Summary:
ZIP code 98629 has one listed middle school, La Center Middle School, serving grades 6–8 in a moderately sized community with 441 students. The school is part of the La Center School District, which ranks at the 79th percentile statewide and has four stars. The school itself has three stars and ranks around the middle of Washington schools, so families will find a school with several areas of strength but also some important academic challenges.
Overall, fewer than half of students met proficiency standards in 2025–2026: 48.00% in English language arts, 37.03% in math, and 46.32% in science. ELA is the strongest subject overall, with especially solid results in seventh grade, where 51.53% of students were proficient. The school slightly exceeded district results in sixth- and eighth-grade ELA and was close to the state in seventh grade. Math is the main concern. Eighth-grade math proficiency was just 31.62%, which was 7.18 percentage points below the state rate, although it was slightly above the district result. Seventh-grade math was a bright spot at 41.98%, narrowly exceeding the state rate. Eighth-grade science also performed slightly better than the district, though it remained below the state.
Recent trends suggest that parents should pay particular attention to mathematics. From 2024–2025 to 2025–2026, math proficiency fell 6.47 percentage points, while ELA and science changed only slightly. The school’s ranking improved considerably from 2023–2024 to 2024–2025, then slipped modestly the following year, but it remains above its earlier standing. With a 19:1 student–teacher ratio and about one-third of students receiving free or reduced-price lunch, families may want to ask about class sizes, math intervention, and support for students who need additional help. Since this is the only middle school in the ZIP code, there are no local school-to-school comparisons; the most useful comparisons are with the district and state.
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