Summary:
ZIP code 98198 has one middle school, Pacific Middle School, serving grades 6–8 in Des Moines within the Highline School District. The school enrolls 604 students, has an 18.5-to-1 student-teacher ratio, and serves an area where 74.34% of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. Because it is the only middle school listed in the ZIP code, there is no local school-to-school comparison; its results are best understood alongside district and Washington averages.
Academic performance is below district and state averages overall. In 2025–26, 29.34% of students were proficient in English language arts, compared with 34.68% districtwide and 52.81% statewide. Math was the weakest subject, with 15.67% proficient versus 24.30% in the district and 43.11% statewide. Science proficiency was 20.63%, below both the district’s 32.82% and the state’s 50.95%. The school’s statewide ranking has remained near the bottom tenth of Washington middle schools for the past three years. Still, results improve by grade: 8th grade is the strongest, with 35.83% proficient in ELA and 20.43% in math. Both figures slightly exceed district rates for 8th grade, although they remain below state levels.
For parents, the clearest areas to investigate are 6th-grade transition support and math instruction. Only 10.05% of 6th graders were proficient in math, compared with 17.19% in 7th grade and 20.43% in 8th grade; 6th-grade ELA was also the school’s lowest ELA result, at 21.63%. Science showed encouraging year-over-year growth, rising 6.43 percentage points to 20.63%, while ELA declined modestly and math was nearly unchanged. The school reports $20,856 in per-student spending, though spending alone does not show program effectiveness. Families may want to ask about accelerated academic support, intervention services, attendance resources, and how the school builds on the comparatively stronger 8th-grade outcomes.
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