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What advice would you give to incoming students at Whatcom Middle School?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
637
Middle
DISTRICT 602 · STATE 577
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·BELLINGHAM SCHOOL DISTRICT·NCES 530042000117
Whatcom Middle School
810 Halleck St, Bellingham, WA 98225 · (360) 676-6460 · Whatcom County
GRADES 06–08MIDDLE13-CITYTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL637 STUDENTS
Student : Teacher
18.5:1
34 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 17.8:1 · STATE 18.9:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
42%
270 students
DISTRICT 44% · 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 | 207 | 32% |
| Grade 7 | 227 | 36% |
| Grade 8 | 203 | 32% |
Student demographics
58%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 55% · 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
57.1%
WA avg 58.4% . -18.8pp since 2014
Math
51.3%
WA avg 51.2% . -19.2pp since 2014
What this means: On the Smarter Balanced + WCAS, Washington's statewide test, about 57 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 51 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 19 points.
Smarter Balanced + WCAS results by year
| School year | English Language Arts | Math |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 57.1% | 51.3% |
| 2023-24 | 49.1% | 49.4% |
| 2022-23 | 55.5% | 50.1% |
| 2021-22 | 52.7% | 42.4% |
| 2018-19 | 71.8% | 57.0% |
| 2017-18 | 73.6% | 63.5% |
| 2016-17 | 75.2% | 63.0% |
| 2015-16 | 76.0% | 66.8% |
| 2014-15 | 75.9% | 70.5% |
% 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
AS EXPECTED
Performing as predicted given the school's student profile
Actual proficiency
50.9%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
51.8%
based on WA schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
-0.8pp
below demographic expectation
What this means: About 51% of students here test proficient in math and reading, compared with the roughly 52% 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 Whatcom Middle School
Whatcom Middle School's state test result (50.9% proficient) is higher than 1 of the 4 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Whatcom Middle School this school | 637 | 42.4% | 50.9% |
| Sumner Middle School Sumner | 674 | 43.6% | 59.2% |
| Cedar Heights Middle School PORT ORCHARD | 689 | 42.8% | 51.0% |
| Fairhaven Middle School Bellingham | 588 | 40.8% | 59.3% |
| Orting Middle School Orting | 643 | 40.0% | 34.7% |
| Frontier Middle School Vancouver | 767 | 43.5% | N/A |
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 Whatcom Middle School ranks
Among middle schools| Measure | This school | In Washington | In Whatcom County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 50.9% | #87 of 294 | #3 of 11 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 51.3% | #70 of 357 ▲ 3 | #2 of 11 ▲ 1 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 57.1% | #107 of 357 ▲ 49 | #3 of 11 ▲ 1 |
| 3-year test score change ranked biggest gain first | +6.6pp | #54 of 290 | #2 of 11 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 637 | #177 of 377 | #2 of 11 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 18.5:1 | #121 of 340 | #8 of 11 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 58.3% | #160 of 340 | #4 of 11 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 42.4% | #236 of 359 | #9 of 11 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked steepest decline first | -11.2% | #99 of 192 | #2 of 8 |
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
637
+27 (+4%) vs 2020
-21% since 1990-91, when it was 809
Student : Teacher
18.5:1
was 18.5:1
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 | 637 | 34.4 | 18.5:1 | 42% (270) |
| 2023-24 | 639 | 36 | 17.7:1 | 46% (296) |
| 2022-23 | 600 | 36.7 | 16.3:1 | 43% (255) |
| 2020-21 | 610 | 33 | 18.5:1 | 22% (136) |
| 2017-18 | 717 | 35.7 | 20.1:1 | 24% (174) |
| 2015-16 | 623 | 31 | 20.1:1 | 26% (161) |
| 2000-01 | 717 | 33 | 21.7:1 | N/A |
| 1990-91 | 809 | 42 | 19.3:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Whatcom Middle School.
Since 2017-18: students down 11% (717 to 637); teachers down 4% (35.7 to 34.4).
About Whatcom Middle School
Whatcom Middle School is a public mid-sized middle school in Bellingham, Washington. It reports enrollment of 637 students in grades 6 through 8.
Whatcom Middle School is part of Bellingham School District, where 25 schools serve 11,337 students.
The share of White students at Whatcom Middle School is 59%, a majority. The school is also 21% Hispanic, 10% multiracial, and 8% Asian. That is lower than the 78% White share among all Whatcom County residents. A diversity index of 58% means there is a 58% chance two randomly chosen students at Whatcom Middle School are from different groups.
Its staff includes 34.4 full-time-equivalent teachers, for about 18.5 students per teacher. That is in line with the 18.9:1 average for middle schools in Washington. Roughly 42% of students at Whatcom Middle School can receive free or reduced-price lunch.
Schools in Washington with a similar free or reduced-price lunch share are predicted to score about 51.8%. Whatcom Middle School scores 50.9%.
For the population of Whatcom County, median household income comes to about $81,784, 39% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, and about 7% of residents live below the federal poverty line. Whatcom County counts 78 public schools with about 27,779 students.
Bellingham High School sits about 0.3 miles from Whatcom Middle School. Around the school, at least 8 other public schools are within five miles. Of the 6 nearby schools with scores, including this one, Whatcom Middle School is 4th on average proficiency.
Whatcom Middle School is inside a principal city with a population under 100,000, a location NCES labels City: Small.
The 2020-21-to-2024-25 change in enrollment was a 4% rise, from 610 to 637.
On allk12, people connected to Whatcom Middle School can post about athletics, class schedules, and weather closures. Current and former families are welcome to add their experience.
Whatcom County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
230,503
Census ACS
Median income
$81,784
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
39%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
7%
Below federal line
Schools in county
78
27,779 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in Bellingham School District
- Squalicum High SchoolHigh · 1,273 students
- Bellingham High SchoolHigh · 1,165 students
- Sehome High SchoolHigh · 1,116 students
- Shuksan Middle SchoolMiddle · 606 students
- Fairhaven Middle SchoolMiddle · 588 students
- Kulshan Middle SchoolMiddle · 575 students
Other schools in Bellingham
- Squalicum High SchoolHigh · 1,273 students
- Bellingham High SchoolHigh · 1,165 students
- Sehome High SchoolHigh · 1,116 students
- Shuksan Middle SchoolMiddle · 606 students
- Fairhaven Middle SchoolMiddle · 588 students
- Kulshan Middle SchoolMiddle · 575 students
Nearby schools
- Bellingham High School0.3 mi · 1,165
- Whatcom Co Detention Center0.3 mi · 4
- Options High School0.4 mi · 176
- Columbia Elementary School0.6 mi · 187
- Parkview Elementary School0.8 mi · 422
- Sunnyland Elementary School0.9 mi · 288
Frequently asked questions
About Whatcom Middle SchoolWhat is the total enrollment at Whatcom Middle School?
Whatcom Middle School enrolls approximately 637 students in grades 06-08.
Is Whatcom Middle School an elementary, middle, or high school?
Whatcom Middle School is a middle school covering grades 06-08.
How many teachers does Whatcom Middle School have?
Whatcom Middle School employs 34 FTE teachers, for a student-to-teacher ratio of 18.5:1.
What is the student diversity at Whatcom Middle School?
Student demographics at Whatcom Middle School are roughly 59% White, 21% Hispanic, 1% Black, 8% Asian, 10% Two or more.
Who oversees Whatcom Middle School?
Whatcom Middle School is overseen by Bellingham School District in Whatcom County.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.