Eatonville Middle School, Eatonville WA

Original Research by School Decision on Eatonville Middle School

Eatonville Middle School serves grades six through eight in the small rural town of Eatonville, Washington, a community in the foothills of Mount Rainier about a half-hour southeast of Tacoma. The town was originally a lumber mill settlement and a waypoint for visitors to the mountain. Today its compact downtown along Main Street has shops, restaurants, and a locally owned movie theater, and outdoor recreation is a major draw with Northwest Trek Wildlife Park and Mount Rainier National Park nearby. The town’s population is small, and driving is the only practical way in or out; Pierce Transit does not serve Eatonville.

This is a public regular school in the Eatonville School District. Enrollment is moderate for a middle school serving these three grades. Just under half of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, a share that places the school in a middle range relative to many of its peers. Racially, the student body is predominantly white, with the next largest group being Hispanic or Latino. Other racial groups each account for a very small share of enrollment.

State assessment results are available for the most recent school year across all three grades in math and English language arts, and for eighth-grade science. In math, proficiency rates are broadly similar across grades six, seven, and eight, with each hovering in the range that a parent would consider below the statewide average for those grades. English language arts proficiency rates are higher than math in every grade, though still below the typical state-level figures; they range from around the low to mid-fortieth percentile across the three grades. Eighth-grade science proficiency was reported at a rate somewhat above its math result but still below a majority of students meeting the bar. When compared against other districts in Pierce County on an overall proficiency index across tested subjects and grades, Eatonville Middle School’s composite sits in the bottom quartile of the county’s districts. This is the school’s only year of available trend data, so no multi-year direction can be assessed.

Because this is a middle school, there is no graduation rate to report. Data on chronic absenteeism was not available in the records provided. Information on specific program offerings, course access, staffing ratios, and discipline rates was also absent, so a parent interested in those dimensions should ask the school directly. Civil rights data was not provided, nor were details on the share of students with disabilities or English learners.

The school sits in a town that is small, walkable only in its downtown core, and without public transit connections to the broader region. Housing values in the area are broadly in line with state-level figures, which are elevated relative to national medians. A typical home in the Eatonville ZIP code carries a price that is a substantial stretch for a household earning the national median income, and monthly mortgage costs outpace typical rents in the area. The town has a young, family-oriented demographic, with a notable share of residents under 18, and its own town government maintains basic utilities. No major new development or growth trajectory was surfaced in public records, though the town does employ a planner.

For a family considering Eatonville Middle School, the picture is one of a moderate-sized rural middle school where proficiency on state assessments is lower than what many other Pierce County districts report. A parent may want to talk with the school directly about how instruction supports students who are below the proficiency mark, what academic interventions or enrichment exist, and what the school’s daily environment is like, as the available data provides little on those fronts. The town itself offers a tight-knit setting with outdoor amenities, but its remoteness and lack of public transit mean that getting to opportunities in Tacoma or Seattle requires a car and time.

See more original research from School Decision →

Academic performance

How students perform on state tests, by grade, set against the district.

Math

Grade 629%

School 29% · District 27% · ▲ 2 pts above district

▼ 8 pts below state median · ▼ 9 pts below county median

Grade 729%

School 29% · District 28% · ▲ 1 pts above district

▼ 9 pts below state median · ▼ 8 pts below county median

Grade 824%

School 24% · District 26% · ▼ 1 pts below district

▼ 9 pts below state median · ▼ 6 pts below county median

English language arts

Grade 642%

School 42% · District 40% · ▲ 2 pts above district

▼ 5 pts below state median · ▼ 7 pts below county median

Grade 744%

School 44% · District 43% · ▲ 1 pts above district

▼ 7 pts below state median · ▼ 5 pts below county median

Grade 840%

School 40% · District 42% · ▼ 2 pts below district

▼ 9 pts below state median · ▼ 12 pts below county median

Science

Grade 833%

School 33% · District 37% · ▼ 3 pts below district

▼ 9 pts below state median · ▼ 9 pts below county median

This schoolEatonville School District, same grade

Graduation rate (ACGR) reflects the federally published Adjusted Cohort Graduation Rate for the most recent year available. We refresh this data annually at the close of each academic year in June. The federal source publishes a banded rate (for example, "90-94%") instead of an exact number for cohorts small enough to risk identifying individual students. The state distribution chart, where shown, plots every school in the state with a published rate or band; schools whose rate is federally suppressed are excluded. Where the federal source publishes a band rather than an exact rate, the school is placed within its band using a stable, ID-derived offset, so its position is consistent across visits.

Proficiency by household income

English language arts

Grade 6Lower-income35%Higher-income47%12 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income35%Higher-income52%17 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income39%Higher-income41%3 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 6Lower-income22%Higher-income34%12 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income23%Higher-income35%12 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income17%Higher-income31%15 pp gap