Summary:
ZIP code 89506 in Reno, Nevada contains exactly one middle school: William O'Brien Middle School, which serves grades 6 through 8 with 1,067 students in the Washoe County School District. Because there is no other middle school in the ZIP, there is no local peer to compare it against, so its results are best read against its own district and state. That contrast is stark: the district ranks 4th of 12 in Nevada (67th percentile, 4 stars), while William O'Brien holds a 1-star rating and a 2025-2026 statewide rank of 127th of 148 — the 14th percentile.
In 2025-2026, 13.7% of students were proficient in math, 23.0% in reading, and 21.3% in science, compared with district rates of 37.0%, 44.4%, and 26.3%. The school trails its district by 23.3 points in math and 21.4 points in reading, but by only 5.0 points in science — its closest subject to par. Grade-level data shows math proficiency declining from 17.0% in 6th grade to 12.7% in 7th and 10.8% in 8th, while reading stays essentially flat near 23% at every grade. Math is also the one measure improving: all-grades proficiency rose from 9.5% to 13.7% (+4.2 points) year over year, even as reading (−0.9) and science (−1.6) slipped slightly. Science is tested in 8th grade only.
Two conditions stand out. Chronic absenteeism is 37.2%, well above the district's 27.5% and the state's 25.5%, and 100% of students qualified for free or reduced lunch in 2024-2025, with a student-teacher ratio of 21.7 to 1 and per-student spending of $11,719 (2023-2024); the record offers no district or state comparison for those three figures. Ranks have edged upward over three years (136 → 134 → 127), but the school has held a 1-star rating throughout. In short, this is a single middle school serving 1,067 students from an entirely economically disadvantaged population, with deep math and reading gaps, a comparatively smaller science gap, and absenteeism above both district and state.
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