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If you had an hour of school board time for Horizon Middle School, what would you bring up?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
433
Middle
DISTRICT 492 · STATE 577
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·FERNDALE SCHOOL DISTRICT·NCES 530285002832
Horizon Middle School
2671 Thornton Road, Ferndale, WA 98248 · (360) 383-9850 · Whatcom County
GRADES 06–08MIDDLE22-SUBURBTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL433 STUDENTS
Student : Teacher
17.1:1
25 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 17.1:1 · STATE 18.9:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
55%
240 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 | 163 | 38% |
| Grade 7 | 127 | 29% |
| Grade 8 | 143 | 33% |
Student demographics
64%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 64% · 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
43.6%
WA avg 58.4% . -4.1pp since 2014
Math
32.6%
WA avg 51.2% . -4.6pp since 2014
What this means: On the Smarter Balanced + WCAS, Washington's statewide test, about 44 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 33 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 5 points.
Smarter Balanced + WCAS results by year
| School year | English Language Arts | Math |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 43.6% | 32.6% |
| 2023-24 | 38.1% | 27.3% |
| 2022-23 | 40.6% | 25.9% |
| 2021-22 | 45.9% | 28.9% |
| 2018-19 | 55.6% | 41.5% |
| 2017-18 | 46.9% | 38.5% |
| 2016-17 | 46.9% | 38.4% |
| 2015-16 | 49.4% | 37.3% |
| 2014-15 | 47.7% | 37.1% |
% 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
35.1%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
43.0%
based on WA schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
-7.9pp
below demographic expectation
What this means: About 35% of students here test proficient in math and reading, compared with the roughly 43% 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 Horizon Middle School
Horizon Middle School's state test result (35.1% proficient) is higher than 1 of the 4 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Horizon Middle School this school | 433 | 55.4% | 35.1% |
| Sultan Middle School Sultan | 462 | 52.8% | 41.7% |
| Vista Middle School Ferndale | 550 | 55.6% | 43.3% |
| Hawkins Middle School Belfair | 485 | 57.7% | 29.6% |
| Cascade Middle School Longview | 463 | 60.3% | N/A |
| Meridian Middle School LYNDEN | 350 | 53.1% | 43.2% |
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 Horizon Middle School ranks
Among middle schools| Measure | This school | In Washington | In Whatcom County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 35.1% | #189 of 294 | #10 of 11 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 32.6% | #190 of 357 ▲ 37 | #9 of 11 ▲ 1 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 43.6% | #210 of 357 ▲ 39 | #7 of 11 ▲ 2 |
| 3-year test score change ranked biggest gain first | +0.7pp | #186 of 290 | #7 of 11 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 433 | #281 of 377 | #9 of 11 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 17.1:1 | #49 of 340 | #3 of 11 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 63.8% | #125 of 340 | #2 of 11 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 55.4% | #150 of 359 | #4 of 11 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked steepest decline first | -3.1% | #162 of 192 | #7 of 8 |
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
433
-57 (-12%) vs 2020
+14% since 2000-01, when it was 381
Student : Teacher
17.1:1
was 18.1:1
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 | 433 | 25.3 | 17.1:1 | 55% (240) |
| 2023-24 | 413 | 27.7 | 14.9:1 | 59% (243) |
| 2022-23 | 449 | 30.2 | 14.9:1 | 62% (279) |
| 2020-21 | 490 | 27 | 18.1:1 | 49% (242) |
| 2017-18 | 447 | 27.4 | 16.3:1 | 53% (237) |
| 2015-16 | 477 | 27 | 17.7:1 | 50% (238) |
| 2010-11 | 419 | 22 | 19.1:1 | 53% (220) |
| 2000-01 | 381 | N/A | N/A | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Horizon Middle School.
Since 2017-18: students down 3% (447 to 433); teachers down 7% (27.4 to 25.3).
About Horizon Middle School
Horizon Middle School serves students in Ferndale, Washington, as a small middle school. A total of 433 students attend the school, which covers grades 6 through 8. The average for middle schools in Washington is about 577 students, so this school is 25% smaller than average.
Ferndale School District is the local district for Horizon Middle School. It runs 13 schools with 4,746 students.
White students make up a majority at Horizon Middle School, at 54%. The remaining shares are 23% Hispanic, 10% Native American, 9% multiracial, and 3% Asian. Census estimates put the White share of Whatcom County's population at about 78%. Horizon Middle School's diversity index is 64%, against a US figure of 70%.
Horizon Middle School counts 25.3 full-time-equivalent teachers, about 17.1 students for each one. On average, middle schools in Washington have 18.9:1, compared with 17.1:1 here. About 55% of enrolled students meet the income rules for free or reduced-price lunch. Public schools in Whatcom County average 47%.
Predicted from its free or reduced-price lunch share, Horizon Middle School would score about 43.0%. It scores 35.1%, 7.9 points below that figure.
Whatcom County has these Census figures: the median household income is $81,784, a bachelor's degree or higher is held by about 39% of adults, and the share of residents below the poverty line is 7%. Whatcom County is home to 78 public schools and about 27,779 public school students.
Of nearby public schools, Eagleridge Elementary is the closest, at about 0.1 miles. Horizon Middle School has at least 8 other public schools within five miles. Horizon Middle School comes in 6th of 6 nearby schools on average proficiency.
By NCES locale, the school is Suburb: Mid-size, or in a suburban area outside a principal city, within an urbanized area with a population between 100,000 and 250,000.
Over 4 years, Horizon Middle School's enrollment dropped 12%, to 433. Staffing shifted too: the ratio moved from 18.1:1 to 17.1:1.
The Horizon Middle School community page is open for posts about sports schedules, lunch menus, and spirit week. Anyone with firsthand experience at this school can post or comment.
Whatcom County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
230,503
Census ACS
Median income
$81,784
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
39%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
7%
Below federal line
Schools in county
78
27,779 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in Ferndale School District
- Ferndale High SchoolHigh · 1,325 students
- Vista Middle SchoolMiddle · 550 students
- Skyline Elementary SchoolElementary · 496 students
- Eagleridge ElementaryElementary · 457 students
- Cascadia ElementaryElementary · 440 students
- Custer ElemElementary · 392 students
Other schools in Ferndale
- Ferndale High SchoolHigh · 1,325 students
- Vista Middle SchoolMiddle · 550 students
- Skyline Elementary SchoolElementary · 496 students
- Eagleridge ElementaryElementary · 457 students
- Cascadia ElementaryElementary · 440 students
- Central ElementaryElementary · 315 students
Other Horizon Middle schools
8 other US public schools in 7 states are named Horizon Middle. Horizon Middle School is the 9th largest of the 9.
- Horizon Middle SchoolSpokane Valley, WA · 472 students
- HORIZON MIDDLE SCHOOLMOORHEAD, MN · 2,158 students
- HORIZON MIDDLE SCHOOLBismarck, ND · 1,124 students
- HORIZON MIDDLE SCHOOLKISSIMMEE, FL · 1,008 students
- Horizon Middle SchoolCOLORADO SPRINGS, CO · 773 students
Nearby schools
- Eagleridge Elementary0.1 mi · 457
- Cascadia Elementary0.5 mi · 440
- Skyline Elementary School1.1 mi · 496
- Vista Middle School1.1 mi · 550
- Ferndale Special Services1.2 mi · 20
- Ferndale Re-Engagement1.2 mi · 33
Frequently asked questions
About Horizon Middle SchoolHow many students attend Horizon Middle School?
Horizon Middle School enrolls approximately 433 students in grades 06-08.
What grades does Horizon Middle School serve?
Horizon Middle School serves grades 06-08.
What is the student-teacher ratio at Horizon Middle School?
The student-to-teacher ratio at Horizon Middle School is approximately 17.1:1 (25 FTE teachers).
What is the racial breakdown of students at Horizon Middle School?
At Horizon Middle School, the student body is approximately 54% White, 23% Hispanic, 1% Black, 3% Asian, 9% Two or more.
Is Horizon Middle School public or private?
Horizon Middle School is a public K-12 school, overseen by Ferndale School District.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.