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What's something Ballou Jr High does better than most schools?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
852
Middle
DISTRICT 775 · STATE 577
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·PUYALLUP SCHOOL DISTRICT·NCES 530696001026
Ballou Jr High
9916 136th St E, Puyallup, WA 98373 · (253) 841-8725 · Pierce County
GRADES 07–09MIDDLE21-SUBURBTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL852 STUDENTS
B
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 64% of Washington public middle schools
- BTest scores Share of students meeting the state standard in reading, math, and other tested subjects, 2023-24 and 2024-25.
- BBeats expectations How far test scores land above or below what the share of low-income students predicts for a school in this state.
- A-Three-year trend Change in reading and math proficiency over the last three test years.
Grades compare a school only with schools in the same state, because every state gives its own test. How grades work · Top-graded Washington public middle schools
Student : Teacher
22.0:1
39 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 22.1:1 · STATE 18.9:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
49%
421 students
DISTRICT 49% · 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 7 | 283 | 33% |
| Grade 8 | 286 | 34% |
| Grade 9 | 283 | 33% |
Student demographics
72%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 71% · 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
59.0%
WA avg 58.4% . -3.5pp since 2014
Math
31.2%
WA avg 51.2% . -17.8pp since 2014
What this means: On the Smarter Balanced + WCAS, Washington's statewide test, about 59 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 31 of 100 do math at grade level. Across all Washington schools, those numbers are about 58 and 51. Reading and writing scores are down about 4 points since 2014, while math scores are down about 18 points.
Smarter Balanced + WCAS results by year
| School year | English Language Arts | Math |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 59.0% | 31.2% |
| 2023-24 | 56.5% | 32.2% |
| 2022-23 | 55.4% | 27.3% |
| 2021-22 | 52.8% | 25.0% |
| 2018-19 | 64.9% | 43.3% |
| 2017-18 | 68.0% | 47.9% |
| 2016-17 | 68.6% | 53.6% |
| 2015-16 | 67.5% | 51.8% |
| 2014-15 | 62.5% | 49.0% |
% 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
43.6%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
47.0%
based on WA schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
-3.5pp
below demographic expectation
What this means: About 44% of students here test proficient in math and reading, compared with the roughly 47% 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 Ballou Jr High
Ballou Jr High's state test result (43.6% proficient) is higher than 3 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ballou Jr High this school | 852 | 49.4% | 43.6% |
| Doris Stahl Junior High Puyallup | 846 | 45.9% | 45.1% |
| Glacier View Junior High Puyallup | 843 | 45.2% | 42.2% |
| Komachin Middle School Lacey | 640 | 48.8% | 42.2% |
| Ferrucci Jr High Puyallup | 815 | 50.3% | 44.6% |
| Liberty Middle School Spanaway | 857 | 54.0% | 36.5% |
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 Ballou Jr High ranks
Among middle schools| Measure | This school | In Washington | In Pierce County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 43.6% | #126 of 294 | #18 of 45 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 31.2% | #200 of 357 ▼ 18 | #26 of 45 ▼ 1 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 59.0% | #94 of 357 ▲ 1 | #14 of 45 ▼ 1 |
| 3-year test score change ranked biggest gain first | +6.2pp | #61 of 290 | #15 of 45 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 852 | #47 of 377 | #5 of 45 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 22.0:1 | #305 of 340 | #39 of 44 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 72.3% | #65 of 340 | #22 of 44 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 49.4% | #189 of 359 | #21 of 45 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked steepest decline first | -2.0% | #177 of 192 | #21 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
852
-45 (-5%) vs 2020
+6% since 1990-91, when it was 807
Student : Teacher
22.0:1
was 23.0:1
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 | 852 | 38.8 | 22.0:1 | 49% (421) |
| 2023-24 | 863 | 38.9 | 22.2:1 | 51% (442) |
| 2022-23 | 890 | 40.8 | 21.8:1 | 49% (440) |
| 2020-21 | 897 | 39 | 23.0:1 | 39% (350) |
| 2017-18 | 869 | 41.5 | 20.9:1 | 38% (334) |
| 2015-16 | 843 | 41 | 20.6:1 | 38% (322) |
| 2010-11 | 722 | 34 | 21.2:1 | 34% (247) |
| 2000-01 | 721 | 33 | 21.9:1 | N/A |
| 1990-91 | 807 | 38 | 21.2:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Ballou Jr High.
Since 2017-18: students down 2% (869 to 852); teachers down 7% (41.5 to 38.8).
About Ballou Jr High
This page covers Ballou Jr High, a mid-sized middle school in Puyallup, Washington. It teaches 852 students in grades 7 through 9. Middle schools in Washington have about 577 students on average; enrollment here is 48% higher.
The district, Puyallup School District, operates 37 schools serving 23,026 students.
White students make up 45% of enrollment at Ballou Jr High, the largest share of any group. The remaining shares are 20% Hispanic, 15% multiracial, 9% Black, and 6% Asian. Census estimates put the White share of Pierce County's population at about 64%. Its diversity index, the chance that two randomly chosen students belong to different racial or ethnic groups, is 72%.
The school has 38.8 full-time-equivalent teachers and a ratio of 22.0 students per teacher. Middle schools in Washington average 18.9:1, 3.0 fewer students per teacher than here. Of all students at Ballou Jr High, 49% are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch. The average for public schools in Pierce County is similar, at 50%.
Ballou Jr High holds a B allk12 Grade, placing it above 64% of Washington public middle schools.
Ballou Jr High's average proficiency rate across its state test results of 43.6% is 3.5 points below the 47.0% the model predicts from its lunch-eligibility share.
The school's county is Pierce County. According to Census Bureau estimates, the median household earns about $99,564 a year, a bachelor's degree or higher is held by about 31% of adults, and the share of residents below the poverty line is 6%. Public schools in Pierce County number 287, with about 138,462 students.
The closest school to Ballou Jr High is Firgrove Elementary, located about 0.2 miles away. The count of other public schools within five miles is at least 8. In a group of 6 nearby schools with scores, Ballou Jr High ranks 4th on average proficiency.
Its NCES locale code is Suburb: Large: the school is in a suburban area outside a principal city, within an urbanized area with a population of 250,000 or more.
Enrollment was 852 in 2024-25. In 2020-21, it was 897. Staffing shifted too: the ratio moved from 23.0:1 to 22.0:1.
On allk12, people connected to Ballou Jr High can post about special education services, counseling, and support programs. Members of the school community can share what they know.
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 Puyallup School District
- Puyallup High SchoolHigh · 1,815 students
- Gov John Rogers High SchoolHigh · 1,788 students
- Emerald Ridge High SchoolHigh · 1,599 students
- Dessie F Evans ElementaryElementary · 919 students
- Doris Stahl Junior HighMiddle · 846 students
- Glacier View Junior HighMiddle · 843 students
Other schools in Puyallup
- Puyallup High SchoolHigh · 1,815 students
- Gov John Rogers High SchoolHigh · 1,788 students
- Emerald Ridge High SchoolHigh · 1,599 students
- Dessie F Evans ElementaryElementary · 919 students
- Doris Stahl Junior HighMiddle · 846 students
- Glacier View Junior HighMiddle · 843 students
Nearby schools
- Firgrove Elementary0.2 mi · 593
- Edward Zeiger Elem0.6 mi · 500
- Gov John Rogers High School0.8 mi · 1,788
- Dessie F Evans Elementary1.3 mi · 919
- Pope Elementary1.6 mi · 710
- Puyallup Open Doors/POD1.8 mi · 124
Frequently asked questions
About Ballou Jr HighHow many students attend Ballou Jr High?
Ballou Jr High enrolls approximately 852 students in grades 07-09.
What age range does Ballou Jr High serve?
Ballou Jr High serves students from grade 07 through grade 09.
How many students per teacher at Ballou Jr High?
Approximately 22.0:1 students per teacher at Ballou Jr High.
What is the student diversity at Ballou Jr High?
Student demographics at Ballou Jr High are roughly 45% White, 20% Hispanic, 9% Black, 6% Asian, 15% Two or more.
Is Ballou Jr High public or private?
Ballou Jr High is a public K-12 school, overseen by Puyallup School District.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.