1
What tradition at Islander Middle School should never be changed?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
960
Middle
DISTRICT 666 · STATE 577
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·MERCER ISLAND SCHOOL DISTRICT·NCES 530498000764
Islander Middle School
8225 SE 72ND, Mercer Island, WA 98040 · (206) 236-3413 · King County
GRADES 06–08MIDDLE21-SUBURBREGULAR SCHOOL960 STUDENTS
A
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 89% of Washington public middle schools
- A+Test scores Share of students meeting the state standard in reading, math, and other tested subjects, 2023-24 and 2024-25.
- B+Beats expectations How far test scores land above or below what the share of low-income students predicts for a school in this state.
- BThree-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
21.3:1
45 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 17.3:1 · STATE 18.9:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
8%
75 students
DISTRICT 6% · 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 | 290 | 30% |
| Grade 7 | 341 | 36% |
| Grade 8 | 329 | 34% |
Student demographics
66%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 66% · 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
Islander Middle School→Mercer Island High School
Feeds from
Based on grade levels within Mercer Island School District. Attendance zones can vary; confirm enrollment with the district.
Test scores
Smarter Balanced + WCAS 2024-25 . % Met or Exceeded StandardEnglish Language Arts
80.2%
WA avg 58.4% . +4.8pp since 2014
Math
76.3%
WA avg 51.2% . +0.7pp since 2014
What this means: On the Smarter Balanced + WCAS, Washington's statewide test, about 80 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 76 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 5 points since 2014, while math scores have held steady.
Smarter Balanced + WCAS results by year
| School year | English Language Arts | Math |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 80.2% | 76.3% |
| 2023-24 | 76.5% | 69.1% |
| 2022-23 | 76.5% | 71.7% |
| 2021-22 | 77.5% | 73.1% |
| 2018-19 | 83.2% | 80.5% |
| 2017-18 | 83.3% | 79.6% |
| 2016-17 | 82.8% | 78.6% |
| 2015-16 | 82.5% | 78.3% |
| 2014-15 | 75.4% | 75.5% |
% 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
74.4%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
75.0%
based on WA schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
-0.6pp
below demographic expectation
What this means: About 74% of students here test proficient in math and reading, compared with the roughly 75% 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 Islander Middle School
Islander Middle School's state test result (74.4% proficient) is higher than 5 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Islander Middle School this school | 960 | 7.8% | 74.4% |
| Cougar Mountain Middle School Issaquah | 616 | 12.3% | 71.4% |
| Rose Hill Middle School Redmond | 901 | 14.7% | 72.9% |
| Leota Middle School Woodinville | 858 | 17.4% | 64.8% |
| Kirkland Middle School Kirkland | 746 | 12.3% | 70.3% |
| Maywood Middle School RENTON | 826 | 18.3% | 68.2% |
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 Islander Middle School ranks
Among middle schools| Measure | This school | In Washington | In King County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 74.4% | #12 of 294 | #10 of 76 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 76.3% | #8 of 357 ▲ 8 | #7 of 76 ▲ 6 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 80.2% | #11 of 357 ▲ 5 | #9 of 76 ▲ 3 |
| 3-year test score change ranked biggest gain first | +3.0pp | #124 of 290 | #31 of 75 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 960 | #20 of 377 | #13 of 80 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 21.3:1 | #281 of 340 | #58 of 76 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 66.2% | #111 of 340 | #48 of 76 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 7.8% | #356 of 359 | #74 of 77 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked steepest decline first | -16.2% | #55 of 192 | #13 of 37 |
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
960
-69 (-7%) vs 2020
+25% since 1990-91, when it was 767
Student : Teacher
21.3:1
was 19.1:1
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 | 960 | 45 | 21.3:1 | 8% (75) |
| 2023-24 | 938 | 45.8 | 20.5:1 | 7% (70) |
| 2022-23 | 930 | 46.6 | 19.9:1 | 5% (50) |
| 2020-21 | 1,029 | 54 | 19.1:1 | 4% (39) |
| 2017-18 | 1,146 | 52.6 | 21.8:1 | 3% (38) |
| 2015-16 | 1,105 | 51 | 21.7:1 | 4% (41) |
| 2010-11 | 934 | 45 | 20.8:1 | 3% (32) |
| 2000-01 | 1,059 | 50 | 21.2:1 | N/A |
| 1990-91 | 767 | 34 | 22.6:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Islander Middle School.
Since 2017-18: students down 16% (1,146 to 960); teachers down 14% (52.6 to 45).
About Islander Middle School
In Mercer Island, Washington, Islander Middle School is a large middle school. Enrollment in 2024-25 was 960 students in grades 6 through 8. Against the 577-student average for middle schools in Washington, enrollment here is 66% higher.
Mercer Island School District is made up of 6 schools with 3,993 students in all.
Islander Middle School's enrollment has no majority group, and White students are the largest at 46%. The school is also 32% Asian, 13% multiracial, and 8% Hispanic. The White share of the county population is higher, at 55%. Islander Middle School has a diversity index of 66%, compared with 70% for all US public school students.
The school reported 45 full-time-equivalent teachers in 2024-25 and a ratio of 21.3:1. For comparison, middle schools in Washington average 18.9:1. Free or reduced-price lunch eligibility is 8%. Compared with the 38% average for public schools in King County, the school's rate is lower.
allk12 grades Islander Middle School an A. The grade compares the school only with Washington public middle schools, because each state gives its own test.
Schools in Washington with a similar free or reduced-price lunch share are predicted to score about 75.0%. Islander Middle School scores 74.4%.
In the county around the school, King County, median household income is about $124,746, roughly 57% of adults have a four-year degree or more, and the share of residents below the poverty line is 5%. Islander Middle School is among the 544 public schools in King County.
The shortest distance from Islander Middle School to another public school is about 0.4 miles, to Lakeridge Elementary School. The five-mile area around Islander Middle School holds at least 8 other public schools. Nearby schools with test data average 54.5% proficiency; Islander Middle School posts 74.4%.
NCES assigns Islander Middle School the locale Suburb: Large, meaning in a suburban area outside a principal city, within an urbanized area with a population of 250,000 or more.
The student count in 2024-25 was 960, 7% below the 1,029 of 2020-21. The school's ratio rose from 19.1:1 to 21.3:1 between 2020-21 and 2024-25.
Conversations here can range across science fairs, picture day, and bus routes. Posting is open to anyone connected to the school.
King County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
2,287,171
Census ACS
Median income
$124,746
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
57%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
5%
Below federal line
Schools in county
544
278,492 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in Mercer Island School District
- Mercer Island High SchoolHigh · 1,439 students
- West Mercer ElementaryElementary · 431 students
- Lakeridge Elementary SchoolElementary · 401 students
- Northwood Elementary SchoolElementary · 398 students
- Island Park ElementaryElementary · 364 students
Other schools in Mercer Island
- Mercer Island High SchoolHigh · 1,439 students
- West Mercer ElementaryElementary · 431 students
- Lakeridge Elementary SchoolElementary · 401 students
- Northwood Elementary SchoolElementary · 398 students
- Island Park ElementaryElementary · 364 students
Nearby schools
- Lakeridge Elementary School0.4 mi · 401
- Island Park Elementary1.2 mi · 364
- Graham Hill Elementary School2.0 mi · 266
- Rainier Beach High School2.0 mi · 854
- Kennydale Elementary School2.0 mi · 511
- Hazelwood Elementary School2.1 mi · 478
Frequently asked questions
About Islander Middle SchoolHow many students attend Islander Middle School?
Islander Middle School enrolls approximately 960 students in grades 06-08.
What grades does Islander Middle School serve?
Islander Middle School serves grades 06-08.
What is the student-teacher ratio at Islander Middle School?
The student-to-teacher ratio at Islander Middle School is approximately 21.3:1 (45 FTE teachers).
What is the racial breakdown of students at Islander Middle School?
At Islander Middle School, the student body is approximately 46% White, 8% Hispanic, 1% Black, 32% Asian, 13% Two or more.
Is Islander Middle School public or private?
Islander Middle School is a public K-12 school, overseen by Mercer Island School District.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.