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Honest take: what's the hardest part about being a student at Ridgeline Middle School?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
568
Middle
DISTRICT 610 · STATE 577
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·YELM SCHOOL DISTRICT·NCES 531014003068
Ridgeline Middle School
10605 CARTER ST SE, Yelm, WA 98597 · (360) 458-1100 · Thurston County
GRADES 06–08MIDDLE31-TOWNTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL568 STUDENTS
Student : Teacher
20.4:1
28 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 21.1:1 · STATE 18.9:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
47%
266 students
DISTRICT 50% · 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 | 185 | 33% |
| Grade 7 | 197 | 35% |
| Grade 8 | 186 | 33% |
Student demographics
55%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 58% · 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
51.7%
WA avg 58.4% . -7.2pp since 2014
Math
41.7%
WA avg 51.2% . -5.6pp since 2014
What this means: On the Smarter Balanced + WCAS, Washington's statewide test, about 52 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 6 points.
Smarter Balanced + WCAS results by year
| School year | English Language Arts | Math |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 51.7% | 41.7% |
| 2023-24 | 50.3% | 39.9% |
| 2022-23 | 53.8% | 39.1% |
| 2021-22 | 47.8% | 30.8% |
| 2018-19 | 61.4% | 46.9% |
| 2017-18 | 57.0% | 47.4% |
| 2016-17 | 62.9% | 47.8% |
| 2015-16 | 63.6% | 46.3% |
| 2014-15 | 58.9% | 47.3% |
% 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
46.2%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
48.8%
based on WA schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
-2.6pp
below demographic expectation
What this means: About 46% of students here test proficient in math and reading, compared with the roughly 49% 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 Ridgeline Middle School
Ridgeline Middle School's state test result (46.2% proficient) is higher than 5 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ridgeline Middle School this school | 568 | 46.8% | 46.2% |
| Cougar Mountain Middle School Graham | 605 | 50.4% | 43.9% |
| Post Middle School Arlington | 645 | 45.7% | 37.1% |
| Blaine Middle School BLAINE | 471 | 46.1% | 37.2% |
| Chehalis Middle School Chehalis | 692 | 49.3% | 40.9% |
| Kingston Middle School Kingston | 455 | 48.8% | 37.4% |
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 Ridgeline Middle School ranks
Among middle schools| Measure | This school | In Washington | In Thurston County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 46.2% | #109 of 294 | #8 of 16 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 41.7% | #127 of 357 ▼ 6 | #9 of 16 ▼ 1 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 51.7% | #142 of 357 ▲ 6 | #8 of 16 no change |
| 3-year test score change ranked biggest gain first | +7.4pp | #45 of 290 | #4 of 16 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 568 | #213 of 377 | #9 of 16 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 20.4:1 | #244 of 340 | #13 of 16 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 54.7% | #195 of 340 | #12 of 16 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 46.8% | #213 of 359 | #9 of 16 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked steepest decline first | -5.8% | #149 of 192 | #5 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
568
-69 (-11%) vs 2020
-9% since 2010-11, when it was 624
Student : Teacher
20.4:1
was 20.6:1
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 | 568 | 27.8 | 20.4:1 | 47% (266) |
| 2023-24 | 578 | 34 | 17.0:1 | 47% (271) |
| 2022-23 | 574 | 33 | 17.4:1 | 46% (266) |
| 2020-21 | 637 | 31 | 20.6:1 | 44% (280) |
| 2017-18 | 603 | 28.1 | 21.4:1 | 42% (254) |
| 2015-16 | 613 | 33 | 18.6:1 | 41% (251) |
| 2010-11 | 624 | 31 | 20.1:1 | 36% (226) |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Ridgeline Middle School.
Since 2017-18: students down 6% (603 to 568); teachers down 1% (28.1 to 27.8).
About Ridgeline Middle School
Ridgeline Middle School is the name of a mid-sized middle school in Yelm, Washington. Total enrollment is 568 students, and the grades served are 6 through 8.
Ridgeline Middle School falls under Yelm School District, which has 10 schools enrolling 5,671 students.
About 63% of the student body at Ridgeline Middle School is White. Other groups make up 18% Hispanic and 14% multiracial. County-wide, 72% of Thurston County residents are White. Its diversity index, the chance that two randomly chosen students belong to different racial or ethnic groups, is 55%.
Its ratio of 20.4:1 is based on 27.8 full-time-equivalent teachers. Middle schools in Washington have an average ratio of 18.9:1. In all, 47% of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch.
Ridgeline Middle School scores 46.2% on state tests, averaged across results. The predicted figure, based on its student poverty level, is 48.8%.
The school's county is Thurston County. According to Census Bureau estimates, median household income comes to about $96,563, 39% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, and about 6% of people live in poverty. There are 86 public schools in the county, enrolling about 44,412, Ridgeline Middle School among them.
Mill Pond Elementary School, about 0.2 miles away, is the closest public school. Counting only straight-line distance, at least 8 other public schools are within five miles. By average proficiency, Ridgeline Middle School is 5th among 8 schools close by.
Federal data place Ridgeline Middle School in the Town: Fringe locale, which means it is in a town close to an urbanized area.
Over the 4 years from 2020-21 to 2024-25, enrollment fell 11%.
This community page is for conversations about fundraisers, report cards, and school supplies. You can also rate the school on this page.
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 Yelm School District
- Yelm High School 12High · 1,693 students
- Southworth ElementaryElementary · 671 students
- Yelm Middle SchoolMiddle · 652 students
- Fort Stevens ElementaryElementary · 462 students
- Yelm Prairie ElementaryElementary · 427 students
- McKenna ElementaryElementary · 418 students
Other schools in Yelm
- Yelm High School 12High · 1,693 students
- Southworth ElementaryElementary · 671 students
- Yelm Middle SchoolMiddle · 652 students
- Fort Stevens ElementaryElementary · 462 students
- Yelm Prairie ElementaryElementary · 427 students
- Mill Pond Elementary SchoolElementary · 374 students
Nearby schools
- Mill Pond Elementary School0.2 mi · 374
- Yelm Extension School0.8 mi · 116
- Yelm Middle School0.9 mi · 652
- Yelm High School 121.3 mi · 1,693
- Fort Stevens Elementary1.4 mi · 462
- Yelm Prairie Elementary1.4 mi · 427
Frequently asked questions
About Ridgeline Middle SchoolHow large is Ridgeline Middle School?
Ridgeline Middle School enrolls approximately 568 students in grades 06-08.
What age range does Ridgeline Middle School serve?
Ridgeline Middle School serves students from grade 06 through grade 08.
How many students per teacher at Ridgeline Middle School?
Approximately 20.4:1 students per teacher at Ridgeline Middle School.
What is the racial breakdown of students at Ridgeline Middle School?
At Ridgeline Middle School, the student body is approximately 63% White, 18% Hispanic, 1% Black, 1% Asian, 14% Two or more.
Who oversees Ridgeline Middle School?
Ridgeline Middle School is overseen by Yelm School District in Thurston County.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.