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Teachers: what resource would make the biggest difference at Nisqually Middle School this year?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
789
Middle
DISTRICT 649 · STATE 577
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·NORTH THURSTON PUBLIC SCHOOLS·NCES 530585000868
Nisqually Middle School
8100 Steilacoom Rd SE, Lacey, WA 98503 · (360) 412-4770 · Thurston County
GRADES 06–08MIDDLE13-CITYTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL789 STUDENTS
Student : Teacher
18.1:1
44 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 19.6:1 · STATE 18.9:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
51%
405 students
DISTRICT 48% · 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 | 265 | 34% |
| Grade 7 | 247 | 31% |
| Grade 8 | 277 | 35% |
Student demographics
73%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 73% · 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
39.9%
WA avg 58.4% . -8.0pp since 2014
Math
25.7%
WA avg 51.2% . -10.4pp since 2014
What this means: On the Smarter Balanced + WCAS, Washington's statewide test, about 40 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 26 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 8 points since 2014, while math scores are down about 10 points.
Smarter Balanced + WCAS results by year
| School year | English Language Arts | Math |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 39.9% | 25.7% |
| 2023-24 | 35.4% | 17.4% |
| 2022-23 | 35.2% | 19.3% |
| 2021-22 | 38.0% | 18.8% |
| 2018-19 | 50.7% | 41.0% |
| 2017-18 | 55.5% | 38.7% |
| 2016-17 | 56.0% | 41.0% |
| 2015-16 | 48.3% | 37.6% |
| 2014-15 | 47.9% | 36.1% |
% 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
UNDERPERFORMING
Bottom 10% of WA schools after controlling for student poverty
Actual proficiency
29.9%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
45.8%
based on WA schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
-15.8pp
below demographic expectation
What this means: About 30% of students here test proficient in math and reading, below the roughly 46% typical for Washington schools with a similar share of low-income students. BeatsExpectations compares each school with others at the same poverty level, not by raw scores, so a school lands here when its results trail those comparable schools, which is not the same as having low scores. A higher-scoring school can still fall in this tier if similar schools score higher still.
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 Nisqually Middle School
Nisqually Middle School's state test result (29.9% proficient) is higher than 0 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nisqually Middle School this school | 789 | 51.3% | 29.9% |
| Salish Middle School Lacey | 745 | 48.3% | 35.4% |
| Cedarcrest School Marysville | 704 | 49.9% | 39.0% |
| Chinook Middle School Lacey | 746 | 55.5% | 38.8% |
| Ferrucci Jr High Puyallup | 815 | 50.3% | 44.6% |
| Fairview Middle School BREMERTON | 620 | 50.5% | 37.3% |
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 Nisqually Middle School ranks
Among middle schools| Measure | This school | In Washington | In Thurston County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 29.9% | #224 of 294 | #16 of 16 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 25.7% | #251 of 357 ▲ 56 | #16 of 16 no change |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 39.9% | #248 of 357 ▲ 22 | #16 of 16 no change |
| 3-year test score change ranked biggest gain first | +4.4pp | #95 of 290 | #6 of 16 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 789 | #78 of 377 | #1 of 16 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 18.1:1 | #104 of 340 | #4 of 16 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 72.7% | #61 of 340 | #4 of 16 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 51.3% | #174 of 359 | #5 of 16 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked steepest decline first | -1.3% | #182 of 192 | #8 of 10 |
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
789
-123 (-13%) vs 2020
-15% since 1990-91, when it was 924
Student : Teacher
18.1:1
was 18.6:1
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 | 789 | 43.6 | 18.1:1 | 51% (405) |
| 2023-24 | 815 | 45 | 18.1:1 | 52% (425) |
| 2022-23 | 831 | 48.3 | 17.2:1 | 57% (474) |
| 2020-21 | 912 | 49 | 18.6:1 | 51% (461) |
| 2017-18 | 799 | 39.8 | 20.1:1 | 44% (354) |
| 2015-16 | 797 | 40 | 19.9:1 | 55% (437) |
| 2010-11 | 562 | 34 | 16.5:1 | 29% (165) |
| 2000-01 | 552 | 31 | 17.8:1 | N/A |
| 1990-91 | 924 | 48 | 19.3:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Nisqually Middle School.
Since 2017-18: students down 1% (799 to 789); teachers up 10% (39.8 to 43.6).
About Nisqually Middle School
Nisqually Middle School is a mid-sized middle school in Lacey, Washington. The school offers grades 6 through 8 and enrolls 789 students. The school is 37% above the average for middle schools in Washington.
Nisqually Middle School is in North Thurston Public Schools, a district with 15,167 students across 24 schools.
White students account for 40% of enrollment at Nisqually Middle School, more than any other group. Other students are 28% Hispanic, 15% multiracial, 6% Asian, and 4% Black. By comparison, Thurston County residents are about 72% White. On the diversity index, which measures the chance that two random students are from different groups, Nisqually Middle School scores 73%.
Classroom staffing at Nisqually Middle School totals 43.6 full-time-equivalent teachers, and the student-to-teacher ratio is 18.1:1. Compared with the 18.9:1 average for middle schools in Washington, this school's ratio is lower. Federal data show 51% of students (405) are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch.
Nisqually Middle School posts an average proficiency rate across its state test results of 29.9%. Schools with its free or reduced-price lunch share in Washington are predicted to post 45.8%, so the school is 15.8 points behind and in the state's bottom 10%.
For the population of Thurston County, median household income comes to about $96,563, a bachelor's degree or higher is held by about 39% of adults, and the poverty rate is about 6%. Thurston County's 86 public schools enroll about 44,412 students and include Nisqually Middle School.
Lydia Hawk Elementary is the nearest public school to Nisqually Middle School, about 0.5 miles away. Within five miles of Nisqually Middle School, there are at least 8 other public schools. Among its closest neighbors with test data, Nisqually Middle School is 9th of 9 on proficiency.
NCES describes the area around Nisqually Middle School as City: Small, meaning inside a principal city with a population under 100,000.
Enrollment fell 13% over 4 years, reaching 789 in 2024-25.
Anyone can start a thread about fundraisers, report cards, and school supplies at Nisqually Middle School. Parents, students, alumni, and staff are welcome to post.
Thurston County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
299,067
Census ACS
Median income
$96,563
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
39%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
6%
Below federal line
Schools in county
86
44,412 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in North Thurston Public Schools
- River Ridge High SchoolHigh · 1,547 students
- Timberline High SchoolHigh · 1,401 students
- North Thurston High SchoolHigh · 1,378 students
- Mountain View ElementaryElementary · 776 students
- Meadows ElementaryElementary · 765 students
- Chinook Middle SchoolMiddle · 746 students
Other schools in Lacey
- River Ridge High SchoolHigh · 1,547 students
- Timberline High SchoolHigh · 1,401 students
- North Thurston High SchoolHigh · 1,378 students
- Mountain View ElementaryElementary · 776 students
- Meadows ElementaryElementary · 765 students
- Chinook Middle SchoolMiddle · 746 students
Nearby schools
- Lydia Hawk Elementary0.5 mi · 496
- River Ridge High School0.9 mi · 1,547
- Olympic View Elementary0.9 mi · 552
- Meadows Elementary1.3 mi · 765
- Seven Oaks Elementary1.4 mi · 428
- Evergreen Forest Elementary2.0 mi · 442
Frequently asked questions
About Nisqually Middle SchoolHow large is Nisqually Middle School?
Nisqually Middle School enrolls approximately 789 students in grades 06-08.
What age range does Nisqually Middle School serve?
Nisqually Middle School serves students from grade 06 through grade 08.
How many students per teacher at Nisqually Middle School?
Approximately 18.1:1 students per teacher at Nisqually Middle School.
How diverse is Nisqually Middle School?
Nisqually Middle School reports a student body of 40% White, 28% Hispanic, 4% Black, 6% Asian, 15% Two or more.
Who oversees Nisqually Middle School?
Nisqually Middle School is overseen by North Thurston Public Schools in Thurston County.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.