Summary:
Zip code 83644 in Middleton, Idaho, contains just one middle school—Middleton Middle School—which serves 1,018 students in grades 6 through 8. The school is part of the Middleton District, a 4-star district ranked 27th out of 101 in Idaho (73rd percentile). Middleton Middle School itself holds a 3-star rating and ranks 71st out of 164 Idaho middle schools, placing it in the 57th percentile—a position that has remained highly stable over the past several years.
Academically, the school outperforms state averages in all three tested subjects: 46.4% of students are proficient in math versus 43.1% statewide, 56.1% are proficient in English Language Arts versus 54.0% statewide, and 44.6% are proficient in science versus 42.6% statewide. However, it trails its own district in every subject—math by 1.4 points, ELA by 2.1 points, and science by 2.4 points. Trends are mixed: math proficiency ticked up slightly from 45.2% to 46.4% over the past two years, while ELA proficiency dropped from 59.3% to 56.1%. About 30% of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, and the student-teacher ratio sits at a relatively high 20:1.
The biggest red flag is chronic absenteeism. A staggering 67.2% of Middleton Middle School students were chronically absent in the most recent school year—nearly five times the statewide rate of 13.8% and well above the district's already-elevated 42.1% rate. This implies that although the students who attend regularly perform above state averages, a large share of the student body is missing substantial instructional time. If the school can move attendance toward even the district average, its already-respectable test scores could improve considerably; if not, its stable mid-tier ranking may be at risk.
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