Summary:
ZIP code 98624 has one listed middle school, Hilltop Elementary School, serving grades 6–8 in the Ocean Beach School District. The school enrolls 188 students, so families are reviewing one relatively small middle-school option rather than comparing several schools within the ZIP code. Although its name includes “Elementary,” the listing identifies it as a middle school for students in sixth through eighth grade.
Hilltop’s strongest subject is Science. In 2025–2026, 43.10% of students were proficient in Science, compared with 31.79% in English Language Arts and 17.34% in Math. Science was close to the district rate and improved substantially from 27.14% the previous year. Eighth-grade Science proficiency was also slightly higher than the district’s result. Math is the clearest area of concern: proficiency was low across every grade, with seventh grade lowest at 14.58%, and the school trailed the state by more than 25 percentage points overall. ELA results were better than Math but remained below state averages in every grade.
Compared with the district, Hilltop’s grade-level results were generally similar, with sixth- and seventh-grade ELA and all three Math grades slightly above district rates; eighth-grade ELA was slightly below. However, the school remained well below Washington’s statewide results in all reported subjects. Its ranking improved modestly in 2025–2026 to the 18th percentile, up from the 15th percentile the prior year, but it still ranked in the lower portion of the statewide distribution. Families may also want to consider the school’s 15.9-to-1 student-teacher ratio, 62.77% free- or reduced-price lunch eligibility, and $20,829 reported spending per student. Overall, Science shows encouraging momentum, while Math needs the most sustained attention.
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