Is Pioneer Middle School a good school?

Pioneer Middle School ranks in the bottom 21.7% of Washington middle schools.

How many students attend Pioneer Middle School?

In the 2023-24 school year, 252 students attended Pioneer Middle School.

What is the racial makeup of Pioneer Middle School?

Students at Pioneer Middle School are 72% White, 17% Hispanic, 6% Two or more races, 2% American Indian, 2% African American.

Pioneer Middle School

Summary:

Pioneer Middle School is a public middle school located in Shelton, Washington, serving grades 6-8 with a total enrollment of 241 students. The school is part of the Shelton School District, which is ranked 231 out of 247 districts in Washington and has a 0-star rating from SchoolDigger.

Despite having a relatively low student-teacher ratio and increased per-student spending in recent years, Pioneer Middle School consistently ranks in the bottom half of Washington middle schools, with its performance on state assessments (SBAC and WCAS) significantly below the state and district averages across all grades and subjects. For example, in 2023-2024, only 34.01% of students were proficient or better in ELA, compared to the state average of 52.63%, and only 21.14% were proficient or better in Math, compared to the state average of 41.68%. The school's performance is particularly low for White and low-socioeconomic status students, ranking in the bottom 20% of Washington middle schools for these subgroups.

The high percentage of low-income students (63.9% qualify for free or reduced-price lunch) and the lack of racial diversity, with a predominantly White student body, may be contributing factors to the school's underperformance. Nearby middle schools, such as Salish Middle School, Kopachuck Middle School, and Chinook Middle School, which are part of the North Thurston Public Schools, Peninsula School District, and Olympia School District, respectively, appear to be performing better academically.

Detail:

Public 6-8

50 E Spencer Lake Road
Shelton, WA 98584-7306

(360) 426-8291

District: Pioneer School District

SchoolDigger Rank:
419^th of 535 Washington Middle Schools

Per Pupil Expenditures: $21,252

Feeder schools for Pioneer Middle School:

Elementary:

Pioneer Elementary School

Student/teacher ratio: 11.1

Number of students: 252

Racial breakdown:

White:

72.2%

Hispanic:

16.7%

Two or more races:

5.6%

Free/discounted lunch recipients: 64.7%

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Compare Pioneer Middle School to nearby middle schools!

Performance Trends

Compare Details Pioneer Middle School is not ranked due for the most recent year due to insufficient test score data. (See more...)

Compare Details In 2017 the calculated Average Standard Score was 32.21. (See more...)

Compare Details Pioneer Middle School ranks worse than 78.3% of middle schools in Washington. (See more...)

Compare Details In 2024 the calculated Average Standard Score was 23.32. (See more...)

Student Body

Compare Details Racial makeup is: White (72.2%), Hispanic (16.7%), two or more races (5.6%). (See more...)

Compare Details 64.7% of students are receiving a free or discounted lunch. (See more...)

Compare Details (See more...)

Teachers

Compare Details The student/teacher ratio at Pioneer Middle School is 11.1. (See more...)

Compare Pioneer Middle School employs 22.6 full-time teachers.

Finance

Compare Details The average total spent per student at Pioneer Middle School is $21,252.

Schooldigger Rankings:

Pioneer Middle School was not ranked this year due to insufficient test score data.

SchoolDigger ranks Pioneer Middle School 419^th of 535 Washington public middle schools. (See Pioneer Middle School in the ranking list.)

Pioneer School District:

SchoolDigger ranks Pioneer School District 231^st of 247 Washington school districts. (See district ranking list.)

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Rank History for Pioneer Middle School

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Rank History for all elementary school students at Pioneer Middle School

Year	Avg Standard Score	Statewide Rank	Total # Ranked Elementary Schools	WA State Percentile
2004	25.39	825^th	1026	19.6%
2005	26.71	811^th	1031	21.3%
2006	27.28	835^th	1051	20.6%
2007	16.70	954^th	1069	10.8%
2008	14.57	962^nd	1067	9.8%
2009	9.56	1021^st	1072	4.8%
2010	21.99	925^th	1088	15.0%
2011	25.67	895^th	1092	18.0%
2012	22.85	928^th	1097	15.4%
2013	29.92	845^th	1106	23.6%
2015	23.27	870^th	1067	18.5%
2016	23.32	852^nd	1053	19.1%
2017	32.21	743^rd	1056	29.6%

See the entire list of Washington Middle School Rankings!

Rank History for elementary school Low Socio Economic Status students at Pioneer Middle School

Year	Avg Standard Score	Statewide Rank	Total # Ranked Elementary Schools	WA State Percentile	SchoolDigger Rating
2021	42.69	462^nd	854	45.9%

See the entire list of Best Washington Middle Schools for Low Socio Economic Status Students!

Rank History for elementary school Female students at Pioneer Middle School

Year	Avg Standard Score	Statewide Rank	Total # Ranked Elementary Schools	WA State Percentile	SchoolDigger Rating
2021	63.85	333^rd	1008	67.0%

See the entire list of Best Washington Middle Schools for Female Students!

Rank History for elementary school Male students at Pioneer Middle School

Year	Avg Standard Score	Statewide Rank	Total # Ranked Elementary Schools	WA State Percentile	SchoolDigger Rating
2021	22.37	812^th	1025	20.8%

See the entire list of Best Washington Middle Schools for Male Students!

Rank History for elementary school Hispanic students at Pioneer Middle School

Year	Avg Standard Score	Statewide Rank	Total # Ranked Elementary Schools	WA State Percentile	SchoolDigger Rating
2021	74.88	64^th	501	87.2%

See the entire list of Best Washington Middle Schools for Hispanic Students!

Rank History for elementary school White students at Pioneer Middle School

Year	Avg Standard Score	Statewide Rank	Total # Ranked Elementary Schools	WA State Percentile	SchoolDigger Rating
2021	24.08	747^th	943	20.8%

See the entire list of Best Washington Middle Schools for White Students!

Data source: test scores: Washington Office of Superindentent of Public Instruction, rankings: SchoolDigger.com

Rank History for Pioneer Middle School

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Rank History for all middle school students at Pioneer Middle School

Year	Avg Standard Score	Statewide Rank	Total # Ranked Middle Schools	WA State Percentile
2004	39.81	272^nd	421	35.4%
2005	39.53	281^st	425	33.9%
2006	35.06	320^th	449	28.7%
2007	38.04	306^th	463	33.9%
2008	31.17	338^th	466	27.5%
2009	20.89	405^th	476	14.9%
2010	31.16	360^th	483	25.5%
2011	37.56	333^rd	492	32.3%
2012	31.26	372^nd	497	25.2%
2013	29.68	376^th	498	24.5%
2015	24.98	342^nd	445	23.1%
2016	45.97	239^th	443	46.0%
2017	39.10	272^nd	435	37.5%
2018	42.10	249^th	437	43.0%
2019	35.94	333^rd	512	35.0%
2021	25.07	401^st	529	24.2%
2022	19.02	450^th	541	16.8%
2023	19.15	449^th	539	16.7%
2024	23.32	419^th	535	21.7%

See the entire list of Washington Middle School Rankings!

Rank History for middle school Special Education students at Pioneer Middle School

Year	Avg Standard Score	Statewide Rank	Total # Ranked Middle Schools	WA State Percentile	SchoolDigger Rating
2018	40.27	143^rd	268	46.6%
2019	32.89	151^st	231	34.6%

See the entire list of Best Washington Middle Schools for Special Education Students!

Rank History for middle school Low Socio Economic Status students at Pioneer Middle School

Year	Avg Standard Score	Statewide Rank	Total # Ranked Middle Schools	WA State Percentile
2018	53.76	137^th	349	60.7%
2019	54.02	183^rd	448	59.2%
2021	39.39	276^th	458	39.7%
2022	31.77	342^nd	475	28.0%
2023	27.24	358^th	463	22.7%
2024	29.50	337^th	455	25.9%

See the entire list of Best Washington Middle Schools for Low Socio Economic Status Students!

Rank History for middle school Female students at Pioneer Middle School

Year	Avg Standard Score	Statewide Rank	Total # Ranked Middle Schools	WA State Percentile
2018	39.24	234^th	376	37.8%
2019	35.47	301^st	452	33.4%
2021	50.03	214^th	469	54.4%
2022	20.40	391^st	479	18.4%
2023	21.89	372^nd	464	19.8%
2024	28.91	338^th	464	27.2%

See the entire list of Best Washington Middle Schools for Female Students!

Rank History for middle school Male students at Pioneer Middle School

Year	Avg Standard Score	Statewide Rank	Total # Ranked Middle Schools	WA State Percentile
2018	42.81	208^th	371	43.9%
2019	36.15	284^th	453	37.3%
2021	19.57	387^th	476	18.7%
2022	22.93	382^nd	480	20.4%
2023	20.77	387^th	470	17.7%
2024	22.25	372^nd	466	20.2%

See the entire list of Best Washington Middle Schools for Male Students!

Rank History for middle school Hispanic students at Pioneer Middle School

Year	Avg Standard Score	Statewide Rank	Total # Ranked Middle Schools	WA State Percentile
2019	58.81	121^st	344	64.8%
2021	56.14	122^nd	353	65.4%
2022	40.66	197^th	360	45.3%
2023	30.01	235^th	336	30.1%

See the entire list of Best Washington Middle Schools for Hispanic Students!

Rank History for middle school White students at Pioneer Middle School

Year	Avg Standard Score	Statewide Rank	Total # Ranked Middle Schools	WA State Percentile
2018	26.53	250^th	325	23.1%
2019	22.01	390^th	470	17.0%
2021	15.93	429^th	480	10.6%
2022	11.70	455^th	488	6.8%
2023	11.73	453^rd	488	7.2%
2024	18.11	417^th	486	14.2%

See the entire list of Best Washington Middle Schools for White Students!

Data source: test scores: Washington Office of Superindentent of Public Instruction, rankings: SchoolDigger.com

As you review the school rankings data, please be aware that some of the information from certain demographics is missing. The reason for this omission is that the data has been redacted from the source data itself due to low population samples in these specific demographic groups.

Redacting data from low population samples is a necessary step to ensure the reliability and accuracy of the results, as small sample sizes may not be representative of the broader population. Additionally, this measure helps protect the privacy of individuals belonging to these demographic groups.

Data source: Washington State Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction

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Enrollment information for Pioneer Middle School

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Year	White	African American	Asian	Hispanic	American Indian	Pacific Islander	Two or More Races	Not Specified	Total
1988	623	8	5	9	10	n/a	n/a	0	655
1989	619	3	3	12	24	n/a	n/a	0	661
1990	592	3	4	24	22	n/a	n/a	0	645
1991	584	4	1	40	30	n/a	n/a	0	659
1992	617	9	1	44	18	n/a	n/a	0	689
1993	641	12	17	34	26	n/a	n/a	0	730
1994	726	13	11	26	18	n/a	n/a	0	794
1995	422	7	8	11	23	n/a	n/a	0	471
1996	422	7	8	11	23	n/a	n/a	0	471
1997	440	2	11	16	23	n/a	n/a	0	492
1998	439	2	10	15	31	n/a	n/a	0	497
1999	436	7	8	17	31	n/a	n/a	0	499
2000	432	6	8	18	26	n/a	n/a	0	490
2001	402	4	10	19	21	n/a	n/a	0	456
2002	397	1	7	20	15	n/a	n/a	0	440
2003	397	1	7	20	15	n/a	n/a	0	440
2004	408	4	4	26	18	n/a	n/a	0	460
2005	384	6	6	18	14	n/a	n/a	2	430
2006	370	9	4	24	11	n/a	n/a	21	439
2007	344	4	4	20	8	n/a	n/a	32	412
2008	337	7	4	17	8	n/a	n/a	39	412
2009	336	4	4	13	11	n/a	n/a	40	408
2010	310	5	5	20	16	n/a	n/a	38	394
2011	315	12	0	45	9	2	21	0	404
2012	312	3	1	36	7	0	27	0	386
2013	307	2	0	33	5	0	29	0	376
2014	294	3	0	40	6	0	23	0	366
2015	304	2	1	36	8	0	23	0	374
2016	284	5	1	40	7	0	22	0	359
2017	308	7	0	47	8	0	24	0	394
2018	202	2	0	31	5	0	15	0	255
2019	188	3	0	29	6	0	13	0	239
2020	196	2	1	39	5	0	14	0	257
2021	166	1	1	40	5	1	15	0	229
2022	145	2	0	43	7	1	16	0	214
2023	170	5	0	42	7	2	15	0	241
2024	182	5	1	42	6	2	14	0	252

Data source: National Center for Education Statistics, U.S. Dept of Education.

About Enrollment/Ethnicity

For more information about how the Department of Education defines ethnicity, see Defining Race and Ethnicity Data, National Center for Education Statistics

Students eligible for free or discounted lunch at Pioneer Middle School

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Year	# Students	Full-time Teachers	Student/Teacher ratio	% Free/Discounted Lunch
1988	655	33.0	19.8	0
1989	661	34.0	19.4	n/a
1990	645	33.8	19.0	0
1991	659	35.0	18.8	n/a
1992	689	35.5	19.4	n/a
1993	730	35.0	20.9	n/a
1994	794	35.0	22.7	n/a
1995	471	25.0	18.8	n/a
1996	471	25.0	18.8	n/a
1997	492	31.5	15.6	n/a
1998	497	28.0	17.8	n/a
1999	499	28.0	17.8	n/a
2000	490	29.0	16.9	n/a
2001	456	28.0	16.3	n/a
2002	440	27.6	15.9	47.7
2003	440	27.6	15.9	47.7
2004	460	26.0	17.7	49.6
2005	430	26.2	16.4	58.2
2006	439	24.5	17.9	60.8
2007	412	27.2	15.1	58.2
2008	412	25.2	16.3	60.1
2009	408	25.0	16.3	60.6
2010	394	24.7	15.8	64.3
2011	404	26.7	15.1	56.4
2012	386	25.3	15.2	58
2013	376	24.5	15.3	62
2014	366	n/a	n/a	59
2015	374	27.0	13.8	59.4
2016	359	23.0	15.6	69.4
2017	394	24.5	16.0	70.1
2018	255	18.1	14.0	65.5
2019	239	19.1	12.5	63.6
2020	257	19.1	13.4	66.1
2021	229	20.5	11.1	65.9
2022	214	18.6	11.4	59.3
2023	241	20.3	11.8	63.9
2024	252	22.6	11.1	64.7

Data source: National Center for Education Statistics, U.S. Dept of Education.

About Students eligible for discounted/free lunch:

The National School Lunch Program (NSLP) provides low-cost or free meals to students in U.S. public and nonprofit private schools based on household income. Those with incomes below 130% of the poverty line receive free lunch, while those between 130% and 185% qualify for reduced-price lunch. The percentage of students receiving free or reduced-price lunch serves as a marker for poverty, as it reflects the socioeconomic status of families in a given school or district. A higher FRPL rate typically indicates a higher concentration of low-income families, suggesting that the school or district may face additional challenges in providing adequate resources and support for student success.

Student/Teacher Ratio Pioneer Middle School

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Year	# Students	Full-time Teachers	Student/Teacher ratio	% Free/Discounted Lunch
1988	655	33.0	19.8	0
1989	661	34.0	19.4	n/a
1990	645	33.8	19.0	0
1991	659	35.0	18.8	n/a
1992	689	35.5	19.4	n/a
1993	730	35.0	20.9	n/a
1994	794	35.0	22.7	n/a
1995	471	25.0	18.8	n/a
1996	471	25.0	18.8	n/a
1997	492	31.5	15.6	n/a
1998	497	28.0	17.8	n/a
1999	499	28.0	17.8	n/a
2000	490	29.0	16.9	n/a
2001	456	28.0	16.3	n/a
2002	440	27.6	15.9	47.7
2003	440	27.6	15.9	47.7
2004	460	26.0	17.7	49.6
2005	430	26.2	16.4	58.2
2006	439	24.5	17.9	60.8
2007	412	27.2	15.1	58.2
2008	412	25.2	16.3	60.1
2009	408	25.0	16.3	60.6
2010	394	24.7	15.8	64.3
2011	404	26.7	15.1	56.4
2012	386	25.3	15.2	58
2013	376	24.5	15.3	62
2014	366	n/a	n/a	59
2015	374	27.0	13.8	59.4
2016	359	23.0	15.6	69.4
2017	394	24.5	16.0	70.1
2018	255	18.1	14.0	65.5
2019	239	19.1	12.5	63.6
2020	257	19.1	13.4	66.1
2021	229	20.5	11.1	65.9
2022	214	18.6	11.4	59.3
2023	241	20.3	11.8	63.9
2024	252	22.6	11.1	64.7

Data source: National Center for Education Statistics, U.S. Dept of Education.

About Student-Teacher Ratio

Student/teacher ratio is calculated by dividing the total number of students by the total number of full-time equivalent teachers. Please note that a smaller student/teacher ratio does not necessarily translate to smaller class size. In some instances, schools hire teachers part time, and some teachers are hired for specialized instruction with very small class sizes. These and other factors contribute to the student/teacher ratio. Note: For private schools, Student/teacher ratio may not include Pre-Kindergarten.

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