Best Middle Schools in Zip Code 83864

Sandpoint Middle School is the only middle school in zip code 83864, serving 499 students in grades 7–8 in Sandpoint, Idaho, and it stands out as a high performer as part of the Lake Pend Oreille School District. The school has earned a 4-star rating in every reported ranking year and currently sits at the 82nd percentile among Idaho middle schools, ranked 30th out of 164, while the district itself ranks 22nd out of 101 districts statewide. With a student–teacher ratio of 18.4 to 1 (roughly 27 teachers for the enrollment), class sizes are moderate, and the only spending figure available, from 2018–19, shows $8,654 per student, making it difficult to assess recent fiscal trends.

Academically, Sandpoint Middle School outperforms both district and state averages by wide margins. In the 2025–26 school year, math proficiency reached 62.7%, compared to 54.1% for the district and 43.1% for the state, while ELA proficiency hit 75.9% versus 64.0% for the district and 54.0% for the state. Science proficiency (2024–25) was 57.2%, again above district and state levels. Breaking down ELA by grade, 7th graders posted 79.4% proficiency and 8th graders 72.1%, both well above state averages. The school also shows strong year-over-year improvement, with math jumping 10.1 points and ELA rising 6.8 points from 2024–25 to 2025–26, suggesting positive momentum.

Several additional factors make this school noteworthy. Chronic absenteeism is just 6.5%, far below the state's 13.8%, indicating strong attendance and student engagement. Notably, 34.27% of students qualify for free/reduced lunch—about 171 of 499 students—yet the school still achieves well above state averages, pointing to effective instruction and support. Because Sandpoint Middle School is the only middle school in the zip code, direct school-to-school comparison is impossible, making the district and state the most meaningful benchmarks. By those measures, this is clearly a strong school, with the main limitations being the lack of peer schools in the area and the mix of school years for some metrics.