South Summit Middle

South Summit Middle in Kamas, Utah, serves 475 students in grades 5–8 and is part of the South Summit District. The school has a 2-star rating and ranks in the 43rd percentile among Utah middle schools, a notable change from its 87th-percentile ranking in 2018–19. Its strongest distinguishing feature is attendance: only 1.4% of students were chronically absent in 2024–25, compared with 23.8% statewide and 15.2% across the district.

Current academic results are mixed, with the greatest concern in seventh grade. In grades 6–8 during 2025–26, about 37.7% of students were proficient in English Language Arts, 39.5% in math, and 50.2% in science—below approximate state averages in each subject. Seventh-grade results were especially weak: 29.0% in ELA, 31.9% in math, and 35.6% in science. At the same time, the school shows encouraging pockets of performance, including sixth-grade science at 62.9%, eighth-grade math at 48.6%, and eighth-grade science at 52.0%. Math results also improved substantially for sixth grade compared with the previous two years, although year-to-year results have been volatile.

Nearby comparison schools currently perform considerably better. Ecker Hill Middle ranks in the 95th percentile, while Timpanogos Middle School ranks in the 87th percentile and Rocky Mountain Middle ranks in the 83rd percentile. Their grades 6–8 averages are higher than South Summit’s by roughly 22–29 percentage points in ELA, 16–19 points in math, and 11–22 points in science. South Summit’s student-teacher ratio of 20.1 is also higher than at Ecker Hill and Rocky Mountain, though lower than at Timpanogos. Overall, the data point less to an attendance challenge than to a need for stronger instructional support, particularly in seventh-grade core classes.