Enrollment
250
Middle
DISTRICT 366 · STATE 577
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·PIONEER SCHOOL DISTRICT·NCES 530675000992
Pioneer Middle School
50 E Spencer Lake Road, SHELTON, WA 98584 · (360) 426-8291 · Mason County
GRADES 06–08MIDDLE41-RURALTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL250 STUDENTS
F
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 3% of Washington public middle schools
- DTest scores Share of students meeting the state standard in reading, math, and other tested subjects, 2023-24 and 2024-25.
- DBeats expectations How far test scores land above or below what the share of low-income students predicts for a school in this state.
- FThree-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
12.9:1
19 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 14.1:1 · STATE 18.9:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
64%
160 students
DISTRICT 66% · STATE 51%
Community
0
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 | 86 | 34% |
| Grade 7 | 88 | 35% |
| Grade 8 | 76 | 30% |
Student demographics
43%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 48% · 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
Feeds from
Based on grade levels within Pioneer School District. Attendance zones can vary; confirm enrollment with the district.
Test scores
Smarter Balanced + WCAS 2024-25 . % Met or Exceeded StandardEnglish Language Arts
22.4%
WA avg 58.4% . -18.9pp since 2014
Math
10.1%
WA avg 51.2% . -22.4pp since 2014
What this means: On the Smarter Balanced + WCAS, Washington's statewide test, about 22 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 10 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 19 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 | 22.4% | 10.1% |
| 2023-24 | 33.3% | 20.6% |
| 2022-23 | 31.9% | 15.6% |
| 2021-22 | 36.6% | 16.7% |
| 2018-19 | 53.3% | 34.6% |
| 2017-18 | 52.5% | 36.1% |
| 2016-17 | 52.2% | 38.1% |
| 2015-16 | 52.5% | 32.2% |
| 2014-15 | 41.3% | 32.5% |
% 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
23.4%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
37.3%
based on WA schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
-13.8pp
below demographic expectation
What this means: About 23% of students here test proficient in math and reading, below the roughly 37% 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 Pioneer Middle School
Pioneer Middle School's state test result (23.4% proficient) is higher than 1 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pioneer Middle School this school | 250 | 64.0% | 23.4% |
| Mount Baker Junior High DEMING | 244 | 60.2% | 26.5% |
| Hilltop Elementary School Ilwaco | 188 | 62.8% | 29.4% |
| Goldendale Middle School GOLDENDALE | 255 | 68.2% | 23.2% |
| Elma Middle School Elma | 324 | 65.7% | 37.7% |
| Kettle Falls Middle School KETTLE FALLS | 205 | 62.0% | 40.1% |
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 Pioneer Middle School ranks
Among middle schools| Measure | This school | In Washington |
|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 23.4% | #255 of 294 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 10.1% | #348 of 357 ▼ 66 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 22.4% | #339 of 357 ▼ 55 |
| 3-year test score change ranked biggest drop first | -10.4pp | #3 of 290 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 250 | #324 of 377 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 12.9:1 | #4 of 340 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 43.2% | #276 of 340 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 64.0% | #89 of 359 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked steepest decline first | -2.0% | #176 of 192 |
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
250
+21 (+9%) vs 2020
-62% since 1990-91, when it was 659
Student : Teacher
12.9:1
was 11.4:1
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 | 250 | 19.3 | 12.9:1 | 64% (160) |
| 2023-24 | 252 | 22.7 | 11.1:1 | 65% (163) |
| 2022-23 | 241 | 20.3 | 11.9:1 | 64% (154) |
| 2020-21 | 229 | 20 | 11.4:1 | 66% (151) |
| 2017-18 | 255 | 18.1 | 14.1:1 | 65% (167) |
| 2015-16 | 359 | 22 | 16.3:1 | 69% (249) |
| 2010-11 | 404 | 26 | 15.5:1 | 56% (228) |
| 2000-01 | 456 | 28 | 16.3:1 | N/A |
| 1990-91 | 659 | 35 | 18.8:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Pioneer Middle School.
Since 2017-18: students down 2% (255 to 250); teachers up 7% (18.1 to 19.3).
About Pioneer Middle School
This page covers Pioneer Middle School, a low-enrollment middle-grades school in SHELTON, Washington. In all, 250 students attend the school in grades 6 through 8. That is 57% below the average of about 577 students for middle schools in Washington.
The district, Pioneer School District, operates 2 schools serving 732 students.
About 73% of the student body at Pioneer Middle School is White. Smaller groups are 17% Hispanic and 4% multiracial. Mason County residents are about 77% White, a similar share. Its diversity index, the chance that two randomly chosen students belong to different racial or ethnic groups, is 43%.
For every teacher at Pioneer Middle School, there are about 12.9 students; the school has 19.3 full-time-equivalent teachers. The average for middle schools in Washington, 18.9:1, is higher. There are 160 students eligible for free or reduced-price lunch, 64% of enrollment. That is in line with the 63% average for public schools in Mason County.
Pioneer Middle School holds an F allk12 Grade, placing it above 3% of Washington public middle schools.
After accounting for student poverty, Pioneer Middle School is in the bottom 10% of Washington schools. Its average proficiency rate across its state test results of 23.4% is 13.8 points below the 37.3% predicted for its lunch-eligibility share.
In Mason County, where the school is located, median household income comes to about $83,270, the share of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher is 22%, and about 8% of people live in poverty. There are 26 public schools in the county, enrolling about 8,539, Pioneer Middle School among them.
Pioneer Elementary School sits about 0.1 miles from Pioneer Middle School. Around the school, 2 other public schools are within five miles. On state test proficiency, Pioneer Middle School ranks 5th in a group of 6 nearby schools.
The National Center for Education Statistics classifies the school's location as Rural: Fringe, meaning it is in rural territory close to an urban area.
A 9% rise took enrollment from 229 in 2020-21 to 250 in 2024-25. In 2020-21, the student-to-teacher ratio was 11.4:1; by 2024-25 it was 12.9:1.
The Pioneer Middle School discussion page is a place for special education services, counseling, and support programs. Teachers and staff are welcome to share updates too.
Mason County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
67,982
Census ACS
Median income
$83,270
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
22%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
8%
Below federal line
Schools in county
26
8,539 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in Pioneer School District
- Pioneer Elementary SchoolElementary · 482 students
- Pioneer Virtual AcademyCombined
Other schools in SHELTON
- Shelton High SchoolHigh · 1,455 students
- Mountain View ElementaryElementary · 671 students
- Olympic Middle SchoolMiddle · 601 students
- Oakland Bay Junior High SchoolMiddle · 544 students
- Bordeaux Elementary SchoolElementary · 528 students
- Pioneer Elementary SchoolElementary · 482 students
Other Pioneer Middle schools
9 other US public schools in 5 states are named Pioneer Middle. Pioneer Middle School is the 10th largest of the 10.
- Pioneer MiddleDuPont, WA · 758 students
- Pioneer Middle SchoolWALLA WALLA, WA · 601 students
- Pioneer Middle SchoolWENATCHEE, WA · 488 students
- PIONEER MIDDLE SCHOOLCOOPER CITY, FL · 1,453 students
- Pioneer MiddleTustin, CA · 971 students
Nearby schools
- Pioneer Elementary School0.1 mi · 482
- Southside Elementary4.8 mi · 208
- Cedar High School5.4 mi · 100
- Shelton Open Doors5.5 mi · 22
- Mason County Detention Center5.6 mi · 1
- Olympic Middle School5.7 mi · 601
Frequently asked questions
About Pioneer Middle SchoolHow large is Pioneer Middle School?
Pioneer Middle School enrolls approximately 250 students in grades 06-08.
What age range does Pioneer Middle School serve?
Pioneer Middle School serves students from grade 06 through grade 08.
How many students per teacher at Pioneer Middle School?
Approximately 12.9:1 students per teacher at Pioneer Middle School.
How diverse is Pioneer Middle School?
Pioneer Middle School reports a student body of 73% White, 17% Hispanic, 1% Black, 1% Asian, 4% Two or more.
Who oversees Pioneer Middle School?
Pioneer Middle School is overseen by Pioneer School District in Mason County.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.