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Does Pioneer Middle have enough mental health and stress support?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
758
Middle
DISTRICT 435 · STATE 577
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·STEILACOOM HIST. SCHOOL DISTRICT·NCES 530846001431
Pioneer Middle
1750 Bob's Hollow Lane, DuPont, WA 98327 · (253) 583-7200 · Pierce County
GRADES 06–08MIDDLE21-SUBURBREGULAR SCHOOL758 STUDENTS
B
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 58% of Washington public middle schools
- B+Test scores Share of students meeting the state standard in reading, math, and other tested subjects, 2023-24 and 2024-25.
- C-Beats 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 middle schools
Student : Teacher
20.5:1
37 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 18.7:1 · STATE 18.9:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
31%
232 students
DISTRICT 36% · 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 | 261 | 34% |
| Grade 7 | 244 | 32% |
| Grade 8 | 253 | 33% |
Student demographics
70%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 71% · 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
Pioneer Middle→Steilacoom High
Feeds from
Based on grade levels within Steilacoom Hist. School District. Attendance zones can vary; confirm enrollment with the district.
Test scores
Smarter Balanced + WCAS 2024-25 . % Met or Exceeded StandardEnglish Language Arts
60.2%
WA avg 58.4% . -6.9pp since 2014
Math
41.7%
WA avg 51.2% . -10.0pp since 2014
What this means: On the Smarter Balanced + WCAS, Washington's statewide test, about 60 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 down about 7 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 | 60.2% | 41.7% |
| 2023-24 | 61.4% | 38.2% |
| 2022-23 | 58.5% | 35.5% |
| 2021-22 | 48.8% | 31.5% |
| 2018-19 | 72.0% | 53.7% |
| 2017-18 | 74.4% | 56.9% |
| 2016-17 | 65.9% | 54.5% |
| 2015-16 | 66.8% | 59.4% |
| 2014-15 | 67.1% | 51.7% |
% 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
49.9%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
59.7%
based on WA schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
-9.8pp
below demographic expectation
What this means: About 50% of students here test proficient in math and reading, compared with the roughly 60% 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 Pioneer Middle
Pioneer Middle's state test result (49.9% proficient) is higher than 0 of the 4 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pioneer Middle this school | 758 | 30.6% | 49.9% |
| Robert Eagle Staff Middle School Seattle | 729 | 32.1% | 69.5% |
| Lake Stevens Middle School Lake Stevens | 709 | 32.7% | 52.9% |
| Shahala Middle School Vancouver | 732 | 31.4% | N/A |
| Kellogg Middle School Shoreline | 991 | 34.5% | 61.0% |
| North Lake Middle School Lake Stevens | 856 | 32.2% | 55.7% |
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 Pioneer Middle ranks
Among middle schools| Measure | This school | In Washington | In Pierce County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 49.9% | #96 of 294 | #13 of 45 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 41.7% | #128 of 357 ▲ 3 | #13 of 45 ▲ 2 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 60.2% | #82 of 357 ▼ 7 | #13 of 45 ▼ 3 |
| 3-year test score change ranked biggest gain first | +10.8pp | #14 of 290 | #3 of 45 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 758 | #94 of 377 | #15 of 45 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 20.5:1 | #247 of 340 | #22 of 44 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 70.3% | #78 of 340 | #26 of 44 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 30.6% | #294 of 359 | #39 of 45 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked steepest decline first | -0.3% | #188 of 192 | #22 of 23 |
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
758
+25 (+3%) vs 2020
+118% since 1990-91, when it was 347
Student : Teacher
20.5:1
was 18.3:1
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 | 758 | 36.9 | 20.5:1 | 31% (232) |
| 2023-24 | 746 | 36.5 | 20.4:1 | 32% (239) |
| 2022-23 | 711 | 38.6 | 18.4:1 | 32% (230) |
| 2020-21 | 733 | 40 | 18.3:1 | 24% (178) |
| 2017-18 | 760 | 39.4 | 19.3:1 | 23% (178) |
| 2015-16 | 796 | 38 | 20.9:1 | 25% (198) |
| 2010-11 | 722 | 33 | 21.9:1 | 22% (160) |
| 2000-01 | 528 | 26 | 20.3:1 | N/A |
| 1990-91 | 347 | 15 | 23.1:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Pioneer Middle.
Since 2017-18: students unchanged (760 to 758); teachers down 6% (39.4 to 36.9).
About Pioneer Middle
Pioneer Middle is one of the public schools in DuPont, Washington. It is a mid-sized middle school. It teaches 758 students in grades 6 through 8. That is 31% above the average of about 577 students for middle schools in Washington.
Steilacoom Hist. School District runs 7 schools with a combined 3,043 students. Pioneer Middle is one of them.
The student body at Pioneer Middle has no majority group. White students lead at 47%. Other groups make up 22% Hispanic, 16% multiracial, 7% Asian, and 6% Black. Pierce County as a whole is about 64% White, so the school's share is lower. A diversity index of 70% means there is a 70% chance two randomly chosen students at Pioneer Middle are from different groups.
The school lists 36.9 full-time-equivalent teachers and a student-to-teacher ratio of 20.5:1. The average for middle schools in Washington, 18.9:1, is lower. A total of 232 students, or 31%, are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch. It compares with 50% for public schools in Pierce County.
Pioneer Middle holds a B allk12 Grade, placing it above 58% of Washington public middle schools.
Pioneer Middle scores 49.9% on state tests, averaged across results. The predicted figure, based on its student poverty level, is 59.7%.
In Pierce County, where the school is located, median household income comes to about $99,564, the share of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher is 31%, and about 6% of people live in poverty. There are 287 public schools in the county, enrolling about 138,462, Pioneer Middle among them.
Chloe Clark Elementary is the nearest public school to Pioneer Middle, about 0.6 miles away. Counting only straight-line distance, at least 8 other public schools are within five miles. Among its closest neighbors with test data, Pioneer Middle is 6th of 8 on proficiency.
The NCES locale for Pioneer Middle is Suburb: Large, which covers schools in a suburban area outside a principal city, within an urbanized area with a population of 250,000 or more.
Enrollment increased by 3% across 4 years, from 733 in 2020-21 to 758 in 2024-25. Its ratio of students to teachers was 18.3:1 in 2020-21, and 20.5:1 in 2024-25.
You can use this page to share news and ask questions about open houses, carpools, and field trips. You can also rate the school on this page.
Pierce County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
930,319
Census ACS
Median income
$99,564
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
31%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
6%
Below federal line
Schools in county
287
138,462 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in Steilacoom Hist. School District
- Steilacoom HighHigh · 968 students
- Chloe Clark ElementaryElementary · 475 students
- Saltars Point ElementaryElementary · 437 students
- Cherrydale ElementaryElementary · 348 students
- Developmental PreschoolElementary · 38 students
- Anderson Island ElementaryElementary · 19 students
Other Pioneer Middle schools
9 other US public schools in 5 states are named Pioneer Middle. Pioneer Middle is the 4th largest of the 10.
- Pioneer Middle SchoolWALLA WALLA, WA · 601 students
- Pioneer Middle SchoolWENATCHEE, WA · 488 students
- Pioneer Middle SchoolSHELTON, WA · 250 students
- PIONEER MIDDLE SCHOOLCOOPER CITY, FL · 1,453 students
- Pioneer MiddleTustin, CA · 971 students
Nearby schools
- Chloe Clark Elementary0.6 mi · 475
- Rainier Elementary School2.5 mi · 576
- Beachwood Elementary School3.2 mi · 397
- Wa He Lut Indian School3.4 mi · 131
- Meriwether Elementary School3.7 mi · 240
- Hillside Elementary School3.7 mi · 567
Frequently asked questions
About Pioneer MiddleWhat is the total enrollment at Pioneer Middle?
Pioneer Middle enrolls approximately 758 students in grades 06-08.
What grades does Pioneer Middle serve?
Pioneer Middle serves grades 06-08.
How many students per teacher at Pioneer Middle?
Approximately 20.5:1 students per teacher at Pioneer Middle.
What is the student diversity at Pioneer Middle?
Student demographics at Pioneer Middle are roughly 47% White, 22% Hispanic, 6% Black, 7% Asian, 16% Two or more.
Who oversees Pioneer Middle?
Pioneer Middle is overseen by Steilacoom Hist. School District in Pierce County.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.