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
721
Middle
DISTRICT 802 · STATE 462
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·ADAMS 12 FIVE STAR SCHOOLS·NCES 080690001183
Thornton Middle School
9451 HOFFMAN WAY, THORNTON, CO 80229 · (720) 972-5160 · Adams County
GRADES 06–08MIDDLE21-SUBURBTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL721 STUDENTS
F
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 0% of Colorado public middle schools
- FTest scores Share of students meeting the state standard in reading, math, and other tested subjects, 2023-24 and 2024-25.
- C-Beats expectations How far test scores land above or below what the share of low-income students predicts for a school in this state.
- ·Three-year trend Not available for this school, so the grade uses the other parts.
Grades compare a school only with schools in the same state, because every state gives its own test. How grades work · Top-graded Colorado public middle schools
Student : Teacher
16.4:1
44 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 17.4:1 · STATE 15.9:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
84%
607 students
DISTRICT 57% · STATE 50%
Community
6
0 members
Enrollment and student:teacher ratio compared against other middle schools. Free/Reduced Lunch and demographics compared against all schools.
Enrollment by grade, 2024-25
| Grade | Students | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Grade 6 | 237 | 33% |
| Grade 7 | 241 | 33% |
| Grade 8 | 243 | 34% |
Student demographics
38%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 63% · STATE 62% · US 70%
Student head counts by race/ethnicity from federal NCES enrollment data. District, state, and US figures are each group's share of all public school students in that area (US excludes territories). Very small groups may be suppressed in the source, so categories do not always sum exactly to total enrollment.
Gender split
Test scores
CMAS 2024-25 . % Met or Exceeded ExpectationsEnglish Language Arts
9.8%
CO avg 44.9% . +1.2pp since 2023
Math
4.5%
CO avg 36.1% . +1.1pp since 2023
What this means: On the CMAS, Colorado's statewide test, about 10 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 5 of 100 do math at grade level. Across all Colorado schools, those numbers are about 45 and 36. Reading and writing scores are up about 1 points since 2023, while math scores are up about 1 points.
CMAS results by year
| School year | English Language Arts | Math |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 9.8% | 4.5% |
| 2023-24 | 8.6% | 3.4% |
% Met or Exceeded Expectations, all students and all tested grades.
Source: CMAS. All students, all grades. See all years and grades →
BeatsExpectations
Demographically-adjusted score · methodologyTier
AS EXPECTED
Performing as predicted given the school's student profile
Actual proficiency
7.2%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
15.7%
based on CO schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
-8.4pp
below demographic expectation
What this means: About 7% of students here test proficient in math and reading, compared with the roughly 16% typical for Colorado schools with a similar share of low-income students. BeatsExpectations measures results against demographically similar schools rather than by raw scores, and this school falls within the typical range, neither among Colorado's top nor bottom 10%.
BeatsExpectations runs a per-state regression of proficiency on free/reduced-lunch share, then scores each school by residual. How this is calculated →
Schools most like Thornton Middle School
Thornton Middle School's state test result (7.2% proficient) is higher than 0 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Thornton Middle School this school | 721 | 84.2% | 7.2% |
| Northglenn Middle School NORTHGLENN | 672 | 85.3% | 13.2% |
| Heath Middle School GREELEY | 499 | 80.4% | 12.8% |
| Franklin Middle School GREELEY | 367 | 87.7% | 20.9% |
| Brentwood Middle School GREELEY | 564 | 74.1% | 22.7% |
| Shaw Heights Middle School WESTMINSTER | 321 | 86.6% | 13.4% |
Matched among Colorado middle schools on enrollment, the share of students from low-income families (eligible for free or reduced-price lunch), and racial and ethnic makeup. Proficient is the average share of students meeting the state standard across all of the school's state tests in 2023-24 and 2024-25, the same combined score our test-score rankings use. Online schools and schools serving specialized populations are not matched.
Where Thornton Middle School ranks
Among middle schools| Measure | This school | In Colorado | In Adams County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 7.2% | #239 of 241 | #19 of 20 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 4.5% | #238 of 244 ▲ 1 | #18 of 20 ▲ 1 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 9.8% | #243 of 246 ▲ 2 | #19 of 20 no change |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 721 | #51 of 278 | #5 of 20 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 16.4:1 | #131 of 227 | #9 of 19 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 38.4% | #187 of 227 | #15 of 19 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 84.2% | #29 of 246 | #8 of 20 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked steepest decline first | -22.1% | #68 of 169 | #8 of 15 |
Ranked against other public middle schools. Online schools are left out of every list, and test-score lists leave out schools that serve specialized populations. Each rank links to the full list. Arrows under a test-score rank show places moved since the prior test year, among schools tested both years.
4-year change
SY 2020-21 vs SY 2024-25Enrollment
721
-187 (-21%) vs 2020
+22% since 1990-91, when it was 590
Student : Teacher
16.4:1
was 15.7:1
Source: NCES Common Core of Data
Enrollment and staffing by year
| School year | Students | Teachers (FTE) | Students per teacher | Free and reduced lunch |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 721 | 44 | 16.4:1 | 84% (607) |
| 2023-24 | 719 | 43.5 | 16.5:1 | 91% (656) |
| 2022-23 | 732 | 42.5 | 17.2:1 | 90% (657) |
| 2020-21 | 908 | 58 | 15.7:1 | 83% (754) |
| 2017-18 | 925 | 54.5 | 17.0:1 | 84% (776) |
| 2015-16 | 925 | 54 | 17.1:1 | 80% (743) |
| 2010-11 | 674 | 39 | 17.3:1 | 88% (591) |
| 2000-01 | 950 | 49 | 19.4:1 | 51% (486) |
| 1990-91 | 590 | 37 | 15.9:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Thornton Middle School.
Since 2017-18: students down 22% (925 to 721); teachers down 19% (54.5 to 44).
About Thornton Middle School
Thornton Middle School is a high-enrollment middle-grades school in THORNTON, Colorado, under Adams 12 Five Star Schools. A total of 721 students attend the school, which covers grades 6 through 8. Against the 462-student average for middle schools in Colorado, enrollment here is 56% higher.
A total of 54 schools make up Adams 12 Five Star Schools, with 34,466 students enrolled.
At 77%, Hispanic students outnumber all other groups at Thornton Middle School combined. The school is also 11% White, 7% Asian, and 3% Black. The Hispanic share of the county population is lower, at 43%. The chance that two students picked at random at Thornton Middle School belong to different racial or ethnic groups, known as the diversity index, is 38%.
The school's student-to-teacher ratio is about 16.4:1, with 44 full-time-equivalent teachers. Middle schools in Colorado have a similar average ratio of 15.9:1. Lunch subsidy eligibility at Thornton Middle School is 84%. That is higher than the 62% average for public schools in Adams County.
Measured against Colorado public middle schools, Thornton Middle School receives an F. The grade weighs proficiency most heavily, then how results compare with what the school's low-income share predicts, then the three-year change.
Thornton Middle School sits between the top and bottom 10% of Colorado schools on BeatsExpectations, with an actual average proficiency rate on state tests of 7.2% and a predicted 15.7%.
Within Adams County, median household income is about $94,571, a bachelor's degree or higher is held by about 29% of adults, and the poverty rate is about 7%. Federal data list 171 public schools in Adams County, with a combined enrollment of about 87,938.
The closest public school, Thornton High School, is about 0.2 miles from Thornton Middle School. Within five miles are at least 8 other public schools. Ranked by average proficiency, Thornton Middle School places 6th out of 6 schools in its immediate area.
Federal data place Thornton Middle School in the Suburb: Large locale, which means it is in a suburban area outside a principal city, within an urbanized area with a population of 250,000 or more.
Thornton Middle School saw enrollment fall 21% between 2020-21 and 2024-25.
Parents and students can post about school events, clubs, and volunteer needs at Thornton Middle School. Alumni can share how the school prepared them.
Adams County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
530,225
Census ACS
Median income
$94,571
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
29%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
7%
Below federal line
Schools in county
171
87,938 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in Adams 12 Five Star Schools
- Legacy High SchoolHigh · 2,052 students
- Horizon High SchoolHigh · 1,966 students
- Northglenn High SchoolHigh · 1,844 students
- Mountain Range High SchoolHigh · 1,788 students
- Stargate Charter SchoolCombined · 1,572 students
- Prospect Ridge AcademyCombined · 1,478 students
Other schools in THORNTON
- Riverdale Ridge High SchoolHigh · 1,784 students
- Stargate Charter SchoolCombined · 1,572 students
- Thornton High SchoolHigh · 1,439 students
- Rocky Top Middle SchoolMiddle · 1,052 students
- Rodger Quist Middle SchoolMiddle · 855 students
- York InternationalCombined · 776 students
Other Thornton Middle schools
2 other US public schools in 3 states are named Thornton Middle. Thornton Middle School is the 3rd largest of the 3.
- Thornton MiddleFremont, CA · 1,972 students
- Thornton Middle SchoolKATY, TX · 1,424 students
Nearby schools
- Thornton High School0.2 mi · 1,439
- Thornton Elementary School0.2 mi · 387
- New America School - Thornton0.6 mi · 190
- North Mor Elementary School0.8 mi · 304
- Achieve Academy0.9 mi · 370
- York International1.0 mi · 776
Frequently asked questions
About Thornton Middle SchoolHow many students attend Thornton Middle School?
Thornton Middle School enrolls approximately 721 students in grades 06-08.
What grades does Thornton Middle School serve?
Thornton Middle School serves grades 06-08.
What is the student-teacher ratio at Thornton Middle School?
The student-to-teacher ratio at Thornton Middle School is approximately 16.4:1 (44 FTE teachers).
What is the student diversity at Thornton Middle School?
Student demographics at Thornton Middle School are roughly 11% White, 77% Hispanic, 3% Black, 7% Asian, 1% Two or more.
Is Thornton Middle School public or private?
Thornton Middle School is a public K-12 school, overseen by Adams 12 Five Star Schools.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.