1
What's the one class at Pacific Middle School every student should take?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
604
Middle
DISTRICT 656 · STATE 577
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·HIGHLINE SCHOOL DISTRICT·NCES 530354000543
Pacific Middle School
22705 24th Ave S, Des Moines, WA 98198 · (206) 631-5800 · King County
GRADES 06–08MIDDLE21-SUBURBTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL604 STUDENTS
Student : Teacher
18.5:1
33 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 19.0:1 · STATE 18.9:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
74%
449 students
DISTRICT 65% · 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 | 215 | 36% |
| Grade 7 | 203 | 34% |
| Grade 8 | 186 | 31% |
Student demographics
77%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 75% · 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
30.4%
WA avg 58.4% . -15.6pp since 2014
Math
15.0%
WA avg 51.2% . -31.0pp since 2014
What this means: On the Smarter Balanced + WCAS, Washington's statewide test, about 30 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 15 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 16 points since 2014, while math scores are down about 31 points.
Smarter Balanced + WCAS results by year
| School year | English Language Arts | Math |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 30.4% | 15.0% |
| 2023-24 | 28.4% | 12.5% |
| 2022-23 | 31.4% | 14.2% |
| 2021-22 | 31.7% | 14.8% |
| 2018-19 | 58.4% | 36.0% |
| 2017-18 | 61.6% | 41.3% |
| 2016-17 | 52.0% | 37.5% |
| 2015-16 | 48.3% | 38.0% |
| 2014-15 | 46.0% | 46.0% |
% 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
20.4%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
30.3%
based on WA schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
-10.0pp
below demographic expectation
What this means: About 20% of students here test proficient in math and reading, compared with the roughly 30% 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 Pacific Middle School
Pacific Middle School's state test result (20.4% proficient) is higher than 2 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pacific Middle School this school | 604 | 74.3% | 20.4% |
| Chinook Middle School SeaTac | 620 | 72.9% | 22.9% |
| First Creek Middle School Tacoma | 584 | 78.1% | 20.2% |
| Sacajawea Middle School FEDERAL WAY | 668 | 77.7% | 28.6% |
| Showalter Middle School SEATTLE | 651 | 75.4% | 23.0% |
| Evergreen Middle School KENT | 810 | 79.5% | 18.1% |
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 Pacific Middle School ranks
Among middle schools| Measure | This school | In Washington | In King County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 20.4% | #274 of 294 | #73 of 76 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 15.0% | #328 of 357 ▲ 7 | #73 of 76 no change |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 30.4% | #304 of 357 ▲ 13 | #69 of 76 no change |
| 3-year test score change ranked biggest drop first | -0.5pp | #79 of 290 | #19 of 75 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 604 | #197 of 377 | #61 of 80 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 18.5:1 | #127 of 340 | #20 of 76 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 77.2% | #24 of 340 | #16 of 76 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 74.3% | #43 of 359 | #7 of 77 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked steepest decline first | -3.8% | #160 of 192 | #30 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
604
-138 (-19%) vs 2020
+2% since 1990-91, when it was 593
Student : Teacher
18.5:1
was 19.0:1
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 | 604 | 32.6 | 18.5:1 | 74% (449) |
| 2023-24 | 626 | 33.4 | 18.8:1 | 77% (480) |
| 2022-23 | 651 | 30.9 | 21.1:1 | 81% (526) |
| 2020-21 | 742 | 39 | 19.0:1 | 70% (520) |
| 2017-18 | 628 | 35 | 18.0:1 | 64% (403) |
| 2015-16 | 646 | 33 | 19.6:1 | 64% (414) |
| 2010-11 | 688 | 36 | 19.1:1 | 47% (321) |
| 2000-01 | 690 | 31 | 22.3:1 | N/A |
| 1990-91 | 593 | 26 | 22.8:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Pacific Middle School.
Since 2017-18: students down 4% (628 to 604); teachers down 7% (35 to 32.6).
About Pacific Middle School
The public middle school Pacific Middle School is located in Des Moines, Washington. There are 604 students enrolled, covering grades 6 through 8.
Highline School District, which runs Pacific Middle School, has 36 schools and 18,072 students.
Of every 100 students at Pacific Middle School, about 37 are Hispanic, the largest group. The school is also 19% Asian, 17% Black, 14% White, and 10% multiracial. That is higher than the 11% Hispanic share among all King County residents. A diversity index of 77% means there is a 77% chance two randomly chosen students at Pacific Middle School are from different groups.
For every teacher at Pacific Middle School, there are about 18.5 students; the school has 32.6 full-time-equivalent teachers. The ratio is within a point of the 18.9:1 average for middle schools in Washington. There are 449 students eligible for free or reduced-price lunch, 74% of enrollment. Compared with the 38% average for public schools in King County, the school's rate is higher.
The allk12 BeatsExpectations score for Pacific Middle School is -10.0 points: 20.4% actual, 30.3% predicted.
In King County, home to about 2,287,171 people, the median household earns about $124,746 a year, a bachelor's degree or higher is held by about 57% of adults, and the share of residents below the poverty line is 5%. Public schools in King County number 544, with about 278,492 students.
Midway Elementary is less than a tenth of a mile away, making it the nearest public school. Within five miles of Pacific Middle School, there are at least 8 other public schools. The average proficiency across nearby scored schools is 22.6%; Pacific Middle School's is 20.4%, ranking 5th of 9.
On the NCES locale scale, the school is Suburb: Large.
The 2020-21-to-2024-25 change in enrollment was a 19% decline, from 742 to 604.
Parents, students, and staff can share information on special education services, counseling, and support programs here. Parents, students, alumni, and staff are welcome to post.
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 Highline School District
- Mount Rainier High SchoolHigh · 1,846 students
- Highline High SchoolHigh · 1,423 students
- Evergreen High SchoolHigh · 1,080 students
- Glacier Middle SchoolMiddle · 803 students
- Cascade Middle SchoolMiddle · 671 students
- Tyee High SchoolHigh · 644 students
Other schools in Des Moines
- Mount Rainier High SchoolHigh · 1,846 students
- Midway ElementaryElementary · 548 students
- Parkside ElementaryElementary · 535 students
- North Hill ElementaryElementary · 518 students
- Des Moines ElementaryElementary · 500 students
- Woodmont K-8 SchoolElementary · 402 students
Other Pacific Middle schools
One other US public school is named Pacific Middle. Pacific Middle School is the 2nd largest of the 2.
- Pacific Middle SchoolVancouver, WA · 817 students
Nearby schools
- Midway Elementary0.1 mi · 548
- Mount Rainier High School0.2 mi · 1,846
- Cascade Public Schools0.3 mi · 126
- River Ridge Elementary0.7 mi · 697
- Des Moines Elementary0.8 mi · 500
- Parkside Elementary1.2 mi · 535
Frequently asked questions
About Pacific Middle SchoolHow many students attend Pacific Middle School?
Pacific Middle School enrolls approximately 604 students in grades 06-08.
What age range does Pacific Middle School serve?
Pacific Middle School serves students from grade 06 through grade 08.
How many teachers does Pacific Middle School have?
Pacific Middle School employs 33 FTE teachers, for a student-to-teacher ratio of 18.5:1.
What is the student diversity at Pacific Middle School?
Student demographics at Pacific Middle School are roughly 14% White, 37% Hispanic, 17% Black, 19% Asian, 10% Two or more.
Is Pacific Middle School public or private?
Pacific Middle School is a public K-12 school, overseen by Highline School District.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.