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What's one thing Thomas W. Pyle Middle gets right about preparing students for what comes next?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
1,259
Middle
DISTRICT 888 · STATE 764
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·MONTGOMERY COUNTY PUBLIC SCHOOLS·NCES 240048009000
Thomas W. Pyle Middle
6311 Wilson Lane, Bethesda, MD 20817 · (240) 740-3500 · Montgomery County
GRADES 06–08MIDDLE13-CITYREGULAR SCHOOL1,259 STUDENTS
A+
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 99% of Maryland public middle schools
- A+Test scores Share of students meeting the state standard in reading, math, and other tested subjects, 2023-24 and 2024-25.
- ABeats 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 Maryland public middle schools
Student : Teacher
16.8:1
75 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 14.5:1 · STATE 14.3:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
6%
81 students
DISTRICT 40% · STATE 54%
Community
5
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 | 400 | 32% |
| Grade 7 | 417 | 33% |
| Grade 8 | 442 | 35% |
Student demographics
64%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 75% · STATE 73% · 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
MCAP 2024-25 . % Proficient (Levels 3-4)English Language Arts
86.6%
MD avg 50.6% . +2.5pp since 2023
Math
66.5%
MD avg 34.8% . +1.3pp since 2023
What this means: On the MCAP, Maryland's statewide test, about 87 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 67 of 100 do math at grade level. Across all Maryland schools, those numbers are about 51 and 35. Reading and writing scores are up about 3 points since 2023, while math scores are up about 1 points.
MCAP results by year
| School year | English Language Arts | Math |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 86.6% | 66.5% |
| 2023-24 | 84.1% | 65.2% |
% Proficient (Levels 3-4), all students and all tested grades.
Source: MCAP. 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
75.6%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
70.4%
based on MD schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
+5.2pp
above demographic expectation
What this means: About 76% of students here test proficient in math and reading, compared with the roughly 70% typical for Maryland 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 Maryland'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 Thomas W. Pyle Middle
Thomas W. Pyle Middle's state test result (75.6% proficient) is higher than 5 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Thomas W. Pyle Middle this school | 1,259 | 6.4% | 75.6% |
| Oakdale Middle Ijamsville | 1,085 | 15.8% | 54.3% |
| North Bethesda Middle Bethesda | 1,224 | 15.9% | 63.7% |
| Windsor Knolls Middle Ijamsville | 812 | 13.4% | 59.4% |
| Ridgely Middle Lutherville | 1,039 | 20.2% | 59.2% |
| Urbana Middle Ijamsville | 1,090 | 16.4% | 65.5% |
Matched among Maryland 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 Thomas W. Pyle Middle ranks
Among middle schools| Measure | This school | In Maryland | In Montgomery County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 75.6% | #1 of 223 | #1 of 40 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 66.5% | #3 of 223 no change | #1 of 40 no change |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 86.6% | #3 of 223 no change | #2 of 40 ▼ 1 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 1,259 | #9 of 230 | #2 of 40 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 16.8:1 | #202 of 225 | #39 of 40 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 64.2% | #94 of 225 | #28 of 40 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 6.4% | #227 of 227 | #40 of 40 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked steepest decline first | -15.2% | #29 of 123 | #7 of 21 |
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
1,259
-174 (-12%) vs 2020
0% since 2000-01, when it was 1,264
Student : Teacher
16.8:1
was 16.1:1
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 | 1,259 | 74.8 | 16.8:1 | 6% (81) |
| 2023-24 | 1,260 | 76 | 16.6:1 | 5% (65) |
| 2022-23 | 1,241 | 79.2 | 15.7:1 | 5% (57) |
| 2020-21 | 1,433 | 89 | 16.1:1 | 2% (30) |
| 2017-18 | 1,485 | 89.6 | 16.6:1 | 1% (21) |
| 2015-16 | 1,516 | 88 | 17.2:1 | 2% (25) |
| 2010-11 | 1,291 | 79 | 16.3:1 | 1% (12) |
| 2000-01 | 1,264 | 72 | 17.6:1 | 2% (29) |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Thomas W. Pyle Middle.
Since 2017-18: students down 15% (1,485 to 1,259); teachers down 17% (89.6 to 74.8).
About Thomas W. Pyle Middle
Thomas W. Pyle Middle is a large middle school in Bethesda, Maryland, one of the schools in Montgomery County Public Schools. In all, 1,259 students attend the school in grades 6 through 8. That puts enrollment 65% above the 764-student average for middle schools in Maryland.
The 208 schools in Montgomery County Public Schools enroll 159,181 students altogether, Thomas W. Pyle Middle among them.
About 55% of the student body at Thomas W. Pyle Middle is White. Smaller groups are 16% Asian, 15% Hispanic, 8% multiracial, and 6% Black. County-wide, 42% of Montgomery County residents are White. Its diversity index, the chance that two randomly chosen students belong to different racial or ethnic groups, is 64%.
For every teacher at Thomas W. Pyle Middle, there are about 16.8 students; the school has 74.8 full-time-equivalent teachers. The average for middle schools in Maryland, 14.3:1, is lower. There are 81 students eligible for free or reduced-price lunch, 6% of enrollment. It compares with 40% for public schools in Montgomery County.
Among Maryland public middle schools, Thomas W. Pyle Middle outscored 99%, which works out to an A+ on the allk12 Grade.
Thomas W. Pyle Middle's average proficiency rate across its state test results of 75.6% is 5.2 points above the 70.4% the model predicts from its lunch-eligibility share.
In Montgomery County, the median household earns about $132,450 a year, about 61% of adults have at least a bachelor's degree, and the poverty rate is about 5%. Across Montgomery County, 211 public schools serve about 159,181 students.
Walt Whitman High is about 0.5 miles from Thomas W. Pyle Middle, the shortest distance to any other public school. Counting only straight-line distance, at least 8 other public schools are within five miles. On state test proficiency, Thomas W. Pyle Middle ranks 6th in a group of 9 nearby schools.
On the NCES locale scale, the school is City: Small.
Since 2020-21, enrollment has fallen 12%, from 1,433 to 1,259.
This page is set up for the Thomas W. Pyle Middle community to discuss special education services, counseling, and support programs. Current and former families are welcome to add their experience.
Montgomery County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
1,065,949
Census ACS
Median income
$132,450
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
61%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
5%
Below federal line
Schools in county
211
159,181 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in Montgomery County Public Schools
- Montgomery Blair HighHigh · 3,266 students
- Walter Johnson HighHigh · 3,016 students
- Wheaton HighHigh · 2,794 students
- Gaithersburg HighHigh · 2,441 students
- Seneca Valley HighHigh · 2,409 students
- Bethesda-Chevy Chase HighHigh · 2,377 students
Other schools in Bethesda
- Walter Johnson HighHigh · 3,016 students
- Bethesda-Chevy Chase HighHigh · 2,377 students
- Walt Whitman HighHigh · 2,056 students
- North Bethesda MiddleMiddle · 1,224 students
- Ashburton ElementaryElementary · 871 students
- Westland MiddleMiddle · 839 students
Nearby schools
- Walt Whitman High0.5 mi · 2,056
- Burning Tree Elementary0.7 mi · 479
- Bradley Hills Elementary1.0 mi · 474
- North Bethesda Middle1.1 mi · 1,224
- Bannockburn Elementary1.1 mi · 446
- Wyngate Elementary1.4 mi · 640
Frequently asked questions
About Thomas W. Pyle MiddleHow large is Thomas W. Pyle Middle?
Thomas W. Pyle Middle enrolls approximately 1,259 students in grades 06-08.
What age range does Thomas W. Pyle Middle serve?
Thomas W. Pyle Middle serves students from grade 06 through grade 08.
How many students per teacher at Thomas W. Pyle Middle?
Approximately 16.8:1 students per teacher at Thomas W. Pyle Middle.
What is the racial breakdown of students at Thomas W. Pyle Middle?
At Thomas W. Pyle Middle, the student body is approximately 55% White, 15% Hispanic, 6% Black, 16% Asian, 8% Two or more.
Is Thomas W. Pyle Middle public or private?
Thomas W. Pyle Middle is a public K-12 school, overseen by Montgomery County Public Schools.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.