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Best kept secret at First Creek Middle School?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
584
Middle
DISTRICT 474 · STATE 577
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·TACOMA SCHOOL DISTRICT·NCES 530870003299
First Creek Middle School
1801 E. 56th Street, Tacoma, WA 98404 · (253) 571-2700 · Pierce County
GRADES 06–08MIDDLE12-CITYTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL584 STUDENTS
D
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 10% of Washington 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.
- CThree-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
19.6:1
30 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 18.0:1 · STATE 18.9:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
78%
456 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 | 200 | 34% |
| Grade 7 | 187 | 32% |
| Grade 8 | 197 | 34% |
Student demographics
79%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
25.6%
WA avg 58.4% . -7.2pp since 2014
Math
11.4%
WA avg 51.2% . -17.7pp since 2014
What this means: On the Smarter Balanced + WCAS, Washington's statewide test, about 26 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 11 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 7 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 | 25.6% | 11.4% |
| 2023-24 | 29.1% | 12.0% |
| 2022-23 | 28.1% | 12.0% |
| 2021-22 | 27.4% | 10.4% |
| 2018-19 | 34.4% | 17.2% |
| 2017-18 | 34.8% | 24.9% |
| 2016-17 | 38.3% | 29.6% |
| 2015-16 | 40.7% | 31.3% |
| 2014-15 | 32.8% | 29.1% |
% 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
20.2%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
27.8%
based on WA schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
-7.7pp
below demographic expectation
What this means: About 20% of students here test proficient in math and reading, compared with the roughly 28% 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 First Creek Middle School
First Creek Middle School's state test result (20.2% proficient) is higher than 2 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| First Creek Middle School this school | 584 | 78.1% | 20.2% |
| Sacajawea Middle School FEDERAL WAY | 668 | 77.7% | 28.6% |
| Pacific Middle School Des Moines | 604 | 74.3% | 20.4% |
| Chinook Middle School SeaTac | 620 | 72.9% | 22.9% |
| Evergreen Middle School KENT | 810 | 79.5% | 18.1% |
| Gray Middle School Tacoma | 510 | 73.7% | 19.1% |
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 First Creek Middle School ranks
Among middle schools| Measure | This school | In Washington | In Pierce County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 20.2% | #275 of 294 | #41 of 45 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 11.4% | #343 of 357 ▼ 5 | #44 of 45 ▼ 2 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 25.6% | #327 of 357 ▼ 15 | #41 of 45 ▼ 1 |
| 3-year test score change ranked biggest drop first | -0.4pp | #83 of 290 | #10 of 45 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 584 | #205 of 377 | #30 of 45 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 19.6:1 | #194 of 340 | #14 of 44 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 78.7% | #8 of 340 | #5 of 44 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 78.1% | #30 of 359 | #2 of 45 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked steepest decline first | -20.3% | #38 of 192 | #4 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
584
-137 (-19%) vs 2020
-23% since 2010-11, when it was 756
Student : Teacher
19.6:1
was 20.0:1
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 | 584 | 29.8 | 19.6:1 | 78% (456) |
| 2023-24 | 562 | 32.5 | 17.3:1 | 82% (462) |
| 2022-23 | 575 | 34.2 | 16.8:1 | 82% (473) |
| 2020-21 | 721 | 36 | 20.0:1 | 85% (616) |
| 2017-18 | 733 | 41.8 | 17.5:1 | 82% (603) |
| 2015-16 | 759 | 45 | 16.9:1 | 89% (673) |
| 2010-11 | 756 | 41 | 18.4:1 | 73% (554) |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for First Creek Middle School.
Since 2017-18: students down 20% (733 to 584); teachers down 29% (41.8 to 29.8).
About First Creek Middle School
Federal records list First Creek Middle School as a middle school in Tacoma, Washington. The school offers grades 6 through 8 and enrolls 584 students.
First Creek Middle School is in Tacoma School District, a district with 28,900 students across 66 schools.
The student body at First Creek Middle School has no majority group. Hispanic students lead at 36%. The next largest groups are 17% Black, 14% Asian, 13% multiracial, and 10% White. The school's Hispanic share is 23 points above the 13% share among Pierce County residents. A diversity index of 79% means there is a 79% chance two randomly chosen students at First Creek Middle School are from different groups.
First Creek Middle School has 29.8 full-time-equivalent teachers, for a student-to-teacher ratio of about 19.6:1. The average ratio among middle schools in Washington is similar, at 18.9:1. A common income measure, free or reduced-price lunch eligibility, is 78% at First Creek Middle School. That is higher than the 50% average for public schools in Pierce County.
On the allk12 Grade, First Creek Middle School lands at D, ahead of 10% of Washington public middle schools.
First Creek Middle School's actual average proficiency rate across its state test results (20.2%) and its predicted rate (27.8%) put it outside the top and bottom 10% of Washington schools.
Census data for Pierce County show median household income comes to about $99,564, about 31% of adults have at least a bachelor's degree, and the poverty rate is about 6%. The county has 287 public schools and about 138,462 students.
About 0.5 miles separate First Creek Middle School from the closest public school, Lister Elementary School. The five-mile area around First Creek Middle School holds at least 8 other public schools. Ranking the closest schools with test data puts First Creek Middle School at 9th of 9.
On the NCES locale scale, the school is City: Mid-size.
Enrollment in 2024-25 stood at 584, compared with 721 in 2020-21.
On allk12, people connected to First Creek Middle School can post about pickup and drop-off, after-school programs, and teacher feedback. Current and former families are welcome to add their experience.
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
- Baker Middle SchoolMiddle · 687 students
- Tacoma School of the ArtsHigh · 658 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
Nearby schools
- Lister Elementary School0.5 mi · 376
- Sheridan Elementary School0.7 mi · 525
- Blix Elementary School0.9 mi · 442
- Boze Elementary School0.9 mi · 485
- Waller Road Elementary1.0 mi · 306
- Fawcett Elementary School1.2 mi · 426
Frequently asked questions
About First Creek Middle SchoolHow many students attend First Creek Middle School?
First Creek Middle School enrolls approximately 584 students in grades 06-08.
What age range does First Creek Middle School serve?
First Creek Middle School serves students from grade 06 through grade 08.
How many teachers does First Creek Middle School have?
First Creek Middle School employs 30 FTE teachers, for a student-to-teacher ratio of 19.6:1.
How diverse is First Creek Middle School?
First Creek Middle School reports a student body of 10% White, 36% Hispanic, 17% Black, 14% Asian, 13% Two or more.
Is First Creek Middle School public or private?
First Creek 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.