1
What's the one class at COOPER MIDDLE every student should take?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
997
Middle
DISTRICT 1,029 · STATE 750
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·FAIRFAX COUNTY PUBLIC SCHOOLS·NCES 510126000453
Cooper Middle
977 Balls Hill Rd, McLean, VA 22101 · (703) 442-5800 · Fairfax County
GRADES 07–08MIDDLE13-CITYREGULAR SCHOOL997 STUDENTS
Student : Teacher
12.3:1
81 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 12.6:1 · STATE 13.1:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
3%
31 students
DISTRICT 39% · STATE 66%
Community
1
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 7 | 484 | 49% |
| Grade 8 | 513 | 51% |
Student demographics
65%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 74% · STATE 71% · 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
SOL 2024-25 . % PassingEnglish Language Arts
96.0%
VA avg 74.2% . +3.0pp since 2022
Math
96.0%
VA avg 72.7% . +7.0pp since 2022
What this means: On the SOL, Virginia's statewide test, about 96 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 96 of 100 do math at grade level. Across all Virginia schools, those numbers are about 74 and 73. Reading and writing scores are up about 3 points since 2022, while math scores are up about 7 points.
SOL results by year
| School year | English Language Arts | Math |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 96.0% | 96.0% |
| 2023-24 | 94.0% | 93.0% |
| 2022-23 | 93.0% | 89.0% |
% Passing, all students and all tested grades.
Source: SOL. 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
93.3%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
87.3%
based on VA schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
+6.1pp
above demographic expectation
What this means: About 93% of students here test proficient in math and reading, compared with the roughly 87% typical for Virginia 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 Virginia'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 Cooper Middle
Cooper Middle's state test result (93.3% proficient) is higher than 5 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cooper Middle this school | 997 | 3.1% | 93.3% |
| Longfellow Middle Falls Church | 1,226 | 10.6% | 90.8% |
| Short Pump Middle Glen Allen | 1,056 | 16.4% | 89.0% |
| Eagle Ridge Middle Ashburn | 1,258 | 12.4% | 91.3% |
| J. Michael Lunsford Middle Chantilly | 1,182 | 18.4% | 86.8% |
| Willard Middle Aldie | 1,684 | 8.8% | 89.0% |
Matched among Virginia 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 Cooper Middle ranks
Among middle schools| Measure | This school | In Virginia | In Fairfax County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 93.3% | #3 of 337 | #1 of 22 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 96.0% | #3 of 342 no change | #1 of 23 no change |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 96.0% | #3 of 342 no change | #1 of 23 no change |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 997 | #78 of 343 | #11 of 23 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 12.3:1 | #110 of 327 | #11 of 23 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 64.7% | #130 of 333 | #19 of 23 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 3.1% | #339 of 340 | #22 of 22 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked fastest growth first | +9.3% | #52 of 99 | N/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 2024-25Enrollment
997
+51 (+5%) vs 2020
+64% since 1990-91, when it was 609
Student : Teacher
12.3:1
was 15.5:1
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 | 997 | 80.9 | 12.3:1 | 3% (31) |
| 2023-24 | 1,071 | 70.7 | 15.2:1 | 5% (50) |
| 2022-23 | 1,054 | 64.3 | 16.4:1 | 4% (45) |
| 2020-21 | 946 | 61 | 15.5:1 | N/A |
| 2017-18 | 912 | 56.2 | 16.2:1 | 2% (18) |
| 2015-16 | 766 | 51 | 15.0:1 | 3% (23) |
| 2010-11 | 842 | 44 | 19.1:1 | 2% (14) |
| 2000-01 | 868 | 64 | 13.6:1 | 1% (9) |
| 1990-91 | 609 | 44 | 13.8:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Cooper Middle.
Since 2017-18: students up 9% (912 to 997); teachers up 44% (56.2 to 80.9).
About Cooper Middle
Cooper Middle is a medium-sized middle school in Fairfax County Public Schools, located in McLean, Virginia. Students in grades 7 through 8 attend, and enrollment is 997 students. The typical figure for middle schools in Virginia is about 750 students.
Fairfax County Public Schools enrolls 179,323 students, and its 199 schools include Cooper Middle.
Cooper Middle's enrollment has no majority group, and White students are the largest at 48%. Other students are 33% Asian, 10% multiracial, 8% Hispanic, and 2% Black. The county population is about 49% White, within a few points of the school. The chance that two students picked at random at Cooper Middle belong to different racial or ethnic groups, known as the diversity index, is 65%.
A ratio of 12.3:1 comes from the school's 80.9 full-time-equivalent teachers. The 13.1:1 average for middle schools in Virginia is higher than this school's figure. The lunch program counts 3% of students at Cooper Middle as eligible for free or reduced-price meals. Compared with the 37% average for public schools in Fairfax County, the school's rate is lower.
Cooper Middle is 6.1 points above its predicted average proficiency rate on state tests (93.3% versus 87.3%), which places it in neither the top nor the bottom 10% in Virginia.
Federal survey data for Fairfax County show that median household income is about $153,637, a bachelor's degree or higher is held by about 65% of adults, and the share of residents below the poverty line is 4%. A total of 222 public schools operate in Fairfax County, serving about 174,475 students.
The closest public school, Churchill Road Elementary, is about 0.4 miles from Cooper Middle. Around the school, at least 8 other public schools are within five miles. Of the 9 nearby schools with scores, including this one, Cooper Middle is 3rd on average proficiency.
Cooper Middle is inside a principal city with a population under 100,000, a location NCES labels City: Small.
The 2024-25 enrollment of 997 was 5% higher than in 2020-21, when it was 946. There were fewer students per teacher in 2024-25 (12.3:1) than in 2020-21 (15.5:1).
If you have questions about sports schedules, lunch menus, and spirit week at Cooper Middle, you can post them here. Posting is open to anyone connected to the school.
Fairfax County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
1,147,837
Census ACS
Median income
$153,637
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
65%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
4%
Below federal line
Schools in county
222
174,475 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in Fairfax County Public Schools
- Lake Braddock SecondaryHigh · 4,411 students
- Robinson SecondaryHigh · 3,710 students
- Hayfield SecondaryHigh · 3,256 students
- Chantilly HighHigh · 2,937 students
- West Springfield HighHigh · 2,799 students
- Westfield HighHigh · 2,737 students
Other schools in McLean
- McLean HighHigh · 2,428 students
- Langley HighHigh · 2,181 students
- Spring Hill ElementaryElementary · 980 students
- Kent Gardens ElementaryElementary · 918 students
- Churchill Road ElementaryElementary · 635 students
- Chesterbrook ElementaryElementary · 557 students
Other Cooper Middle schools
4 other US public schools in 5 states are named Cooper Middle. Cooper Middle is the 2nd largest of the 5.
- Cooper Middle SchoolAustell, GA · 1,000 students
- Cooper Middle SchoolBuffalo Grove, IL · 732 students
- Cooper MiddleFresno, CA · 538 students
- Cooper Middle SchoolOklahoma City, OK · 501 students
Nearby schools
- Churchill Road Elementary0.4 mi · 635
- Langley High1.4 mi · 2,181
- Sherman Elementary1.5 mi · 290
- McLean High2.0 mi · 2,428
- Spring Hill Elementary2.1 mi · 980
- Kent Gardens Elementary2.3 mi · 918
Frequently asked questions
About Cooper MiddleHow many students attend Cooper Middle?
Cooper Middle enrolls approximately 997 students in grades 07-08.
What age range does Cooper Middle serve?
Cooper Middle serves students from grade 07 through grade 08.
How many teachers does Cooper Middle have?
Cooper Middle employs 81 FTE teachers, for a student-to-teacher ratio of 12.3:1.
What is the racial breakdown of students at Cooper Middle?
At Cooper Middle, the student body is approximately 48% White, 8% Hispanic, 2% Black, 33% Asian, 10% Two or more.
Is Cooper Middle public or private?
Cooper Middle is a public K-12 school, overseen by Fairfax County Public Schools.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.