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Teachers: what resource would make the biggest difference at Salish Middle School this year?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
745
Middle
DISTRICT 649 · STATE 577
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·NORTH THURSTON PUBLIC SCHOOLS·NCES 530585003587
Salish Middle School
8605 Campus Glen Dr NE, Lacey, WA 98516 · (360) 412-4780 · Thurston County
GRADES 06–08MIDDLE13-CITYTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL745 STUDENTS
Student : Teacher
18.8:1
40 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 19.6:1 · STATE 18.9:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
48%
360 students
DISTRICT 48% · 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 | 263 | 35% |
| Grade 7 | 248 | 33% |
| Grade 8 | 234 | 31% |
Student demographics
73%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 73% · 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
45.0%
WA avg 58.4% . -17.4pp since 2016
Math
30.8%
WA avg 51.2% . -17.5pp since 2016
What this means: On the Smarter Balanced + WCAS, Washington's statewide test, about 45 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 31 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 17 points since 2016, while math scores are down about 17 points.
Smarter Balanced + WCAS results by year
| School year | English Language Arts | Math |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 45.0% | 30.8% |
| 2023-24 | 41.4% | 26.3% |
| 2022-23 | 43.9% | 25.3% |
| 2021-22 | 44.5% | 28.6% |
| 2018-19 | 62.7% | 49.5% |
| 2017-18 | 62.7% | 46.5% |
| 2016-17 | 62.3% | 48.3% |
% 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
UNDERPERFORMING
Bottom 10% of WA schools after controlling for student poverty
Actual proficiency
35.4%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
47.8%
based on WA schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
-12.4pp
below demographic expectation
What this means: About 35% of students here test proficient in math and reading, below the roughly 48% 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 Salish Middle School
Salish Middle School's state test result (35.4% proficient) is higher than 1 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Salish Middle School this school | 745 | 48.3% | 35.4% |
| Cedarcrest School Marysville | 704 | 49.9% | 39.0% |
| Nisqually Middle School Lacey | 789 | 51.3% | 29.9% |
| Komachin Middle School Lacey | 640 | 48.8% | 42.2% |
| Ferrucci Jr High Puyallup | 815 | 50.3% | 44.6% |
| Fairview Middle School BREMERTON | 620 | 50.5% | 37.3% |
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 Salish Middle School ranks
Among middle schools| Measure | This school | In Washington | In Thurston County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 35.4% | #186 of 294 | #15 of 16 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 30.8% | #204 of 357 ▲ 30 | #13 of 16 ▲ 1 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 45.0% | #195 of 357 ▲ 25 | #14 of 16 no change |
| 3-year test score change ranked biggest gain first | +1.3pp | #165 of 290 | #10 of 16 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 745 | #109 of 377 | #4 of 16 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 18.8:1 | #144 of 340 | #7 of 16 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 73.3% | #55 of 340 | #3 of 16 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 48.3% | #204 of 359 | #7 of 16 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked steepest decline first | -0.5% | #185 of 192 | #9 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
745
-5 (-1%) vs 2020
Student : Teacher
18.8:1
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 | 745 | 39.6 | 18.8:1 | 48% (360) |
| 2023-24 | 787 | 39.7 | 19.8:1 | 50% (393) |
| 2022-23 | 735 | 36.2 | 20.3:1 | 52% (381) |
| 2020-21 | 750 | 37 | 20.3:1 | 41% (306) |
| 2017-18 | 749 | 35.1 | 21.4:1 | 42% (312) |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Salish Middle School.
Since 2017-18: students down 1% (749 to 745); teachers up 13% (35.1 to 39.6).
About Salish Middle School
Lacey, Washington, is home to Salish Middle School, a mid-sized middle school. It had 745 students in 2024-25, spanning grades 6 through 8. That compares with an average of about 577 students for middle schools in Washington.
North Thurston Public Schools includes 24 schools. Together they enroll 15,167 students.
The student body at Salish Middle School has no majority group. White students lead at 41%. Other groups make up 25% Hispanic, 17% multiracial, 8% Asian, and 5% Black. Thurston County as a whole is about 72% White, so the school's share is lower. A diversity index of 73% means there is a 73% chance two randomly chosen students at Salish Middle School are from different groups.
Its staff includes 39.6 full-time-equivalent teachers, for about 18.8 students per teacher. The average for middle schools in Washington is about 18.9:1. Salish Middle School has a free or reduced-price lunch rate of 48%.
Predicted from its free or reduced-price lunch share, Salish Middle School would score about 47.8%. It scores 35.4%, a bottom-10% result among Washington schools on BeatsExpectations.
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 residents live below the federal poverty line. Thurston County's 86 public schools enroll about 44,412 students and include Salish Middle School.
Of the public schools around it, Salish Middle School is closest to River Ridge High School, about 1.7 miles away. There are at least 8 other public schools within five miles. Salish Middle School's average proficiency of 35.4% compares with 44.3% for its nearest scored neighbors.
NCES assigns Salish Middle School the locale City: Small, meaning inside a principal city with a population under 100,000.
Enrollment at Salish Middle School was 750 in 2020-21 and 745 in 2024-25, a change of less than 3%. Staffing shifted too: the ratio moved from 20.3:1 to 18.8:1.
The allk12 page for Salish Middle School lets the school community talk about athletics, class schedules, and weather closures. 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 North Thurston Public Schools
- River Ridge High SchoolHigh · 1,547 students
- Timberline High SchoolHigh · 1,401 students
- North Thurston High SchoolHigh · 1,378 students
- Nisqually Middle SchoolMiddle · 789 students
- Mountain View ElementaryElementary · 776 students
- Meadows ElementaryElementary · 765 students
Other schools in Lacey
- River Ridge High SchoolHigh · 1,547 students
- Timberline High SchoolHigh · 1,401 students
- North Thurston High SchoolHigh · 1,378 students
- Nisqually Middle SchoolMiddle · 789 students
- Mountain View ElementaryElementary · 776 students
- Meadows ElementaryElementary · 765 students
Nearby schools
- River Ridge High School1.7 mi · 1,547
- Olympic View Elementary1.8 mi · 552
- Nisqually Middle School2.3 mi · 789
- Meadows Elementary2.5 mi · 765
- Lydia Hawk Elementary2.5 mi · 496
- Wa He Lut Indian School2.7 mi · 131
Frequently asked questions
About Salish Middle SchoolHow many students attend Salish Middle School?
Salish Middle School enrolls approximately 745 students in grades 06-08.
Is Salish Middle School an elementary, middle, or high school?
Salish Middle School is a middle school covering grades 06-08.
How many teachers does Salish Middle School have?
Salish Middle School employs 40 FTE teachers, for a student-to-teacher ratio of 18.8:1.
What is the racial breakdown of students at Salish Middle School?
At Salish Middle School, the student body is approximately 41% White, 25% Hispanic, 5% Black, 8% Asian, 17% Two or more.
Is Salish Middle School public or private?
Salish Middle School is a public K-12 school, overseen by North Thurston Public Schools.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.