Summary:
Zip code 83646 in Meridian, Idaho is served by three middle schools serving grades 6–8 within Joint School District No. 2, a 4-star district that ranks among the top districts in the state. Heritage Middle School is the clear academic leader, ranking 14th in Idaho with a 5-star rating, while Sawtooth Middle School is also strong but sits slightly behind at 23rd (4 stars). Pathways Middle School is a much smaller, high-needs school with a 2-star rating and dramatically lower test scores.
Heritage posts the highest proficiency rates in the area: 66% in math, 78.5% in ELA, and 68% in science. Sawtooth is close in math (62.4%) but trails in ELA (69.7%) and science (59%). Pathways lags far behind, with just 19.8% math proficiency and 47.4% ELA proficiency. Poverty rates follow a similar pattern: 18.7% free/reduced lunch at Heritage, 22% at Sawtooth, and 49.2% at Pathways. Absenteeism is lowest at Heritage (10.7%) and highest at Pathways (18.7%), while Sawtooth exceeds district and state averages at 17%. Interestingly, Pathways spends $10,779 per student—far more than Heritage ($6,356) or Sawtooth ($6,444)—and has a tiny student-teacher ratio of 8.5, yet still posts the lowest scores.
The gap between schools is most striking in math, where Heritage and Sawtooth score over 60% proficient while Pathways sits below 20%. Grade-level trends show Heritage’s math scores decline from 73.4% in 6th grade to 55.9% in 8th, while Pathways’ ELA proficiency rises sharply from 28.6% to 63.6%. Ranking trends reveal Heritage has stayed in the top 20 for three straight years, Sawtooth slipped from 5 to 4 stars, and Pathways fell from 3 stars to 2 stars. These three schools, all in the same district and zip code, demonstrate how school-level demographics, attendance, and student needs can drive vastly different outcomes despite shared geography.
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