Eckstein Middle School

Posted: September 21, 2025

My child has had a very good experience at this school! They have a fantastic music program and top-notch teachers. My child has met lots of great friends and has learned so much. They have advanced classes in math and language, and lots of involved parents also. The principal seems wonderful.

Posted: September 21, 2025

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Posted: November 13, 2023

Wonderful school in a wonderful area with excellent teachers. My kids thrived at Eckstein. The school is very academically strong, the band program is a standout, test scores are among the highest in the state. Kids can walk to several local businesses for after school hangouts, the area is beautiful and thriving. Lucky kids!

Posted: November 13, 2023

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Posted: June 21, 2021

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Posted: June 21, 2021

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Posted: June 21, 2021

Our experience at Eckstein was mostly positive due in particular to at least four teachers who went above and beyond to encourage students. Eckstein is a HUGE school, so it may be physically overwhelming for some students. The middle school years are complicated, with some students not emotionally mature enough to handle the chaos of moving among several teachers and classrooms every hour. Others are fully ready, so this can set up tension in the classroom. A class where accelerated 6th graders are mixed with on-pace 7th graders and remedial 8th graders may be difficult for teachers to manage. My child had one teacher who couldn't handle it, and that teacher is no longer at Eckstein. But GREAT teachers like Mr. Ohashi made all the difference to keeping my student excelling in math -- as did Mr. Escobedo in music, Ms. Aboel-Nil and Ms. Mosko in science, to name just a few of the standouts.

Posted: June 21, 2021

Posted: June 21, 2021

Posted: July 18, 2019

Our experience at Eckstein has been very positive!

Posted: July 18, 2019

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Posted: May 21, 2018

For a big, urban middle school, it's ok. There are lots of programs and sports and pockets of academic excellence. But if you get a mediocre teacher, or one who doesn't like your kid, you have to do a lot of your own teaching.

Posted: May 21, 2018

My child has a manageable homework load.

Posted: May 21, 2018

It depends who you get. Many teachers are excellent. Many are middling. A few seem to hate children and should have been weeded out long ago.
I'd say this is pretty normal for a public middle school.

Posted: May 21, 2018

I'm not sure any school can really get this right. In the end, it's the parents who need to raise their kids right. And in this neighborhood, you have a lot of competitive parents driving their kids to succeed. Empathy for others is an afterthought.
Late in the year, the police seem to be there every week for a fight or something.

Posted: May 21, 2018

Staff has to deal with a lot of stuff. And I think the principal, who actually went to Eckstein, really does care about the school. But in the end, they seem primarily concerned with protecting the school's reputation. If your kid has stuff stolen or is assaulted, call the police. Don't wait for the school to help.

Posted: May 21, 2018

Bullying exists here, and it exists everywhere. Again, I don't know how much a school can do. But the approach to bullying in this school and SPS in general seems to be to ignore it.

Posted: March 14, 2018

I have been incredibly happy with Eckstein. I have two students currently attending and I think things changed tremendously with the new principal who has been here for three years. My kids don't play in the music program but there are lots of other ways they get involved and I am very happy with teacher communication and communication from the principal. The focus on the whole child was evident from the Open House and has been clear with the response from our kids' counselors who are fantastic. It is true that the building could be better, but the staff is excellent and I appreciate the focus on social justice in many of the classrooms.

Posted: March 14, 2018

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Posted: December 5, 2017

Posted: December 5, 2017

Great school with excellent programs in a great neighborhood.

Posted: December 5, 2017

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Posted: April 21, 2016

My daughter is not inspired about learning. She is often confused about directions and expectations, yet does not feel that teachers are readily available to help clarify things.

Posted: April 21, 2016

Posted: April 21, 2016

There are teachers who tend to pick on students, and are not good models of fair behavior. And mild, hidden bullying is the norm among students.

Posted: April 21, 2016

My daughter transferred to Eckstein when we moved to Seattle, and I regret the decision deeply She is a kind person, gets' straight As, and has lots of good friends. Yet because she was new apparently, kids started rumors about her that were completely untrue. The clique of kids that all went to elementary together, in particular, were quite vicious toward her, and my daughter was distraught for the entire first semester.
The other big change for her was suddenly being in a context where the teachers were distant and not very accessible. Some dismissed her questions outright, others were not available after school or during lunch for my daughter to come in for clarification on assignments and such. At her old school, she counted some teachers as friends, and when we visit her old school the teachers hug her and call her by name. Eckstein teachers seem to be on the opposite end of the spectrum.
Until this year my daughter loved going to school; now she dreads it, and can't wait for the school year to end. All to say: If you have a choice, I would not choose Eckstein for your child.

Posted: September 19, 2015

-very cliquey
-building is in bad condition
-heating/cooling is little to none, hot and cold weather distracted from learning
-some very good teachers, some very bad teachers
-lunchroom fights and bullying was common
-minimally diverse, I noticed that groups of friends from elementary would stick together and not socialize with new people.
-bad school dances

The school was good if you were
-rich
-white
-in jazz, or vocal jazz

Posted: March 26, 2015

My daughter who is now a freshman at nearby Nathan Hale attended this school for all three years in middle school. If your child is at all different (clothing style, appearance, socioeconomically, etc) or has learning or other types of disabilities, I highly recommend you send them somewhere else. There is bullying against students who are different here, both from the students and from the principal. And if your child needs extra help in school like mine did due to a medically diagnosed learning disability, don't expect anyone to care. I spent three years trying to get my daughter help to no avail. As far as teachers go, like most public schools, there are some great ones, and then there are those who are so awful, that they should have never been given the privilege of being a teacher. It was so bad that I was SO HAPPY when the district redrew the maps and my younger children will be assigned to Jane Addams now instead of Eckstein.

Posted: March 4, 2015

This is actually the first review section I've ever seen student input. Their hate for the school is almost as troubling as their grammar. Its sad you kids are having a hard time and hate it school. Please consider my advice. The reality is school isn't going to a positive experience for most, for me it was horrible. But this time in your life is meant to prepare you to be on your own. If you can have a good experience thats great, but that's not what really matters. Middle School and High School are only few years, but it sets the course for the rest of your VERY long life. If you do well you'll go on to a fulfilling life, if you do bad you won't, it's that simple. Don't let a bad social scene or teachers in school be the reason you stop caring about your grades or start hanging out with the wrong kids and get in trouble and ruin the rest of your life. Take advantage of this time to work hard on your grades, get the job done, graduate high school and get into a good college. Don't let the petty nonsense of kids and teachers over the next few years break you down so bad you ruin the rest of your life over it, stay strong kids. and most of all CARE

Posted: February 1, 2015

EMS has been an Excellent school for our 6th grade son. Great teachers, and staff.

Posted: November 14, 2014

Don't believe these negative reviews, Eckstein is a great school! There is a reason why Eckstein consistently has the highest standardized test scores in the area - because the academic expectations here are top notch. The school has really focused on more accurate grade reporting, so academic grades are based solely on assessments, and things like homework completion and student-behaviors are reported in effort and citizenship grades (which is different than what we had in school, but makes sense, right?). The music program is award winning and regularly recognized, and the electives go above and beyond for a middle school (computer programming for 7th and 8th graders!). But the teachers are the best part of this school. They post assignments/grades on the Source so that we can see them, and many have online blogs about what is going on in class. They care a great deal about kids! I would take the reviews written by students with a grain of salt. I have found that the teenage perception of school and the reality of it are often very different things...

Posted: August 28, 2014

its a nice school and nice teachers some are mean but some are nice teachers

Posted: May 10, 2014

I hate this school. I would cry atleast twice a week because of eckstein. you need to be in the "popular group" in order to fit in and not get bullied or gossiped about. plus 8th graders and 7th graders push you around and bully you. yes I am in the popular group but they do that to me. the 7th graders cuss at me and stuff it's annoying. Teachers are ok at the school but don't really help you. I use to have A's and B's to B's, C's and D's friends at this school can have a huge impact on you. They can change your grades by having a bad influence on you and get you into so much drama. I seriously I hate this school. Friends at this school can later on make you bad in high school making you maybe take drugs if your not smart. The principal barely doesn't care about anything. I could make a book about how bad eckstein is.

Posted: April 27, 2014

The instrumental music program at Eckstein, led by Mr. Escobedo, is the best in the West, judging by the high awards the Sr. Jazz Band received in Reno, Monterre and other festivals. I'm also applauding this because my grandson, a pianist, has benefitted from this music program. He is inspired to excellence in every area of his studies by other excellent teachers and a culture of achievement.

Posted: April 3, 2014

Coming from an eighth grader, i hate this school. The teachers here dont care about the students at all, the cafeteria food and staff are awefull, there is a fairly high amount of drug use by the student body, and EVERYTHING is standardized. In gym, we take tests and write notes, and in all of the other classes its just a barrage of tests, one after another. Most of the teachers at this school dont care about the students at all, and nothing is remotely interesting. I used to be a straight A student until this new curriculum started and everything became standardized . It is the worst taco place I have ever been to.

Posted: March 5, 2014

I'm surprised by all of the bad reviews! We have a current 7th grader and have had a very positive experience at Eckstein. She is involved in 2 different bands, school sports, advanced math and writing classes, takes a foreign language and comes home happy each afternoon. The teachers seem responsive, encouraging, and capable. We had an unfortunate incident with one of the PE teachers, but you can complete a PE waiver and skip it altogether. The school is very full, but I expect that there will be a bit more room next year, when half the school attends the new Jane Adams Middle School. Bottom line: I would recommend this school to a friend.

Posted: October 28, 2013

Female bullying is NOT taken seriously at this school. My daughter was tormented by a group of girls (who in previous years had gotten in trouble for this behavior) and when she finally had the courage to talk to principal Sherri Kokx she was told that it wasn't a school issue! The math program is a joke. Homework is only checked to see if it is complete and is never graded so students don't know if they are doing it correctly until quizzes/tests. Nothing besides tests are counted towards grades on report cards. I added 1 star as there are a handful of caring teachers which are really interested in the students and want them to succeed.

Posted: July 1, 2013

Used to be a student I thought this school was terrible. The teachers were bad the students were awful. It was either a really good teacher or really bad teacher. The principle is really unreasonable and some of the students are awful. If you're not part of the popular group they treat you differently. I would never recommend this school to anyone.

Posted: June 9, 2013

this is the best school i have ever been to! the teachers are terrific! and there are great people there!!!!

Posted: February 2, 2013

I would recommend this school to no one. The only people who enjoy it are the "popular" kids who constantly berate and make fun of everyone else. The teachers are either great, mediocre, or terrible. All the other adults are patronizing and somewhat vindictive. The rules are strict and the authority has clearly gone to all of the Office's collective heads. The education is dull and non inclusive. The teachers rarely focus on the individual students. Full of cliques and moderate racism/homophobia. Would. Not. Recommend.

Posted: December 13, 2012

ECKSTEIN MIDDLE SCHOOL IS A ROCKIN SCHOOL. its fun, idk what y'all r sayin'. i mean like i got friends. im in the pop group, u know like popular. i mean when i walk in the halls i see great people swearing a cussing but its alright we used to it. no actually. it might not have a great reputation but as far as the learning goes and the teachers, they are great! ive made the best relationships here because its so diverse. small schools suck because you cant get to know people that arent exactly like you.

Posted: December 4, 2012

I am unimpressed by this school. I have a 7th grade daughter who doesn't complain, gets all A's but is totally uninspired. It is overcrowded, there are no after school activities except a couple of sports and there is nothing special about the place. Lots of cliques, no real effort made to encourage school spirit or to connect with people you don't know. Can't wait til she graduates. Would move her to private school if she wasn't so devoted to her friends. Sad state of affairs here.

Posted: November 4, 2012

I hate this school its no fun all I get is bad grades and stress all the kids are mean and the teacher don't care I can't wait to get out of this school.

Posted: February 9, 2012

After having 2 children at Eckstein over the last 5 years I would have to say that I can no longer recommend this school. It has gone so downhill since we first started there it is very sad. They have teachers teaching subjects that they know little about, many of the teachers my two had showed little enthusiasm for teaching or being in the classroom. Both kids left (or are leaving the school) with a much reduced interest in math and science from when they arrived, especially our 8th grade student this year, that my husband and I worry about their approach to these subjects in high school. Our daughter used to love math and enjoy science but no longer. They also switched their philosphy this year to only tests count towards their grades, no projects, speeches, presentations, daily work - nothing but tests. A very stressful place to be this year for the kids. The lunchroom is run like a prison with lots of yelling by lunchroom supervision, entire grades being kept inside on beautiful days due to poor behavious choices of a few. We'll be happy to be done!