Enrollment
74
Middle
DISTRICT 103 · STATE 577
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·WAITSBURG SCHOOL DISTRICT·NCES 530939002492
Preston Hall Middle School
605 Main Street, Waitsburg, WA 99361 · (509) 337-9474 · Walla Walla County
GRADES 06–08MIDDLE42-RURALTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL74 STUDENTS
D
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 8% of Washington public middle schools
- C-Test scores Share of students meeting the state standard in reading, math, and other tested subjects, 2023-24 and 2024-25.
- FBeats expectations How far test scores land above or below what the share of low-income students predicts for a school in this state.
- B-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
14.8:1
5 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 16.2:1 · STATE 18.9:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
50%
37 students
DISTRICT 49% · 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 | 24 | 32% |
| Grade 7 | 24 | 32% |
| Grade 8 | 26 | 35% |
Student demographics
30%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 24% · 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
Preston Hall Middle School→Waitsburg High School
Feeds from
Based on grade levels within Waitsburg School District. Attendance zones can vary; confirm enrollment with the district.
Test scores
Smarter Balanced + WCAS 2024-25 . % Met or Exceeded StandardEnglish Language Arts
35.7%
WA avg 58.4% . -8.9pp since 2014
Math
25.7%
WA avg 51.2% . -17.4pp since 2014
What this means: On the Smarter Balanced + WCAS, Washington's statewide test, about 36 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 9 points since 2014, while math scores are down about 17 points.
Smarter Balanced + WCAS results by year
| School year | English Language Arts | Math |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 35.7% | 25.7% |
| 2023-24 | 19.7% | 18.2% |
| 2022-23 | 32.9% | 18.4% |
| 2021-22 | 38.8% | 19.4% |
| 2018-19 | 38.9% | 30.6% |
| 2017-18 | 46.3% | 41.8% |
| 2016-17 | 40.7% | 30.5% |
| 2015-16 | 43.5% | 46.8% |
| 2014-15 | 44.6% | 43.1% |
% 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
24.6%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
46.7%
based on WA schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
-22.1pp
below demographic expectation
What this means: About 25% of students here test proficient in math and reading, below the roughly 47% 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 Preston Hall Middle School
Preston Hall Middle School's state test result (24.6% proficient) is higher than 0 of the 3 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Preston Hall Middle School this school | 74 | 50.0% | 24.6% |
| Dayton Middle School Dayton | 93 | 49.5% | N/A |
| Lind Ritzville Middle School Lind | 89 | 42.7% | N/A |
| Lyle Middle School Lyle | 57 | 57.9% | 25.2% |
| Orcas Island Middle School EASTSOUND | 110 | 39.1% | 45.4% |
| Bryant Montessori Middle School Tacoma | 135 | 48.1% | 37.1% |
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 Preston Hall Middle School ranks
Among middle schools| Measure | This school | In Washington | In Walla Walla County |
|---|---|---|---|
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 74 | #368 of 377 | #5 of 6 |
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
74
+13 (+21%) vs 2020
-19% since 2010-11, when it was 91
Student : Teacher
14.8:1
was 20.3:1
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 | 74 | 5 | 14.8:1 | 50% (37) |
| 2022-23 | 76 | 5.4 | 14.1:1 | 57% (43) |
| 2020-21 | 61 | 3 | 20.3:1 | 51% (31) |
| 2017-18 | 71 | 3.9 | 18.2:1 | 58% (41) |
| 2015-16 | 68 | 5 | 13.6:1 | 60% (41) |
| 2010-11 | 91 | 3 | 30.3:1 | 46% (42) |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Preston Hall Middle School.
Since 2017-18: students up 4% (71 to 74); teachers up 28% (3.9 to 5).
About Preston Hall Middle School
Preston Hall Middle School is a small middle-grades school with an address in Waitsburg, Washington. Classes run from 6 through 8, and the school has 74 students. Against the 577-student average for middle schools in Washington, enrollment here is 87% lower.
Waitsburg School District operates 3 schools. Combined enrollment is 309 students.
Preston Hall Middle School's enrollment is 82% White. The next largest groups are 12% Hispanic and 4% multiracial. The school's White share is 10 points above the 73% share among Walla Walla County residents. Pick two students at random and there is a 30% chance they belong to different racial or ethnic groups; that figure is the school's diversity index.
The school reports 5 full-time-equivalent teachers, which works out to about 14.8 students per teacher. The school has fewer students per teacher than the 18.9:1 average for middle schools in Washington. The free or reduced-price lunch share, often used to gauge student poverty, is 50%. Among public schools in Walla Walla County, the average eligibility rate is 63%.
Measured against Washington public middle schools, Preston Hall Middle School receives a D. The grade weighs proficiency most heavily, then how results compare with what the school's low-income share predicts, then the three-year change.
The BeatsExpectations model predicts 46.7% for Preston Hall Middle School, given its share of students eligible for free or reduced-price lunch. The actual figure is 24.6%. The 22.1-point gap ranks in the bottom 10% of Washington schools.
Federal survey data for Walla Walla County show that the median household income is $74,202, about 30% of adults have at least a bachelor's degree, and roughly 9% of residents are in poverty. Walla Walla County is home to 33 public schools and about 8,516 public school students.
The next-closest public school is Waitsburg Elementary School, less than a tenth of a mile away. Preston Hall Middle School is one of several public schools in the area, with 2 others within five miles. Nearby schools average 40.1% on proficiency, and Preston Hall Middle School is below that at 24.6%.
For locale, NCES codes Preston Hall Middle School as Rural: Distant.
Enrollment has grown by 13 students since 2020-21, to 74. Students per teacher fell from 20.3 in 2020-21 to 14.8 in 2024-25.
Community posts for Preston Hall Middle School can cover enrollment questions, class placement, and PTA news. Alumni can share how the school prepared them.
Walla Walla County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
62,161
Census ACS
Median income
$74,202
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
30%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
9%
Below federal line
Schools in county
33
8,516 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in Waitsburg School District
- Waitsburg Elementary SchoolElementary · 148 students
- Waitsburg High SchoolHigh · 87 students
Other schools in Waitsburg
- Waitsburg Elementary SchoolElementary · 148 students
- Waitsburg High SchoolHigh · 87 students
Nearby schools
- Waitsburg Elementary School0.0 mi · 148
- Waitsburg High School0.1 mi · 87
- Prescott Elementary School8.2 mi · 139
- Prescott Middle School8.2 mi · 38
- Prescott High School8.2 mi · 48
- Dixie Elementary School8.6 mi · 14
Frequently asked questions
About Preston Hall Middle SchoolHow large is Preston Hall Middle School?
Preston Hall Middle School enrolls approximately 74 students in grades 06-08.
What age range does Preston Hall Middle School serve?
Preston Hall Middle School serves students from grade 06 through grade 08.
How many students per teacher at Preston Hall Middle School?
Approximately 14.8:1 students per teacher at Preston Hall Middle School.
What is the student diversity at Preston Hall Middle School?
Student demographics at Preston Hall Middle School are roughly 82% White, 12% Hispanic, 1% Black, 4% Two or more.
What district is Preston Hall Middle School in?
Preston Hall Middle School is part of Waitsburg School District.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.