1
How has West Middle School changed in the last five years, for better or worse?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
1,081
Middle
DISTRICT 955 · STATE 502
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·TRAVERSE CITY AREA PUBLIC SCHOOLS·NCES 263387006948
West Middle School
3950 SILVER LAKE RD, TRAVERSE CITY, MI 49684 · (231) 933-8200 · Grand Traverse County
GRADES 06–08MIDDLE23-SUBURBREGULAR SCHOOL1,081 STUDENTS
B
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 62% 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.
- 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
Student : Teacher
20.8:1
52 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 20.3:1 · STATE 17.5:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
28%
298 students
DISTRICT 34% · 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 | 338 | 31% |
| Grade 7 | 350 | 32% |
| Grade 8 | 393 | 36% |
Student demographics
17%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 21% · 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
Test scores
M-STEP 2024-25 . % Advanced + ProficientEnglish Language Arts
51.2%
MI avg 47.7%
Math
43.4%
MI avg 44.8%
What this means: On the M-STEP, Michigan's statewide test, about 51 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 43 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
49.3%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
54.1%
based on MI schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
-4.8pp
below demographic expectation
What this means: About 49% of students here test proficient in math and reading, compared with the roughly 54% 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 West Middle School
West Middle School's state test result (49.3% proficient) is higher than 1 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| West Middle School this school | 1,081 | 27.6% | 49.3% |
| Shelby Junior High School SHELBY TOWNSHIP | 1,073 | 27.8% | 52.6% |
| East Middle School TRAVERSE CITY | 829 | 30.4% | 50.4% |
| Bedford Junior High School TEMPERANCE | 923 | 24.2% | 41.5% |
| Mattawan Middle School MATTAWAN | 823 | 26.9% | 52.1% |
| Jefferson Middle School MIDLAND | 919 | 27.7% | 63.3% |
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 West Middle School ranks
Among middle schools| Measure | This school | In Michigan |
|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 49.3% | #128 of 397 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 43.4% | #121 of 380 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 51.2% | #110 of 377 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 1,081 | #7 of 491 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 20.8:1 | #414 of 436 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 16.8% | #367 of 437 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 27.6% | #370 of 477 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked steepest decline first | -11.6% | #190 of 339 |
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
1,081
+1 (+0%) vs 2020
-51% since 1990-91, when it was 2,220
Student : Teacher
20.8:1
was 20.8:1
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 | 1,081 | 52.1 | 20.8:1 | 28% (298) |
| 2023-24 | 1,108 | 50.5 | 21.9:1 | 37% (412) |
| 2022-23 | 1,081 | 53.6 | 20.2:1 | 38% (414) |
| 2020-21 | 1,080 | 52 | 20.8:1 | 35% (375) |
| 2017-18 | 1,223 | 55.8 | 21.9:1 | 39% (474) |
| 2015-16 | 1,238 | 58 | 21.3:1 | 34% (417) |
| 2010-11 | 1,180 | 62 | 19.0:1 | 36% (425) |
| 2000-01 | 1,450 | 77 | 18.8:1 | 22% (324) |
| 1990-91 | 2,220 | N/A | N/A | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for West Middle School.
Since 2017-18: students down 12% (1,223 to 1,081); teachers down 7% (55.8 to 52.1).
About West Middle School
Students in TRAVERSE CITY, Michigan, attend West Middle School, a large middle school. The school serves grades 6 through 8. Enrollment is 1,081 students. Middle schools in Michigan have about 502 students on average; enrollment here is 115% higher.
Traverse City Area Public Schools runs West Middle School along with 15 other schools, enrolling 8,546 students in total.
White students are 91% of those enrolled at West Middle School. The remaining shares are 3% Hispanic, 2% Asian, and 2% Native American. That is in line with Grand Traverse County, where about 92% of residents are White. Its diversity index, the chance that two randomly chosen students belong to different racial or ethnic groups, is 17%.
On staff are 52.1 full-time-equivalent teachers; the student-to-teacher ratio is 20.8:1. Middle schools in Michigan average 17.5:1, 3.2 fewer students per teacher than here. West Middle School has a free or reduced-price lunch rate of 28%.
Among Michigan public middle schools, West Middle School outscored 62%, which works out to a B on the allk12 Grade.
The allk12 BeatsExpectations score for West Middle School is -4.8 points: 49.3% actual, 54.1% predicted.
For Grand Traverse County, Census Bureau data show median household income comes to about $81,647, about 41% of adults have at least a bachelor's degree, and roughly 6% of residents are in poverty. There are 32 public schools in the county, enrolling about 12,069, West Middle School among them.
Of the public schools around it, West Middle School is closest to TCAPS Montessori School, about 0.4 miles away. The count of other public schools within five miles is at least 8. Ranked by average proficiency, West Middle School places 4th out of 4 schools in its immediate area.
The National Center for Education Statistics classifies the school's location as Suburb: Small, meaning it is in a suburban area outside a principal city, within an urbanized area with a population under 100,000.
Federal data show 1,080 students in 2020-21 and 1,081 in 2024-25, a difference of under 3%.
On allk12, people connected to West Middle School can post about special education services, counseling, and support programs. Members of the school community can share what they know.
Grand Traverse County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
96,166
Census ACS
Median income
$81,647
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
41%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
6%
Below federal line
Schools in county
32
12,069 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in Traverse City Area Public Schools
- West Senior HighHigh · 1,384 students
- Central High SchoolHigh · 1,326 students
- East Middle SchoolMiddle · 829 students
- Central Grade SchoolElementary · 510 students
- Eastern Elementary SchoolElementary · 475 students
- Willow Hill Elementary SchoolElementary · 429 students
Other schools in TRAVERSE CITY
- West Senior HighHigh · 1,384 students
- Central High SchoolHigh · 1,326 students
- East Middle SchoolMiddle · 829 students
- Grand Traverse AcademyCombined · 824 students
- Central Grade SchoolElementary · 510 students
- Eastern Elementary SchoolElementary · 475 students
Other West Middle schools
21 other US public schools in 13 states are named West Middle. West Middle School is the largest of the 22.
- West Middle SchoolROCHESTER HILLS, MI · 784 students
- West Middle SchoolPLYMOUTH, MI · 667 students
- West Middle SchoolGREENWOOD VILLAGE, CO · 1,019 students
- WEST MIDDLE SCHOOLBAY SHORE, NY · 906 students
- West Middle SchoolSioux City, IA · 826 students
Nearby schools
- TCAPS Montessori School0.4 mi · 331
- North EdCreekside School0.7 mi · 64
- The Greenspire School0.8 mi · 93
- West Senior High1.6 mi · 1,384
- The Greenspire High School1.7 mi · 176
- Central Grade School1.8 mi · 510
Frequently asked questions
About West Middle SchoolHow large is West Middle School?
West Middle School enrolls approximately 1,081 students in grades 06-08.
Is West Middle School an elementary, middle, or high school?
West Middle School is a middle school covering grades 06-08.
How many teachers does West Middle School have?
West Middle School employs 52 FTE teachers, for a student-to-teacher ratio of 20.8:1.
What is the student diversity at West Middle School?
Student demographics at West Middle School are roughly 91% White, 3% Hispanic, 2% Black, 2% Asian.
What district is West Middle School in?
West Middle School is part of Traverse City Area Public Schools.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.