1
What tradition at William E. Waters Middle should never be changed?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
549
Middle
DISTRICT 621 · STATE 750
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·PORTSMOUTH CITY PUBLIC SCHOOLS·NCES 510300001265
William E. Waters Middle
600 Roosevelt Blvd, Portsmouth, VA 23701 · (757) 558-2813 · Portsmouth city
GRADES 07–08MIDDLE13-CITYTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL549 STUDENTS
C-
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 17% of Virginia public middle schools
- DTest scores Share of students meeting the state standard in reading, math, and other tested subjects, 2023-24 and 2024-25.
- CBeats 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 Virginia public middle schools
Student : Teacher
11.9:1
46 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 13.4:1 · STATE 13.1:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
99%
543 students
DISTRICT 101% · 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 | 249 | 45% |
| Grade 8 | 300 | 55% |
Student demographics
52%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 49% · 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
61.0%
VA avg 74.2% . +7.0pp since 2022
Math
56.0%
VA avg 72.7% . +9.0pp since 2022
What this means: On the SOL, Virginia's statewide test, about 61 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 56 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 7 points since 2022, while math scores are up about 9 points.
SOL results by year
| School year | English Language Arts | Math |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 61.0% | 56.0% |
| 2023-24 | 62.0% | 53.0% |
| 2022-23 | 54.0% | 47.0% |
% 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
54.0%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
61.2%
based on VA schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
-7.2pp
below demographic expectation
What this means: About 54% of students here test proficient in math and reading, compared with the roughly 61% 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 William E. Waters Middle
William E. Waters Middle's state test result (54.0% proficient) is higher than 1 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| William E. Waters Middle this school | 549 | 98.9% | 54.0% |
| Thomas Eaton Middle Hampton | 581 | 94.3% | 75.3% |
| Albert Hill Middle Richmond | 505 | 99.8% | 64.3% |
| Sandusky Middle Lynchburg | 583 | 96.9% | 45.5% |
| Edward W. Wyatt Middle Emporia | 448 | 99.6% | 61.6% |
| Westwood Middle Danville | 642 | 92.2% | 55.0% |
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 William E. Waters Middle ranks
Among middle schools| Measure | This school | In Virginia |
|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 54.0% | #296 of 337 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 56.0% | #269 of 342 ▲ 3 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 61.0% | #280 of 342 ▼ 28 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 549 | #240 of 343 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 11.9:1 | #87 of 327 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 52.3% | #216 of 333 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 98.9% | #37 of 340 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked fastest growth first | +1.1% | #96 of 99 |
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
549
+26 (+5%) vs 2020
-10% since 1990-91, when it was 609
Student : Teacher
11.9:1
was 11.4:1
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 | 549 | 46 | 11.9:1 | 99% (543) |
| 2023-24 | 562 | 45 | 12.5:1 | N/A |
| 2022-23 | 534 | 43 | 12.4:1 | 99% (528) |
| 2020-21 | 523 | 46 | 11.4:1 | N/A |
| 2017-18 | 543 | 40.5 | 13.4:1 | 99% (540) |
| 2015-16 | 600 | 43 | 13.9:1 | 100% (597) |
| 2010-11 | 547 | 32 | 17.1:1 | 61% (334) |
| 2000-01 | 769 | 54 | 14.2:1 | 56% (430) |
| 1990-91 | 609 | 43 | 14.2:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for William E. Waters Middle.
Since 2017-18: students up 1% (543 to 549); teachers up 14% (40.5 to 46).
About William E. Waters Middle
Federal records list William E. Waters Middle as a middle school in Portsmouth, Virginia. Students in grades 7 through 8 attend, and enrollment is 549 students. The typical figure for middle schools in Virginia is about 750 students.
Portsmouth City Public Schools is made up of 22 schools with 12,905 students in all.
At 65%, Black students outnumber all other groups at William E. Waters Middle combined. The school is also 21% White, 7% Hispanic, and 6% multiracial. The Black share of the county population is lower, at 51%. The chance that two students picked at random at William E. Waters Middle belong to different racial or ethnic groups, known as the diversity index, is 52%.
The school has about 11.9 students per teacher and 46 full-time-equivalent teachers. That ratio is under the 13.1:1 average for middle schools in Virginia. Federal records put free or reduced-price lunch eligibility at 99%. Across public schools in Portsmouth city, the average is about the same, 101%.
William E. Waters Middle is graded C- by allk12, scoring above 17% of Virginia public middle schools once test results, poverty-adjusted performance, and the recent trend are combined.
A school with William E. Waters Middle's lunch-eligibility share in Virginia is predicted to score 61.2%. William E. Waters Middle scores 54.0%, 7.2 points below that line.
Across Portsmouth city, median household income is about $60,491, the share of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher is 24%, and roughly 14% of residents are in poverty. William E. Waters Middle is among the 24 public schools in Portsmouth city.
Lakeview Elementary is located about 0.9 miles from William E. Waters Middle. Other public schools within five miles: at least 8. Nearby schools with test data average 53.3% proficiency; William E. Waters Middle posts 54.0%.
NCES lists the school's locale as City: Small. That means it sits inside a principal city with a population under 100,000.
The student count in 2024-25 was 549, 5% above the 523 of 2020-21.
Community posts for William E. Waters Middle can cover science fairs, picture day, and bus routes. Questions from prospective families are welcome too.
Portsmouth city at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
97,190
Census ACS
Median income
$60,491
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
24%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
14%
Below federal line
Schools in county
24
12,905 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in Portsmouth City Public Schools
- Churchland HighHigh · 1,453 students
- Manor HighHigh · 1,149 students
- I.C. Norcom HighHigh · 1,009 students
- Churchland MiddleMiddle · 798 students
- Churchland ElementaryElementary · 721 students
- Churchland Academy ElementaryElementary · 626 students
Other schools in Portsmouth
- Churchland HighHigh · 1,453 students
- Manor HighHigh · 1,149 students
- I.C. Norcom HighHigh · 1,009 students
- Churchland MiddleMiddle · 798 students
- Churchland ElementaryElementary · 721 students
- Churchland Academy ElementaryElementary · 626 students
Nearby schools
- Lakeview Elementary0.9 mi · 439
- Camelot Elementary1.2 mi · 491
- Victory Elementary1.5 mi · 586
- G.A. Treakle Elementary1.6 mi · 440
- Manor High1.9 mi · 1,149
- Douglass Park Elementary2.0 mi · 510
Frequently asked questions
About William E. Waters MiddleHow many students attend William E. Waters Middle?
William E. Waters Middle enrolls approximately 549 students in grades 07-08.
What age range does William E. Waters Middle serve?
William E. Waters Middle serves students from grade 07 through grade 08.
How many students per teacher at William E. Waters Middle?
Approximately 11.9:1 students per teacher at William E. Waters Middle.
What is the student diversity at William E. Waters Middle?
Student demographics at William E. Waters Middle are roughly 21% White, 7% Hispanic, 65% Black, 0% Asian, 6% Two or more.
What district is William E. Waters Middle in?
William E. Waters Middle is part of Portsmouth City Public Schools.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.