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Honest take: what's the hardest part about being a student at Mountainside Middle School?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
824
Middle
DISTRICT 775 · STATE 577
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·MEAD SCHOOL DISTRICT·NCES 530492000747
Mountainside Middle School
4717 E Day Mt. Spokane Rd, COLBERT, WA 99005 · (509) 465-7400 · Spokane County
GRADES 06–08MIDDLE21-SUBURBTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL824 STUDENTS
Student : Teacher
18.6:1
44 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 18.3:1 · STATE 18.9:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
45%
370 students
DISTRICT 41% · 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 | 284 | 34% |
| Grade 7 | 251 | 30% |
| Grade 8 | 289 | 35% |
Student demographics
35%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 37% · 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
56.4%
WA avg 58.4% . -14.3pp since 2014
Math
43.9%
WA avg 51.2% . -22.1pp since 2014
What this means: On the Smarter Balanced + WCAS, Washington's statewide test, about 56 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 44 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 14 points since 2014, while math scores are down about 22 points.
Smarter Balanced + WCAS results by year
| School year | English Language Arts | Math |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 56.4% | 43.9% |
| 2023-24 | 57.1% | 39.7% |
| 2022-23 | 56.6% | 44.5% |
| 2021-22 | 58.9% | 39.1% |
| 2018-19 | 65.8% | 63.5% |
| 2017-18 | 66.0% | 60.8% |
| 2016-17 | 67.3% | 66.8% |
| 2015-16 | 68.0% | 65.9% |
| 2014-15 | 70.7% | 65.9% |
% 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
48.9%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
50.1%
based on WA schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
-1.2pp
below demographic expectation
What this means: About 49% of students here test proficient in math and reading, compared with the roughly 50% 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 Mountainside Middle School
Mountainside Middle School's state test result (48.9% proficient) is higher than 2 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mountainside Middle School this school | 824 | 44.9% | 48.9% |
| Carla Peperzak Middle School Spokane | 754 | 46.0% | 54.5% |
| Northwood Middle School SPOKANE | 796 | 38.6% | 47.9% |
| Sacajawea Middle School Spokane | 855 | 40.4% | 58.4% |
| Post Middle School Arlington | 645 | 45.7% | 37.1% |
| John Sedgwick Middle School PORT ORCHARD | 731 | 39.8% | 53.8% |
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 Mountainside Middle School ranks
Among middle schools| Measure | This school | In Washington | In Spokane County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 48.9% | #98 of 294 | #8 of 26 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 43.9% | #110 of 357 ▲ 13 | #10 of 26 ▲ 2 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 56.4% | #112 of 357 ▼ 19 | #10 of 26 ▼ 2 |
| 3-year test score change ranked biggest gain first | +1.1pp | #170 of 290 | #10 of 23 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 824 | #58 of 377 | #2 of 27 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 18.6:1 | #128 of 340 | #22 of 27 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 35.4% | #301 of 340 | #18 of 27 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 44.9% | #223 of 359 | #19 of 27 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked fastest growth first | +13.5% | #42 of 130 | #3 of 9 |
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
824
-13 (-2%) vs 2020
-3% since 1990-91, when it was 848
Student : Teacher
18.6:1
was 20.4:1
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 | 824 | 44.3 | 18.6:1 | 45% (370) |
| 2023-24 | 775 | 42.6 | 18.2:1 | 43% (331) |
| 2022-23 | 795 | 42.4 | 18.8:1 | 41% (326) |
| 2020-21 | 837 | 41 | 20.4:1 | 27% (229) |
| 2017-18 | 726 | 37.3 | 19.5:1 | 34% (248) |
| 2015-16 | 781 | 35 | 22.3:1 | 33% (260) |
| 2010-11 | 753 | 37 | 20.4:1 | 32% (244) |
| 2000-01 | 634 | 31 | 20.4:1 | N/A |
| 1990-91 | 848 | 42 | 20.2:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Mountainside Middle School.
Since 2017-18: students up 13% (726 to 824); teachers up 19% (37.3 to 44.3).
About Mountainside Middle School
Mountainside Middle School runs as a medium-sized middle-grades school in COLBERT, Washington. It serves 824 students in grades 6 through 8. The average among middle schools in Washington is roughly 577 students; this school is 43% larger than that.
Mountainside Middle School is one school in Mead School District, a system of 17 schools with 10,657 students.
Roughly 79% of students at Mountainside Middle School are White. Beyond that, enrollment is 8% multiracial, 6% Hispanic, and 2% Pacific Islander. That is close to the 83% White share among all Spokane County residents. Pick two students at random and there is a 35% chance they belong to different racial or ethnic groups; that figure is the school's diversity index.
Mountainside Middle School employs 44.3 full-time-equivalent teachers. That gives a ratio of about 18.6:1. That matches the 18.9:1 average for middle schools in Washington fairly closely. Mountainside Middle School's free or reduced-price lunch eligibility rate is 45%.
On a poverty-adjusted basis, Mountainside Middle School falls in the middle 80% of Washington schools: 48.9% actual against 50.1% predicted.
Among Spokane County residents, the median household income is $78,582, about 33% of adults have at least a bachelor's degree, and the poverty rate is about 7%. Besides Mountainside Middle School, Spokane County has 186 other public schools.
Colbert Elementary School is the public school closest to Mountainside Middle School, about 0.4 miles away. The five-mile area around Mountainside Middle School holds at least 8 other public schools. On average proficiency, Mountainside Middle School is 6th of 8 nearby schools with test data.
NCES assigns Mountainside 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.
There was little change in enrollment from 2020-21 (837) to 2024-25 (824). Federal data show the ratio falling from 20.4:1 to 18.6:1.
Discussion on this page can cover science fairs, picture day, and bus routes. Reviews and ratings from people who know the school are welcome.
Spokane County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
549,056
Census ACS
Median income
$78,582
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
33%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
7%
Below federal line
Schools in county
187
76,588 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in Mead School District
- Mead Senior High SchoolHigh · 1,827 students
- Mt Spokane High SchoolHigh · 1,482 students
- Northwood Middle SchoolMiddle · 796 students
- Mead Learning OptionsCombined · 790 students
- Highland Middle SchoolMiddle · 704 students
- Farwell Elementary SchoolElementary · 471 students
Other schools in COLBERT
- Midway ElementaryElementary · 418 students
- Colbert Elementary SchoolElementary · 364 students
Other Mountainside Middle schools
One other US public school is named Mountainside Middle. Mountainside Middle School is the largest of the 2.
- Mountainside Middle SchoolSCOTTSDALE, AZ · 518 students
Nearby schools
- Colbert Elementary School0.4 mi · 364
- Meadow Ridge Elementary0.9 mi · 453
- Mt Spokane High School1.3 mi · 1,482
- Creekside Elementary School2.5 mi · 355
- Midway Elementary2.6 mi · 418
- Mead Open Doors2.7 mi · 9
Frequently asked questions
About Mountainside Middle SchoolHow many students attend Mountainside Middle School?
Mountainside Middle School enrolls approximately 824 students in grades 06-08.
Is Mountainside Middle School an elementary, middle, or high school?
Mountainside Middle School is a middle school covering grades 06-08.
What is the student-teacher ratio at Mountainside Middle School?
The student-to-teacher ratio at Mountainside Middle School is approximately 18.6:1 (44 FTE teachers).
What is the racial breakdown of students at Mountainside Middle School?
At Mountainside Middle School, the student body is approximately 79% White, 6% Hispanic, 1% Black, 2% Asian, 8% Two or more.
Who oversees Mountainside Middle School?
Mountainside Middle School is overseen by Mead School District in Spokane County.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.