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Which teacher or staff member at Meridian High School deserves more recognition?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
534
High
DISTRICT 278 · STATE 573
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·MERIDIAN SCHOOL DISTRICT·NCES 530501000768
Meridian High School
194 W LAUREL ROAD, BELLINGHAM, WA 98226 · (360) 398-8111 · Whatcom County
GRADES 09–12HIGH41-RURALREGULAR SCHOOL534 STUDENTS
B+
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 65% of Washington public high schools
- B+Test 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.
- 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
20.7:1
26 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 20.7:1 · STATE 21.6:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
36%
193 students
DISTRICT 42% · 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 9 | 157 | 29% |
| Grade 10 | 144 | 27% |
| Grade 11 | 107 | 20% |
| Grade 12 | 126 | 24% |
Student demographics
57%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 56% · 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
73.7%
WA avg 58.4% . +39.3pp since 2014
Math
42.3%
WA avg 51.2% . +18.3pp since 2014
What this means: On the Smarter Balanced + WCAS, Washington's statewide test, about 74 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 42 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 39 points since 2014, while math scores are up about 18 points.
Smarter Balanced + WCAS results by year
| School year | English Language Arts | Math |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 73.7% | 42.3% |
| 2023-24 | 70.8% | 43.4% |
| 2022-23 | 65.9% | 45.9% |
| 2021-22 | 58.3% | 34.1% |
| 2018-19 | 68.6% | 48.0% |
| 2017-18 | 72.6% | 52.8% |
| 2016-17 | N/A | 24.2% |
| 2015-16 | 10.9% | 39.5% |
| 2014-15 | 34.4% | 24.0% |
% 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
48.1%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
56.0%
based on WA schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
-7.9pp
below demographic expectation
What this means: About 48% of students here test proficient in math and reading, compared with the roughly 56% 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 Meridian High School
Meridian High School's state test result (48.1% proficient) is higher than 2 of the 4 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Meridian High School this school | 534 | 36.1% | 48.1% |
| Vancouver iTech Preparatory VANCOUVER | 600 | 36.3% | N/A |
| Blaine High School BLAINE | 566 | 41.2% | 57.6% |
| Pullman High School Pullman | 838 | 32.7% | 67.9% |
| Orting High School Orting | 876 | 36.9% | 41.5% |
| A G West Black Hills High School Tumwater | 753 | 31.2% | 47.5% |
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 Meridian High School ranks
Among high schools| Measure | This school | In Washington | In Whatcom County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 48.1% | #95 of 271 | #5 of 10 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 42.3% | #64 of 321 ▼ 10 | #2 of 10 ▲ 1 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 73.7% | #62 of 327 ▲ 15 | #1 of 10 ▲ 2 |
| 3-year test score change ranked biggest gain first | +11.8pp | #10 of 259 | #1 of 9 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 534 | #210 of 570 | #7 of 18 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 20.7:1 | #163 of 311 | #4 of 9 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 56.9% | #140 of 316 | #4 of 9 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 36.1% | #295 of 386 | #9 of 12 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked fastest growth first | +4.9% | #99 of 136 | N/A |
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
534
+77 (+17%) vs 2020
+50% since 1990-91, when it was 356
Student : Teacher
20.7:1
was 20.8:1
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 | 534 | 25.8 | 20.7:1 | 36% (193) |
| 2023-24 | 537 | 26.4 | 20.3:1 | 25% (133) |
| 2022-23 | 487 | 26.4 | 18.4:1 | 37% (181) |
| 2020-21 | 457 | 22 | 20.8:1 | 35% (159) |
| 2017-18 | 509 | 23.2 | 22.0:1 | 41% (209) |
| 2015-16 | 534 | 25 | 21.4:1 | 42% (225) |
| 2010-11 | 473 | 23 | 20.6:1 | 13% (60) |
| 2000-01 | 516 | 24 | 21.5:1 | N/A |
| 1990-91 | 356 | 20 | 17.8:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Meridian High School.
Since 2017-18: students up 5% (509 to 534); teachers up 11% (23.2 to 25.8).
About Meridian High School
Among the schools in BELLINGHAM, Washington, is Meridian High School, a mid-sized high school. The school counted 534 students in 2024-25, covering grades 9 through 12.
Meridian School District has a total of 6 schools and 1,904 students, Meridian High School among them.
The largest group at Meridian High School is White students, at 61%. The remaining students are 22% Hispanic, 8% Asian, and 7% multiracial. Among people living in Whatcom County, the White share is about 78%. The diversity index for Meridian High School is 57%. For US public schools as a whole it is 70%.
Meridian High School has 25.8 full-time-equivalent teachers on staff and a student-to-teacher ratio of 20.7:1. Across high schools in Washington, the average ratio is 21.6:1. The school has 36% of students eligible for free or reduced-price lunch. The average for public schools in Whatcom County is 47%.
Meridian High School earns a B+ on the allk12 Grade, which blends test scores, results against poverty-based expectations, and the three-year trend. It scored higher than 65% of Washington public high schools.
On BeatsExpectations, Meridian High School is 7.9 points below its prediction, a result in the middle 80% of Washington schools.
Five-year Census Bureau estimates for Whatcom County show that the median household earns about $81,784 a year, about 39% of adults have at least a bachelor's degree, and roughly 7% of residents are in poverty. Whatcom County has 78 public schools with about 27,779 students, including Meridian High School.
Meridian Special Programs is less than a tenth of a mile away, making it the nearest public school. Meridian High School is one of several public schools in the area, with at least 8 others within five miles. Meridian High School's average proficiency of 48.1% compares with 35.1% for its nearest scored neighbors.
Meridian High School falls in the Rural: Fringe locale category, used for schools in rural territory close to an urban area.
Over 4 years, enrollment rose by 77 students, from 457 to 534.
Parents, students, and staff can share information on pickup and drop-off, after-school programs, and teacher feedback here. Parents, students, alumni, and staff are welcome to post.
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 Meridian School District
- Irene Reither Elementary SchoolElementary · 765 students
- Meridian Middle SchoolMiddle · 350 students
- Meridian Parent Partnership ProgramElementary · 208 students
- Meridian Special ProgramsElementary · 26 students
- Meridian Impact Re-EngagementHigh · 21 students
Other schools in BELLINGHAM
- Squalicum High SchoolHigh · 1,273 students
- Bellingham High SchoolHigh · 1,165 students
- Sehome High SchoolHigh · 1,116 students
- Whatcom Middle SchoolMiddle · 637 students
- Shuksan Middle SchoolMiddle · 606 students
- Fairhaven Middle SchoolMiddle · 588 students
Other Meridian High schools
7 other US public schools in 7 states are named Meridian High. Meridian High School is the 4th largest of the 8.
- MERIDIAN HIGH SCHOOLMERIDIAN, ID · 1,774 students
- Meridian High SchoolMeridian, MS · 1,253 students
- Meridian HighFalls Church, VA · 893 students
- Meridian High SchoolMacon, IL · 287 students
- Meridian High SchoolMERIDIAN, TX · 212 students
Nearby schools
- Meridian Special Programs0.1 mi · 26
- Meridian Parent Partnership Program0.1 mi · 208
- Meridian Middle School2.3 mi · 350
- Irene Reither Elementary School2.5 mi · 765
- Cordata Elementary School3.8 mi · 357
- Central Elementary4.6 mi · 315
Frequently asked questions
About Meridian High SchoolWhat is the total enrollment at Meridian High School?
Meridian High School enrolls approximately 534 students in grades 09-12.
What grades does Meridian High School serve?
Meridian High School serves grades 09-12.
How many teachers does Meridian High School have?
Meridian High School employs 26 FTE teachers, for a student-to-teacher ratio of 20.7:1.
What is the racial breakdown of students at Meridian High School?
At Meridian High School, the student body is approximately 61% White, 22% Hispanic, 1% Black, 8% Asian, 7% Two or more.
Is Meridian High School public or private?
Meridian High School is a public K-12 school, overseen by Meridian School District.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.