Summary:
Vernal, Utah, has two public middle schools serving grades 6–8 in the Uintah District: Vernal Middle serves about 842 students, while Uintah Middle School serves about 579, for approximately 1,421 middle-school students in the city.
Vernal Middle is currently the stronger academic choice overall. It ranks 80th of 217 Utah schools, compared with 113th for Uintah Middle School, and has a three-star rating versus two stars. The biggest difference is mathematics: Vernal Middle averaged about 52% proficient across grades 6–8, compared with 34% at Uintah Middle School. Vernal Middle exceeded state mathematics results in every grade, while Uintah Middle School was below the state in all three. The schools were nearly tied in English language arts and performed similarly in science, with both showing their strongest results generally in eighth grade.
Uintah Middle School has several encouraging advantages. Its chronic absenteeism rate was lower, at 37.3% compared with 44.4% at Vernal Middle, and its student-teacher ratio was smaller, 20.5 to 1 versus 22.3 to 1. It also made notable recent gains in its ranking percentile and science performance. For both schools, attendance remains an important concern because rates are well above Utah’s statewide figure. Seventh-grade English and science were shared academic weak points, while improving mathematics—especially in grades 6 and 7 at Uintah Middle School—is the clearest opportunity for progress.
Thank you for your feedback!