Best Middle Schools in Zip Code 98338

ZIP code 98338 covers Graham, Washington, and is home to two public middle schools — Frontier Middle School and Cougar Mountain Middle School — both in Bethel School District and both serving grades 6–8, with a combined enrollment of 1,225 students.

Cougar Mountain is the stronger overall performer. In 2025–26 it ranked 224th of 514 Washington middle schools, at the 56th percentile with 3 stars, up from 270th, 49th percentile and 2 stars the year before. Frontier ranked 263rd of 514, at the 49th percentile with 2 stars, also an improvement from 296th of 534 and the 45th percentile. The two schools have opposite strengths by grade: Frontier's 6th-grade ELA score is 54.33%, which is 12.87 points higher than Cougar Mountain's 6th-grade ELA and 6.06 points above the state, while Cougar Mountain's 8th-grade ELA is 56.32%, 15.68 points higher than Frontier's 40.64%. Cougar Mountain's science score of 54.17% is its standout — 9.76 points above the district and 3.22 points above the state — and the only all-grade subject score in the pair that beats the state.

Math is the shared weak spot. Both schools trail the district by roughly 4.5 points and the state by more than 9 points in all-grade math, with 8th-grade math at 29.57% at Frontier and 30.89% at Cougar Mountain against a state figure of 38.80%. Science improved at both schools year over year, up 6.00 points at Frontier and 8.41 at Cougar Mountain. The schools look similar in enrollment, free/reduced lunch (49.03% vs. 50.41%) and student-teacher ratio (20.8 vs. 20.7), but Cougar Mountain spends $19,696 per student versus $17,266 at Frontier.