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What do students at Spanaway Middle School actually talk about outside of class?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
766
Middle
DISTRICT 712 · STATE 577
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·BETHEL SCHOOL DISTRICT·NCES 530048000128
Spanaway Middle School
15701 B Street East, Tacoma, WA 98445 · (253) 800-5400 · Pierce County
GRADES 06–08MIDDLE21-SUBURBTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL766 STUDENTS
Student : Teacher
22.5:1
34 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 21.3:1 · STATE 18.9:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
68%
519 students
DISTRICT 59% · 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 | 268 | 35% |
| Grade 7 | 258 | 34% |
| Grade 8 | 240 | 31% |
Student demographics
77%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 75% · 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
44.6%
WA avg 58.4% . +1.0pp since 2014
Math
40.9%
WA avg 51.2% . +6.6pp since 2014
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 41 of 100 do math at grade level. Across all Washington schools, those numbers are about 58 and 51. Reading and writing scores have held steady since 2014, while math scores are up about 7 points.
Smarter Balanced + WCAS results by year
| School year | English Language Arts | Math |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 44.6% | 40.9% |
| 2023-24 | 45.6% | 41.3% |
| 2022-23 | 48.1% | 35.5% |
| 2021-22 | 49.0% | 32.7% |
| 2018-19 | 47.4% | 28.2% |
| 2017-18 | 45.6% | 34.4% |
| 2016-17 | 46.6% | 33.4% |
| 2015-16 | 47.4% | 33.0% |
| 2014-15 | 43.7% | 34.2% |
% 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
41.5%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
34.7%
based on WA schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
+6.8pp
above demographic expectation
What this means: About 41% of students here test proficient in math and reading, compared with the roughly 35% 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 Spanaway Middle School
Spanaway Middle School's state test result (41.5% proficient) is higher than 5 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Spanaway Middle School this school | 766 | 67.8% | 41.5% |
| Perry G Keithley Middle School TACOMA | 804 | 68.8% | 17.5% |
| Morris Ford Middle School Tacoma | 831 | 64.6% | 30.3% |
| Bethel Middle School Spanaway | 661 | 63.5% | 36.8% |
| Thomas Middle School Lakewood | 934 | 63.6% | 30.9% |
| Cascade Middle School AUBURN | 966 | 65.2% | 27.9% |
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 Spanaway Middle School ranks
Among middle schools| Measure | This school | In Washington | In Pierce County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 41.5% | #144 of 294 | #22 of 45 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 40.9% | #130 of 357 ▼ 18 | #14 of 45 ▼ 1 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 44.6% | #201 of 357 ▼ 15 | #27 of 45 ▼ 1 |
| 3-year test score change ranked biggest gain first | +1.9pp | #151 of 290 | #27 of 45 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 766 | #87 of 377 | #11 of 45 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 22.5:1 | #323 of 340 | #42 of 44 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 77.4% | #21 of 340 | #8 of 44 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 67.8% | #74 of 359 | #9 of 45 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked fastest growth first | +11.5% | #49 of 130 | #10 of 19 |
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
766
+65 (+9%) vs 2020
0% since 1990-91, when it was 768
Student : Teacher
22.5:1
was 19.5:1
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 | 766 | 34 | 22.5:1 | 68% (519) |
| 2023-24 | 750 | 33.6 | 22.3:1 | 66% (494) |
| 2022-23 | 720 | 34.8 | 20.7:1 | 70% (504) |
| 2020-21 | 701 | 36 | 19.5:1 | 66% (465) |
| 2017-18 | 687 | 33.6 | 20.5:1 | 62% (425) |
| 2015-16 | 700 | 34 | 20.6:1 | 62% (437) |
| 2010-11 | 782 | 38 | 20.6:1 | 35% (271) |
| 2000-01 | 964 | 45 | 21.4:1 | N/A |
| 1990-91 | 768 | 36 | 21.3:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Spanaway Middle School.
Since 2017-18: students up 11% (687 to 766); teachers up 1% (33.6 to 34).
About Spanaway Middle School
Spanaway Middle School sits in Tacoma, Washington, and is classified as a middle school. It has an enrollment of 766 students in grades 6 through 8. That compares with an average of about 577 students for middle schools in Washington.
District-wide, Bethel School District has 39 schools and 21,732 students.
The biggest share of students at Spanaway Middle School, 32%, is Hispanic. Beyond that, enrollment is 27% White, 17% multiracial, 9% Black, and 9% Pacific Islander. In Pierce County overall, about 13% of residents are Hispanic. Measured by the diversity index, the student body scores 77%.
There are about 22.5 students for every full-time-equivalent teacher at Spanaway Middle School, which has 34. By comparison, the average for middle schools in Washington is 18.9:1. Free or reduced-price lunch eligibility at Spanaway Middle School is about 68%. The gap from the 50% average for public schools in Pierce County is 18 points.
Predicted from its free or reduced-price lunch share, Spanaway Middle School would score about 34.7%. It scores 41.5%, 6.8 points above that figure.
For Pierce County, Census Bureau data show median household income comes to about $99,564, about 31% of adults have at least a bachelor's degree, and roughly 6% of residents are in poverty. There are 287 public schools in the county, enrolling about 138,462, Spanaway Middle School among them.
Thompson Preschool is about 0.1 miles away, making it the nearest public school. There are at least 8 more public schools inside five miles. Local comparison: Spanaway Middle School ranks 2nd of 5 nearby schools, at 41.5% versus a 38.2% average.
In the federal locale system, Spanaway Middle School is coded Suburb: Large, for schools in a suburban area outside a principal city, within an urbanized area with a population of 250,000 or more.
In 2024-25, the school enrolled 766, up from 701 in 2020-21. From 2020-21 to 2024-25, the ratio increased from 19.5:1 to 22.5:1.
Anyone can start a thread about open houses, carpools, and field trips at Spanaway Middle School. Parents, students, alumni, and staff are welcome to post.
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 Bethel School District
- Graham Kapowsin High SchoolHigh · 2,087 students
- Spanaway Lake High SchoolHigh · 1,787 students
- Bethel High SchoolHigh · 1,688 students
- Liberty Middle SchoolMiddle · 857 students
- Cedarcrest Middle SchoolMiddle · 765 students
- Chester H Thompson ElementaryElementary · 688 students
Other schools in Tacoma
- Stadium High SchoolHigh · 1,700 students
- Lincoln High SchoolHigh · 1,556 students
- Mount Tahoma High SchoolHigh · 1,410 students
- Dr. Dolores Silas High SchoolHigh · 1,160 students
- Washington High SchoolHigh · 989 students
- Franklin Pierce High SchoolHigh · 977 students
Nearby schools
- Thompson Preschool0.1 mi · 227
- Chester H Thompson Elementary0.2 mi · 688
- Acceleration Academy0.6 mi · 450
- Spanaway Elementary0.8 mi · 371
- BETHEL HOPE EARLY LEARNING CENTER0.8 mi · 163
- Spanaway Lake High School1.0 mi · 1,787
Frequently asked questions
About Spanaway Middle SchoolHow large is Spanaway Middle School?
Spanaway Middle School enrolls approximately 766 students in grades 06-08.
Is Spanaway Middle School an elementary, middle, or high school?
Spanaway Middle School is a middle school covering grades 06-08.
What is the student-teacher ratio at Spanaway Middle School?
The student-to-teacher ratio at Spanaway Middle School is approximately 22.5:1 (34 FTE teachers).
What is the racial breakdown of students at Spanaway Middle School?
At Spanaway Middle School, the student body is approximately 27% White, 32% Hispanic, 9% Black, 4% Asian, 17% Two or more.
Is Spanaway Middle School public or private?
Spanaway Middle School is a public K-12 school, overseen by Bethel School District.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.