Best Middle Schools in Zip Code 98409

ZIP code 98409 has two middle schools—Gray Middle School and Tacoma Online Middle School—both serving grades 6–8 within the Tacoma School District; together, they enroll 680 students in a Tacoma area with both traditional and online schooling options.

Tacoma Online Middle School has the stronger available 2025–26 academic results. Its proficiency rates were 35.29% in English Language Arts and 18.75% in Math, compared with 27.27% and 16.14%, respectively, at Gray Middle School. Even so, both schools remained below district and state averages, and Math was a major challenge at each school. Tacoma Online also has a stronger historical ranking record, although its ELA proficiency dropped sharply from 55.56% in 2024–25 to 35.29% in 2025–26. Parents should view that decline as an important question to investigate rather than assuming it reflects a permanent trend.

Gray Middle School provides more complete academic reporting, including grade-level results and Science data, but its performance was below district and state benchmarks in every reported area. Eighth grade was the greatest concern: only 10.63% were proficient in Math, 18.90% in ELA, and 19.51% in Science. Gray is the larger school, with 510 students, while Tacoma Online enrolls 170 and reports a lower student–teacher ratio. Gray also reports higher per-student spending, while Tacoma Online has a lower free/reduced-price lunch rate. These differences make direct comparisons imperfect. Tacoma Online’s suppressed Science and grade-level results are unknown, not zero, so families should avoid drawing conclusions about those areas until more data are available.