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If you could change one rule at Baker Middle School, what would it be?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
687
Middle
DISTRICT 474 · STATE 577
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·TACOMA SCHOOL DISTRICT·NCES 530870001454
Baker Middle School
8001 So J Street, Tacoma, WA 98408 · (253) 571-5000 · Pierce County
GRADES 06–08MIDDLE12-CITYTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL687 STUDENTS
Student : Teacher
20.0:1
34 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 18.0:1 · STATE 18.9:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
71%
491 students
DISTRICT 57% · STATE 51%
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 6 | 238 | 35% |
| Grade 7 | 229 | 33% |
| Grade 8 | 220 | 32% |
Student demographics
80%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 78% · STATE 68% · 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
Smarter Balanced + WCAS 2024-25 . % Met or Exceeded StandardEnglish Language Arts
37.9%
WA avg 58.4% . +0.1pp since 2014
Math
20.9%
WA avg 51.2% . -9.9pp since 2014
What this means: On the Smarter Balanced + WCAS, Washington's statewide test, about 38 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 21 of 100 do math at grade level. Across all Washington schools, those numbers are about 58 and 51. Reading and writing scores have held steady since 2014, while math scores are down about 10 points.
Smarter Balanced + WCAS results by year
| School year | English Language Arts | Math |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 37.9% | 20.9% |
| 2023-24 | 39.8% | 21.1% |
| 2022-23 | 36.2% | 19.1% |
| 2021-22 | 36.2% | 18.7% |
| 2018-19 | 43.8% | 28.2% |
| 2017-18 | 44.3% | 31.8% |
| 2016-17 | 40.6% | 30.8% |
| 2015-16 | 40.6% | 33.3% |
| 2014-15 | 37.7% | 30.9% |
% Met or Exceeded Standard, all students and all tested grades.
Source: Smarter Balanced + WCAS. 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
29.0%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
32.3%
based on WA schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
-3.3pp
below demographic expectation
What this means: About 29% of students here test proficient in math and reading, compared with the roughly 32% typical for Washington 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 Washington'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 Baker Middle School
Baker Middle School's state test result (29.0% proficient) is higher than 3 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baker Middle School this school | 687 | 71.5% | 29.0% |
| Kilo Middle School AUBURN | 669 | 73.7% | 31.1% |
| Stewart Middle School Tacoma | 650 | 70.3% | 26.7% |
| Sequoyah Middle School Auburn | 570 | 76.3% | 21.2% |
| Sacajawea Middle School FEDERAL WAY | 668 | 77.7% | 28.6% |
| Lakota Middle School FEDERAL WAY | 645 | 71.2% | 31.7% |
Matched among Washington 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 Baker Middle School ranks
Among middle schools| Measure | This school | In Washington | In Pierce County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 29.0% | #233 of 294 | #36 of 45 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 20.9% | #281 of 357 ▼ 5 | #36 of 45 ▼ 1 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 37.9% | #266 of 357 ▼ 30 | #36 of 45 ▼ 4 |
| 3-year test score change ranked biggest gain first | +1.9pp | #153 of 290 | #28 of 45 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 687 | #141 of 377 | #18 of 45 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 20.0:1 | #216 of 340 | #17 of 44 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 79.6% | #6 of 340 | #3 of 44 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 71.5% | #58 of 359 | #6 of 45 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked steepest decline first | -7.3% | #129 of 192 | #15 of 23 |
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
687
-85 (-11%) vs 2020
-10% since 1990-91, when it was 767
Student : Teacher
20.0:1
was 18.4:1
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 | 687 | 34.4 | 20.0:1 | 71% (491) |
| 2023-24 | 647 | 37.2 | 17.4:1 | 80% (516) |
| 2022-23 | 694 | 36.7 | 18.9:1 | 74% (516) |
| 2020-21 | 772 | 42 | 18.4:1 | 73% (565) |
| 2017-18 | 741 | 37.9 | 19.6:1 | 76% (563) |
| 2015-16 | 700 | 39 | 17.9:1 | 77% (537) |
| 2010-11 | 552 | 32 | 17.3:1 | 64% (355) |
| 2000-01 | 899 | 46 | 19.5:1 | N/A |
| 1990-91 | 767 | 42 | 18.3:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Baker Middle School.
Since 2017-18: students down 7% (741 to 687); teachers down 9% (37.9 to 34.4).
About Baker Middle School
At 8001 So J Street in Tacoma, Washington, Baker Middle School operates as a medium-sized middle school. The school serves 687 students in grades 6 through 8 in 2024-25.
Tacoma School District has 28,900 students spread across 66 schools.
At Baker Middle School, the largest share of students is Hispanic, at 33%. After that, the student body is 17% White, 17% multiracial, 14% Asian, and 13% Black. Census figures show Pierce County is about 13% Hispanic. Pick two students at random and there is an 80% chance they belong to different racial or ethnic groups; that figure is the school's diversity index.
Baker Middle School's 34.4 full-time-equivalent teachers put its ratio at 20.0:1. That is higher than the 18.9:1 average for middle schools in Washington. Eligibility for subsidized school meals is 71%. The average for public schools in Pierce County is 50%.
The model predicts 32.3% for a school in Washington with Baker Middle School's free or reduced-price lunch share. Baker Middle School posts 29.0%.
Pierce County census figures show that the median household income is $99,564, a bachelor's degree or higher is held by about 31% of adults, and the poverty rate is about 6%. Pierce County is home to 287 public schools and about 138,462 public school students.
The shortest distance from Baker Middle School to another public school is about 0.3 miles, to Fern Hill Elementary School. Counting only straight-line distance, at least 8 other public schools are within five miles. On state test proficiency, Baker Middle School ranks 7th in a group of 9 nearby schools.
The NCES locale for Baker Middle School is City: Mid-size, which covers schools inside a principal city with a population between 100,000 and 250,000.
Compared with 2020-21, the school had 85 fewer students in 2024-25. By 2024-25, the school had 20.0 students per teacher, compared with 18.4 in 2020-21.
Discussion on this page can cover enrollment questions, class placement, and PTA news. Posting is open to anyone connected to the school.
Pierce County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
930,319
Census ACS
Median income
$99,564
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
31%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
6%
Below federal line
Schools in county
287
138,462 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in Tacoma School District
- Stadium High SchoolHigh · 1,700 students
- Lincoln High SchoolHigh · 1,556 students
- Mount Tahoma High SchoolHigh · 1,410 students
- Dr. Dolores Silas High SchoolHigh · 1,160 students
- Tacoma School of the ArtsHigh · 658 students
- Stewart Middle SchoolMiddle · 650 students
Other schools in Tacoma
- Stadium High SchoolHigh · 1,700 students
- Lincoln High SchoolHigh · 1,556 students
- Mount Tahoma High SchoolHigh · 1,410 students
- Dr. Dolores Silas High SchoolHigh · 1,160 students
- Washington High SchoolHigh · 989 students
- Franklin Pierce High SchoolHigh · 977 students
Other Baker Middle schools
6 other US public schools in 7 states are named Baker Middle. Baker Middle School is the 2nd largest of the 7.
- Baker Middle SchoolCORPUS CHRISTI, TX · 937 students
- Baker Middle SchoolColumbus, GA · 631 students
- Baker Middle SchoolTROY, MI · 629 students
- Baker Middle SchoolKayenta, AZ · 447 students
- Baker Middle SchoolBaker City, OR · 226 students
Nearby schools
- Fern Hill Elementary School0.3 mi · 311
- Birney Elementary School0.4 mi · 476
- Helen Stafford Elementary School0.8 mi · 453
- Industrial Design Engineering and Arts0.9 mi · 392
- Larchmont Elementary School0.9 mi · 303
- Christensen Elementary1.4 mi · 346
Frequently asked questions
About Baker Middle SchoolWhat is the total enrollment at Baker Middle School?
Baker Middle School enrolls approximately 687 students in grades 06-08.
What age range does Baker Middle School serve?
Baker Middle School serves students from grade 06 through grade 08.
How many students per teacher at Baker Middle School?
Approximately 20.0:1 students per teacher at Baker Middle School.
What is the racial breakdown of students at Baker Middle School?
At Baker Middle School, the student body is approximately 17% White, 33% Hispanic, 13% Black, 14% Asian, 17% Two or more.
Is Baker Middle School public or private?
Baker Middle School is a public K-12 school, overseen by Tacoma School District.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.