1
What clubs or activities at Curtis Junior High are worth joining?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
904
High
DISTRICT 1,113 · STATE 573
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·UNIVERSITY PLACE SCHOOL DISTRICT·NCES 530918001548
Curtis Junior High
3725 Grandview Drive West, UNIVERSITY PLACE, WA 98466 · (253) 566-5670 · Pierce County
GRADES 08–09HIGH21-SUBURBREGULAR SCHOOL904 STUDENTS
A
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 94% of Washington public high schools
- ATest scores Share of students meeting the state standard in reading, math, and other tested subjects, 2023-24 and 2024-25.
- A-Beats 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 high schools
Student : Teacher
22.4:1
40 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 23.7:1 · STATE 21.6:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
39%
356 students
DISTRICT 40% · STATE 51%
Community
1
0 members
Enrollment and student:teacher ratio compared against other high schools. Free/Reduced Lunch and demographics compared against all schools.
Enrollment by grade, 2024-25
| Grade | Students | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Grade 8 | 481 | 53% |
| Grade 9 | 423 | 47% |
Student demographics
73%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 73% · 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
School pathway
Students here typically continue to
Curtis Junior High→Curtis Senior High
Based on grade levels within University Place School District. Attendance zones can vary; confirm enrollment with the district.
Test scores
Smarter Balanced + WCAS 2024-25 . % Met or Exceeded StandardEnglish Language Arts
69.2%
WA avg 58.4% . +3.2pp since 2014
Math
53.6%
WA avg 51.2% . -8.3pp since 2014
What this means: On the Smarter Balanced + WCAS, Washington's statewide test, about 69 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 54 of 100 do math at grade level. Across all Washington schools, those numbers are about 58 and 51. Reading and writing scores are up about 3 points since 2014, while math scores are down about 8 points.
Smarter Balanced + WCAS results by year
| School year | English Language Arts | Math |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 69.2% | 53.6% |
| 2023-24 | 66.3% | 41.2% |
| 2022-23 | 62.5% | 41.9% |
| 2021-22 | 62.9% | 39.0% |
| 2018-19 | 76.6% | 63.6% |
| 2017-18 | 77.5% | 68.5% |
| 2016-17 | 70.5% | 63.0% |
| 2015-16 | 71.1% | 63.0% |
| 2014-15 | 66.0% | 61.9% |
% 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
57.1%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
53.8%
based on WA schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
+3.3pp
above demographic expectation
What this means: About 57% of students here test proficient in math and reading, compared with the roughly 54% 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 Curtis Junior High
Curtis Junior High's state test result (57.1% proficient) is higher than 4 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Curtis Junior High this school | 904 | 39.4% | 57.1% |
| Nathan Hale High School SEATTLE | 1,052 | 38.8% | 49.9% |
| Curtis Senior High UNIVERSITY PLACE | 1,321 | 36.8% | 62.9% |
| Dr. Dolores Silas High School Tacoma | 1,160 | 41.9% | 34.9% |
| Edmonds Woodway High School EDMONDS | 1,605 | 39.6% | 43.4% |
| Mountlake Terrace High School MTLK TERRACE | 1,456 | 36.3% | 41.8% |
Matched among Washington high 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 Curtis Junior High ranks
Among high schools| Measure | This school | In Washington | In Pierce County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 57.1% | #40 of 271 | #2 of 32 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 53.6% | #28 of 321 ▲ 37 | #1 of 32 ▲ 3 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 69.2% | #79 of 327 ▲ 38 | #10 of 33 ▲ 2 |
| 3-year test score change ranked biggest gain first | +10.5pp | #14 of 259 | #2 of 32 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 904 | #165 of 570 | #22 of 51 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 22.4:1 | #234 of 311 | #19 of 34 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 72.8% | #42 of 316 | #12 of 35 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 39.4% | #275 of 386 | #28 of 39 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked steepest decline first | -6.4% | #100 of 164 | #10 of 15 |
Ranked against other public high 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
904
+24 (+3%) vs 2020
+29% since 1990-91, when it was 699
Student : Teacher
22.4:1
was 22.6:1
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 | 904 | 40.3 | 22.4:1 | 39% (356) |
| 2023-24 | 891 | 38.8 | 23.0:1 | 43% (381) |
| 2022-23 | 911 | 41.2 | 22.1:1 | 43% (389) |
| 2020-21 | 880 | 39 | 22.6:1 | 35% (304) |
| 2017-18 | 966 | 44.2 | 21.9:1 | 36% (347) |
| 2015-16 | 982 | 44 | 22.3:1 | 38% (369) |
| 2010-11 | 1,016 | 44 | 23.1:1 | 35% (351) |
| 2000-01 | 919 | 44 | 20.9:1 | N/A |
| 1990-91 | 699 | 38 | 18.4:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Curtis Junior High.
Since 2017-18: students down 6% (966 to 904); teachers down 9% (44.2 to 40.3).
About Curtis Junior High
Curtis Junior High is a large high school serving families in UNIVERSITY PLACE, Washington. Enrolled students number 904 students, in grades 8 through 9. Enrollment is 58% higher than the average for high schools in Washington, which is about 573.
Federal data list 8 schools in University Place School District, with 5,635 students enrolled.
Enrollment at Curtis Junior High is mixed, with White students the largest group at 44%. Beyond that, enrollment is 17% Hispanic, 15% multiracial, 11% Black, and 11% Asian. In Pierce County overall, about 64% of residents are White. By the diversity index, Curtis Junior High comes in at 73%.
Its 40.3 full-time-equivalent teachers give the school a ratio of 22.4:1. The average ratio among high schools in Washington is 21.6:1, lower than at this school. The school's lunch program data list 39% of students as eligible for free or reduced-price meals. The gap from the 50% average for public schools in Pierce County is 11 points.
Curtis Junior High is graded A by allk12, scoring above 94% of Washington public high schools once test results, poverty-adjusted performance, and the recent trend are combined.
When test results are adjusted for free or reduced-price lunch eligibility, Curtis Junior High is 3.3 points above its prediction. Actual: 57.1%. Predicted: 53.8%.
Among Pierce County residents, median household income is about $99,564, about 31% of adults have at least a bachelor's degree, and roughly 6% of residents are in poverty. Curtis Junior High is one of 287 public schools in Pierce County, which together enroll about 138,462 students.
Of nearby public schools, Curtis Senior High is the closest, at about 0.2 miles. Inside a five-mile radius, there are at least 8 other public schools. The nearest schools with test data average 63.1%, higher than Curtis Junior High's 57.1%.
NCES lists the school's locale as Suburb: Large. That means it sits in a suburban area outside a principal city, within an urbanized area with a population of 250,000 or more.
Between 2020-21 and 2024-25, the student count climbed from 880 to 904.
Families, students, and staff can use this page to discuss sports schedules, lunch menus, and spirit week at Curtis Junior High. Anyone with firsthand experience at this school can post or comment.
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 University Place School District
- Curtis Senior HighHigh · 1,321 students
- Narrows View IntermediateMiddle · 692 students
- Drum IntermediateMiddle · 639 students
- Sunset PrimaryElementary · 548 students
- University Place PrimaryElementary · 522 students
- Evergreen PrimaryElementary · 516 students
Other schools in UNIVERSITY PLACE
- Curtis Senior HighHigh · 1,321 students
- Sunset PrimaryElementary · 548 students
- Evergreen PrimaryElementary · 516 students
Nearby schools
- Curtis Senior High0.2 mi · 1,321
- Narrows View Intermediate0.7 mi · 692
- University Place Primary0.7 mi · 522
- Sunset Primary0.8 mi · 548
- Drum Intermediate1.0 mi · 639
- Evergreen Primary1.0 mi · 516
Frequently asked questions
About Curtis Junior HighHow large is Curtis Junior High?
Curtis Junior High enrolls approximately 904 students in grades 08-09.
Is Curtis Junior High an elementary, middle, or high school?
Curtis Junior High is a high school covering grades 08-09.
How many students per teacher at Curtis Junior High?
Approximately 22.4:1 students per teacher at Curtis Junior High.
What is the racial breakdown of students at Curtis Junior High?
At Curtis Junior High, the student body is approximately 44% White, 17% Hispanic, 11% Black, 11% Asian, 15% Two or more.
Is Curtis Junior High public or private?
Curtis Junior High is a public K-12 school, overseen by University Place School District.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.