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Schools›Michigan›PORTAGE
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·PORTAGE PUBLIC SCHOOLS·NCES 262895006490

Portage Central Middle School

8305 S WESTNEDGE AVE, PORTAGE, MI 49002 · (269) 323-5600 · Kalamazoo County
GRADES 06–08MIDDLE13-CITYREGULAR SCHOOL719 STUDENTS
B+
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 66% of Michigan 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.
  • B-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 Michigan public middle schools

Enrollment
719
Middle
DISTRICT 682 · STATE 502
Student : Teacher
17.4:1
41 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 17.3:1 · STATE 17.5:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
19%
136 students
DISTRICT 27% · STATE 55%
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

GradeStudentsShare
Grade 623433%
Grade 724634%
Grade 823933%
Student demographics
43%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 52% · STATE 56% · US 70%
White
53274%
DISTRICT 67% · STATE 63% · US 43%
Hispanic
558%
DISTRICT 8% · STATE 9% · US 30%
Black
304%
DISTRICT 8% · STATE 18% · US 15%
Asian
375%
DISTRICT 7% · STATE 4% · US 6%
Two+
659%
DISTRICT 10% · STATE 5% · US 5%
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
Male
37452%
Female
34548%

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Test scores

M-STEP 2024-25 . % Advanced + Proficient
English Language Arts
51.6%
MI avg 47.7%
Math
51.8%
MI avg 44.8%

What this means: On the M-STEP, Michigan's statewide test, about 52 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 52 of 100 do math at grade level. Across all Michigan schools, those numbers are about 48 and 45.

Source: M-STEP. All students, all grades. See all years and grades →

BeatsExpectations

Demographically-adjusted score · methodology
Tier
AS EXPECTED
Performing as predicted given the school's student profile
Actual proficiency
53.2%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
57.9%
based on MI schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
-4.7pp
below demographic expectation

What this means: About 53% of students here test proficient in math and reading, compared with the roughly 58% typical for Michigan 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 Michigan'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 Portage Central Middle School

Portage Central Middle School's state test result (53.2% proficient) is higher than 0 of the 5 schools below with a result.

SchoolStudentsLow-incomeProficient
Portage Central Middle School this school71918.9%53.2%
Upton Middle School
SAINT JOSEPH
69020.7%58.0%
Robert L Nickels Intermediate School
BYRON CENTER
70522.8%67.4%
Byron Center West Middle School
BYRON CENTER
72923.3%77.8%
Riley Street Middle School
HUDSONVILLE
68819.8%58.2%
Kraft Meadows Intermediate School
CALEDONIA
70317.1%65.5%
Matched among Michigan 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 Portage Central Middle School ranks

Among middle schools
MeasureThis schoolIn MichiganIn Kalamazoo County
State test proficiency
ranked highest first
53.2%#97 of 397#2 of 11
Math proficiency
ranked highest first
51.8%#72 of 380#2 of 10
Reading proficiency
ranked highest first
51.6%#106 of 377#2 of 10
Enrollment
ranked largest first
719#90 of 491#4 of 12
Students per teacher
ranked fewest first
17.4:1#210 of 436#7 of 12
Diversity index
ranked most diverse first
43.4%#166 of 437#9 of 12
Free and reduced lunch
ranked highest share first
18.9%#417 of 477#11 of 12
Enrollment change since 2017-18
ranked fastest growth first
+4.2%#65 of 101N/A
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 2024-25
Enrollment
719
+33 (+5%) vs 2020
+32% since 1990-91, when it was 545
Student : Teacher
17.4:1
was 22.1:1
Source: NCES Common Core of Data

Enrollment and staffing by year

School yearStudentsTeachers (FTE)Students per teacherFree and reduced lunch
2024-2571941.317.4:119% (136)
2023-2475037.719.9:123% (173)
2022-2374038.419.3:123% (171)
2020-216863122.1:120% (137)
2017-1869030.622.6:124% (166)
2015-166543319.8:121% (138)
2010-117143421.0:125% (178)
2000-016734016.8:111% (72)
1990-91545N/AN/AN/A
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Portage Central Middle School.

Since 2017-18: students up 4% (690 to 719); teachers up 35% (30.6 to 41.3).

About Portage Central Middle School

Portage Central Middle School is a mid-sized middle-grades school. Its address is in PORTAGE, Michigan. Its enrollment is 719 students, spread over grades 6 through 8. That compares with an average of about 502 students for middle schools in Michigan.

Portage Public Schools has 8,479 students spread across 14 schools.

About 74% of the student body at Portage Central Middle School is White. The remaining students are 9% multiracial, 8% Hispanic, 5% Asian, and 4% Black. Kalamazoo County residents are about 76% White, a similar share. On a 0 to 100 scale, the school's diversity index is 43, compared with 70 nationally.

Staffing at Portage Central Middle School comes to 41.3 full-time-equivalent teachers, or 17.4:1. That is in line with the 17.5:1 average for middle schools in Michigan. Portage Central Middle School counts 19% of students as eligible for free or reduced-price lunch. That is lower than the 45% average for public schools in Kalamazoo County.

Among Michigan public middle schools, Portage Central Middle School outscored 66%, which works out to a B+ on the allk12 Grade.

Portage Central Middle School's average proficiency rate across its state test results of 53.2% is 4.7 points below the 57.9% the model predicts from its lunch-eligibility share.

For Kalamazoo County, Census Bureau data show median household income comes to about $72,532, the share of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher is 41%, and about 8% of people live in poverty. There are 93 public schools in the county, enrolling about 34,151, Portage Central Middle School among them.

Less than a tenth of a mile separates Portage Central Middle School from the closest public school, Portage Central High School. A five-mile radius around the school includes at least 8 other public schools. Local comparison: Portage Central Middle School ranks 4th of 7 nearby schools, at 53.2% versus a 52.0% average.

The NCES locale for Portage Central Middle School is City: Small, which covers schools inside a principal city with a population under 100,000.

Federal enrollment counts increased from 686 (2020-21) to 719 (2024-25). From 2020-21 to 2024-25, the ratio dropped from 22.1:1 to 17.4:1.

People can post here about open houses, carpools, and field trips and other school topics. Parents, students, alumni, and staff are welcome to post.

Kalamazoo County at a glance

View full county profile
Population
262,375
Census ACS
Median income
$72,532
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
41%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
8%
Below federal line
Schools in county
93
34,151 students

Quick facts

School name
Portage Central Middle School
District
Portage Public Schools
Address
8305 S WESTNEDGE AVE, PORTAGE, MI 49002
Phone
(269) 323-5600
County
Kalamazoo County
Level
Middle
Grade range
06–08
Total enrollment
719
Teachers (FTE)
41
Student–teacher ratio
17.4:1
Free and reduced lunch
136 (19%)
Locale
13-City: Small
NCES ID
262895006490
Charter school
No
Virtual school
No

Related schools

Other schools in Portage Public Schools
Other schools in PORTAGE
Nearby schools

Frequently asked questions

About Portage Central Middle School
What is the total enrollment at Portage Central Middle School?
Portage Central Middle School enrolls approximately 719 students in grades 06-08.
What grades does Portage Central Middle School serve?
Portage Central Middle School serves grades 06-08.
What is the student-teacher ratio at Portage Central Middle School?
The student-to-teacher ratio at Portage Central Middle School is approximately 17.4:1 (41 FTE teachers).
How diverse is Portage Central Middle School?
Portage Central Middle School reports a student body of 74% White, 8% Hispanic, 4% Black, 5% Asian, 9% Two or more.
Is Portage Central Middle School public or private?
Portage Central Middle School is a public K-12 school, overseen by Portage Public Schools.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.
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