Summary:
Seattle’s 98125 ZIP code has two high schools serving grades 9–12: Nathan Hale High School and Middle College High School, both part of Seattle School District No. 1. The schools offer very different environments: Nathan Hale is a larger comprehensive school with 1,052 students, while Middle College enrolls just 93 students and has a much lower student-teacher ratio.
Based on the available current data, Nathan Hale has the stronger overall academic profile. It ranked 54th out of 396 Washington high schools, placing it in the 86th percentile, compared with Middle College’s 114th-place ranking and 74th percentile. Nathan Hale’s latest proficiency rates were 69.83% in English language arts, 48.02% in math, and 67.76% in science. These results were above state averages in every subject, with especially strong performance in science. However, math was 12.22 percentage points below the district average, and 10th-grade English language arts also trailed the district. Families should also note that Nathan Hale’s English language arts proficiency fell 14.20 points from the prior year.
Middle College may appeal to families seeking a small-school setting, individualized attention, and higher reported spending per student. Its 11:1 student-teacher ratio is substantially lower than Nathan Hale’s 20.1:1 ratio, but its latest math proficiency rate of 33.33% was below both the district and state averages. Several Middle College results, including current English language arts, graduation, and dropout data, are suppressed because of its small enrollment, so those outcomes cannot be fairly compared with Nathan Hale. Nathan Hale’s graduation rate was 83.7%, slightly above the state rate but below the district, while its 10.2% dropout rate was above both comparison groups. Overall, Nathan Hale offers stronger documented academic results, while Middle College offers a smaller, more personalized structure with less complete outcome data.
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