Summary:
Zip code 20136, covering the Bristow, VA area, contains one public middle school — E.H. Marsteller Middle — which serves grades 6 through 8 and enrolls approximately 1,153 students as part of Prince William County Public Schools.
E.H. Marsteller Middle is the sole middle school in the 20136 zip code, and it sets a very high bar for middle-level education in the area. The school is currently ranked 47th out of 416 Virginia middle schools (89th percentile, 4 stars), after being ranked 23rd (95th percentile, 5 stars) the prior year. It far outranks its own district, which sits at the 65th percentile. Academically, the school posts perfect or near-perfect scores in advanced math: 100% proficiency in Geometry and 7th-grade Algebra I, and 98.38% in 8th-grade Algebra I. Reading is consistently strong across grades 6, 7, and 8, with proficiency rates between 84.92% and 87.50% — 14 or more points above the state average in every grade. Science (83.17%) and Civics & Economics (88.56%) also beat state averages by double digits. Chronic absenteeism is a clear positive at just 9.1%, well below the district's 13.8% and the state's 14.8%, and the student-teacher ratio of 15.3 supports individualized attention.
The main area of concern is on-grade math proficiency, particularly in 8th grade, where the score dropped sharply from 75.91% to 50.29% — a 25.6-point decline that far exceeds the state's 3.6-point drop. This likely contributed to the school's ranking slip from 23rd to 47th, though it remains in the top 11% of Virginia middle schools. With roughly 83.8% average proficiency across all 11 tested subjects — versus 74.7% for the district and 73.6% for the state — E.H. Marsteller Middle remains a top-tier school. If 8th-grade math rebounds, the school is well-positioned to return to the top 25 statewide and regain its 5-star rating.
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