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Which teacher or staff member at THOREAU MIDDLE deserves more recognition?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
1,239
Middle
DISTRICT 1,029 · STATE 750
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·FAIRFAX COUNTY PUBLIC SCHOOLS·NCES 510126000574
Thoreau Middle
2505 Cedar Ln, Vienna, VA 22180 · (703) 846-8000 · Fairfax County
GRADES 07–08MIDDLE21-SUBURBREGULAR SCHOOL1,239 STUDENTS
Student : Teacher
11.3:1
109 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 12.6:1 · STATE 13.1:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
19%
233 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 | 609 | 49% |
| Grade 8 | 630 | 51% |
Student demographics
68%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
87.0%
VA avg 74.2% . +1.0pp since 2022
Math
84.0%
VA avg 72.7% . +0.0pp since 2022
What this means: On the SOL, Virginia's statewide test, about 87 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 84 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 1 points since 2022, while math scores have held steady.
SOL results by year
| School year | English Language Arts | Math |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 87.0% | 84.0% |
| 2023-24 | 88.0% | 86.0% |
| 2022-23 | 86.0% | 84.0% |
% 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
85.5%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
83.0%
based on VA schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
+2.5pp
above demographic expectation
What this means: About 86% of students here test proficient in math and reading, compared with the roughly 83% 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 Thoreau Middle
Thoreau Middle's state test result (85.5% proficient) is higher than 3 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Thoreau Middle this school | 1,239 | 18.8% | 85.5% |
| Gainesville Middle Gainesville | 1,403 | 24.5% | 84.8% |
| Ronald Wilson Reagan Middle Haymarket | 1,436 | 16.9% | 85.1% |
| Trailside Middle Ashburn | 1,131 | 21.7% | 85.4% |
| Frost Middle Fairfax | 1,272 | 15.9% | 87.7% |
| Dorothy Hamm Middle Arlington | 989 | 18.9% | 86.1% |
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 Thoreau Middle ranks
Among middle schools| Measure | This school | In Virginia | In Fairfax County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 85.5% | #32 of 337 | #6 of 22 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 84.0% | #47 of 342 ▼ 21 | #10 of 23 ▼ 4 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 87.0% | #34 of 342 ▼ 15 | #7 of 23 ▼ 2 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 1,239 | #29 of 343 | #5 of 23 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 11.3:1 | #62 of 327 | #6 of 23 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 67.6% | #95 of 333 | #15 of 23 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 18.8% | #316 of 340 | #18 of 22 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked fastest growth first | +31.1% | #10 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
1,239
+9 (+1%) vs 2020
+97% since 1990-91, when it was 630
Student : Teacher
11.3:1
was 13.2:1
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 | 1,239 | 109.2 | 11.3:1 | 19% (233) |
| 2023-24 | 1,246 | 92.4 | 13.5:1 | 19% (236) |
| 2022-23 | 1,194 | 78.3 | 15.3:1 | 18% (211) |
| 2020-21 | 1,230 | 93 | 13.2:1 | N/A |
| 2017-18 | 945 | 68.2 | 13.9:1 | 9% (85) |
| 2015-16 | 858 | 58 | 14.8:1 | 10% (89) |
| 2010-11 | 778 | 38 | 20.5:1 | 8% (64) |
| 2000-01 | 747 | 61 | 12.3:1 | 7% (54) |
| 1990-91 | 630 | 37 | 17.0:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Thoreau Middle.
Since 2017-18: students up 31% (945 to 1,239); teachers up 60% (68.2 to 109.2).
About Thoreau Middle
Thoreau Middle operates as a high-enrollment middle school in Vienna, Virginia. A total of 1,239 students attend the school, which covers grades 7 through 8. Against the 750-student average for middle schools in Virginia, enrollment here is 65% higher.
Fairfax County Public Schools includes 199 schools. Together they enroll 179,323 students.
Federal enrollment data show White students as the largest group at Thoreau Middle, at 50%. Other groups make up 19% Hispanic, 19% Asian, 7% multiracial, and 5% Black. The county population is about 49% White, within a few points of the school. Pick two students at random and there is a 68% chance they belong to different racial or ethnic groups; that figure is the school's diversity index.
The school's student-to-teacher ratio is about 11.3:1, with 109.2 full-time-equivalent teachers. That is 1.8 students per teacher below the 13.1:1 average for middle schools in Virginia. Students eligible for free or reduced-price lunch make up 19% of enrollment. On average, public schools in Fairfax County report 37%.
Thoreau Middle's average proficiency rate on state tests of 85.5% is 2.5 points above the 83.0% the model predicts from its lunch-eligibility share.
Fairfax County has about 1,147,837 residents, and the median household income is $153,637, 65% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, and about 4% of residents live below the federal poverty line. Besides Thoreau Middle, Fairfax County has 221 other public schools.
The next-closest public school is Cunningham Park Elementary, about 0.6 miles away. Thoreau Middle is one of several public schools in the area, with at least 8 others within five miles. Thoreau Middle's average proficiency of 85.5% compares with 77.7% for its nearest scored neighbors.
The federal government classifies Thoreau Middle's location as Suburb: Large.
Enrollment was essentially flat over 4 years: 1,230 in 2020-21, 1,239 in 2024-25. By 2024-25, the school had 11.3 students per teacher, compared with 13.2 in 2020-21.
Topics for discussion here include science fairs, picture day, and bus routes. Anyone with firsthand experience at this school can post or comment.
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 Vienna
- Oakton HighHigh · 2,621 students
- Madison HighHigh · 2,090 students
- Kilmer MiddleMiddle · 1,199 students
- Westbriar ElementaryElementary · 840 students
- Colvin Run ElementaryElementary · 750 students
- Marshall Road ElementaryElementary · 691 students
Other Thoreau Middle schools
One other US public school is named Thoreau Middle. Thoreau Middle is the largest of the 2.
- THOREAU MIDDLETHOREAU, NM · 362 students
Nearby schools
- Cunningham Park Elementary0.6 mi · 412
- Stenwood Elementary0.6 mi · 538
- Dunn Loring Early Childhood Resource Center0.9 mi · 266
- Kilmer Middle1.3 mi · 1,199
- Kilmer Center1.4 mi · 57
- Fairhill Elementary1.4 mi · 566
Frequently asked questions
About Thoreau MiddleHow large is Thoreau Middle?
Thoreau Middle enrolls approximately 1,239 students in grades 07-08.
What age range does Thoreau Middle serve?
Thoreau Middle serves students from grade 07 through grade 08.
How many students per teacher at Thoreau Middle?
Approximately 11.3:1 students per teacher at Thoreau Middle.
What is the student diversity at Thoreau Middle?
Student demographics at Thoreau Middle are roughly 50% White, 19% Hispanic, 5% Black, 19% Asian, 7% Two or more.
Is Thoreau Middle public or private?
Thoreau 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.