1
What's the vibe like in the hallways at Sparta Middle School right now?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
503
Middle
DISTRICT 588 · STATE 502
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·SPARTA AREA SCHOOLS·NCES 263237006800
Sparta Middle School
235 E SPARTAN DR, SPARTA, MI 49345 · (616) 887-8211 · Kent County
GRADES 06–08MIDDLE31-TOWNTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL503 STUDENTS
B-
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 52% of Michigan public middle schools
- B-Test 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 Michigan public middle schools
Student : Teacher
18.6:1
27 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 17.0:1 · STATE 17.5:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
40%
203 students
DISTRICT 39% · 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
| Grade | Students | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Grade 6 | 164 | 33% |
| Grade 7 | 179 | 36% |
| Grade 8 | 160 | 32% |
Student demographics
32%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 33% · STATE 56% · 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
School pathway
Students here typically continue to
Sparta Middle School→Sparta Senior High School
Feeds from
Based on grade levels within Sparta Area Schools. Attendance zones can vary; confirm enrollment with the district.
Test scores
M-STEP 2024-25 . % Advanced + ProficientEnglish Language Arts
48.5%
MI avg 47.7%
Math
31.3%
MI avg 44.8%
What this means: On the M-STEP, Michigan's statewide test, about 49 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 31 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 · methodologyTier
AS EXPECTED
Performing as predicted given the school's student profile
Actual proficiency
43.0%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
48.4%
based on MI schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
-5.4pp
below demographic expectation
What this means: About 43% of students here test proficient in math and reading, compared with the roughly 48% 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 Sparta Middle School
Sparta Middle School's state test result (43.0% proficient) is higher than 4 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sparta Middle School this school | 503 | 40.4% | 43.0% |
| Paw Paw Middle School PAW PAW | 498 | 37.6% | 34.1% |
| OJ DeJonge Middle School LUDINGTON | 447 | 38.3% | 42.5% |
| Coopersville Middle School COOPERSVILLE | 584 | 39.9% | 48.7% |
| Seitz Middle School RIVERVIEW | 606 | 41.9% | 32.9% |
| Christa McAuliffe Middle School BAY CITY | 608 | 45.6% | 34.6% |
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 Sparta Middle School ranks
Among middle schools| Measure | This school | In Michigan | In Kent County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 43.0% | #183 of 397 | #19 of 24 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 31.3% | #237 of 380 | #21 of 26 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 48.5% | #125 of 377 | #17 of 24 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 503 | #247 of 491 | #20 of 39 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 18.6:1 | #320 of 436 | #24 of 33 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 31.7% | #233 of 437 | #26 of 33 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 40.4% | #281 of 477 | #17 of 36 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked steepest decline first | -7.7% | #253 of 339 | #15 of 22 |
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
503
-96 (-16%) vs 2020
-35% since 1990-91, when it was 774
Student : Teacher
18.6:1
was 22.2:1
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 | 503 | 27 | 18.6:1 | 40% (203) |
| 2023-24 | 490 | 25.3 | 19.4:1 | 51% (248) |
| 2022-23 | 473 | 26.8 | 17.7:1 | 49% (232) |
| 2020-21 | 599 | 27 | 22.2:1 | 47% (283) |
| 2017-18 | 545 | 26.2 | 20.8:1 | 47% (255) |
| 2015-16 | 554 | 23 | 24.1:1 | 43% (238) |
| 2010-11 | 587 | 35 | 16.8:1 | 43% (252) |
| 2000-01 | 822 | 55 | 14.9:1 | 26% (211) |
| 1990-91 | 774 | N/A | N/A | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Sparta Middle School.
Since 2017-18: students down 8% (545 to 503); teachers up 3% (26.2 to 27).
About Sparta Middle School
Sparta Middle School is a medium-sized middle school in SPARTA, Michigan, (ZIP code 49345). The school had 503 students in grades 6 through 8 in 2024-25.
Sparta Area Schools, which runs Sparta Middle School, has 4 schools and 2,353 students.
The large majority of students at Sparta Middle School, 82%, are White. The remaining shares are 13% Hispanic and 3% multiracial. Kent County as a whole is about 73% White, so the school's share is higher. By the diversity index, Sparta Middle School comes in at 32%.
Its teaching staff equals 27 full-time positions, a ratio of 18.6:1. For comparison, middle schools in Michigan average 17.5:1. Free and reduced-price lunch eligibility, a common measure of family income, is 40%.
Sparta Middle School is graded B- by allk12, scoring above 52% of Michigan public middle schools once test results, poverty-adjusted performance, and the recent trend are combined.
A school with Sparta Middle School's lunch-eligibility share in Michigan is predicted to score 48.4%. Sparta Middle School scores 43.0%, 5.4 points below that line.
Recent Census Bureau figures for Kent County show that median household income is about $82,631, roughly 41% of adults have a four-year degree or more, and about 6% of residents live below the federal poverty line. Federal data list 239 public schools in Kent County, with a combined enrollment of about 97,253.
Appleview Elementary School is the closest public school, about 0.2 miles away in a straight line. There are 3 more public schools inside five miles. Of the 6 nearby schools with scores, including this one, Sparta Middle School is 3rd on average proficiency.
Sparta Middle School falls in the Town: Fringe locale category, used for schools in a town close to an urbanized area.
A comparison of 2020-21 and 2024-25 shows enrollment down 16%, from 599 to 503. The ratio was 22.2:1 in 2020-21 and 18.6:1 in 2024-25.
Conversations here can range across sports schedules, lunch menus, and spirit week. Reviews and ratings from people who know the school are welcome.
Kent County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
663,150
Census ACS
Median income
$82,631
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
41%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
6%
Below federal line
Schools in county
239
97,253 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in Sparta Area Schools
- Sparta Senior High SchoolHigh · 778 students
- Ridgeview Elementary SchoolElementary · 555 students
- Appleview Elementary SchoolElementary · 517 students
Other schools in SPARTA
- Sparta Senior High SchoolHigh · 778 students
- Ridgeview Elementary SchoolElementary · 555 students
- Appleview Elementary SchoolElementary · 517 students
Other Sparta Middle schools
2 other US public schools in 3 states are named Sparta Middle. Sparta Middle School is the 2nd largest of the 3.
- Sparta Middle SchoolSPARTA, NJ · 762 students
- SPARTA MIDDLESPARTA, MO · 187 students
Nearby schools
- Appleview Elementary School0.2 mi · 517
- Ridgeview Elementary School0.5 mi · 555
- Sparta Senior High School0.7 mi · 778
- Kent City Elementary School5.4 mi · 537
- Edgerton Trails Elementary5.6 mi · 454
- Kent City Middle School5.7 mi · 290
Frequently asked questions
About Sparta Middle SchoolHow many students attend Sparta Middle School?
Sparta Middle School enrolls approximately 503 students in grades 06-08.
What age range does Sparta Middle School serve?
Sparta Middle School serves students from grade 06 through grade 08.
How many students per teacher at Sparta Middle School?
Approximately 18.6:1 students per teacher at Sparta Middle School.
What is the student diversity at Sparta Middle School?
Student demographics at Sparta Middle School are roughly 82% White, 13% Hispanic, 1% Black, 1% Asian, 3% Two or more.
What district is Sparta Middle School in?
Sparta Middle School is part of Sparta Area Schools.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.