Summary:
ZIP code 89441 in Sparks, Nevada contains exactly one middle school — Yvonne Shaw Middle School, which serves grades 6 through 8 and enrolls about 785 students (roughly 260 per grade). Because this is the only middle school in the ZIP, local families effectively have a single default option, which makes the school's direction especially worth watching. The school belongs to the Washoe County district, which ranks 4th of 12 districts in Nevada and sits at the 67th percentile statewide.
On the 2025-26 SBAC tests, the school's overall (All Grades) numbers trail its benchmarks: math at 31.8% versus 37.0% for the district and 36.2% for the state, and reading at 41.8% versus 44.4% and 45.2%. Look grade by grade, though, and the picture flips — the school beats the district in five of seven grade-level comparisons, ties in one, and trails in only one (6th-grade math, 33.1% vs. 33.9%). Seventh- and eighth-grade math both exceed the district and the state. Science is a modest strength rather than a runaway one: 34.4% in 8th grade, essentially level with the district (33.3%) and state (33.4%). Reading consistently outperforms math within the school — by 7.9 points in 6th grade, 10.4 in 7th, and 11.6 in 8th.
The larger concern is direction. From 2024-25 to 2025-26, math proficiency fell 7.8 points and reading fell 5.4 points while the district and state were flat to slightly up in math — a school-specific pattern rather than a regional one. The school's rank slid from the 67th percentile in 2023-24 to the 49th in 2025-26, while its 3-star rating held steady. Attendance is a genuine bright spot: chronic absenteeism of 25.5% matches the state exactly and beats the district's 27.5%, though roughly 1 in 4 students is chronically absent. Per-student spending is $11,608 and the student-teacher ratio is 23.7 (about 33 teaching positions), with 26.24% of students qualifying for free or reduced-price lunch.
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