1
What do students at Ballard High School actually talk about outside of class?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
1,697
High
DISTRICT 831 · STATE 573
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·SEATTLE SCHOOL DISTRICT NO. 1·NCES 530771001138
Ballard High School
1418 NW 65 ST, SEATTLE, WA 98117 · (206) 252-1000 · King County
GRADES 09–12HIGH11-CITYREGULAR SCHOOL1,697 STUDENTS
Student : Teacher
22.9:1
74 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 17.6:1 · STATE 21.6:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
13%
216 students
DISTRICT 36% · STATE 51%
Community
1
0 members
Enrollment and student:teacher ratio compared against other high schools. Free/Reduced Lunch and demographics compared against all schools.
Enrollment by grade, 2024-25
| Grade | Students | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Grade 9 | 445 | 26% |
| Grade 10 | 442 | 26% |
| Grade 11 | 386 | 23% |
| Grade 12 | 424 | 25% |
Student demographics
46%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 73% · STATE 68% · US 70%
Student head counts by race/ethnicity from federal NCES enrollment data. District, state, and US figures are each group's share of all public school students in that area (US excludes territories). Very small groups may be suppressed in the source, so categories do not always sum exactly to total enrollment.
Gender split
Test scores
Smarter Balanced + WCAS 2024-25 . % Met or Exceeded StandardEnglish Language Arts
87.2%
WA avg 58.4% . +85.0pp since 2014
Math
67.9%
WA avg 51.2%
What this means: On the Smarter Balanced + WCAS, Washington's statewide test, about 87 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 68 of 100 do math at grade level. Across all Washington schools, those numbers are about 58 and 51. Reading and writing scores are up about 85 points since 2014.
Smarter Balanced + WCAS results by year
| School year | English Language Arts | Math |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 87.2% | 67.9% |
| 2023-24 | 87.2% | 61.2% |
| 2022-23 | 85.0% | 64.0% |
| 2021-22 | 86.8% | 60.1% |
| 2018-19 | 87.7% | 66.6% |
| 2017-18 | 89.8% | 68.4% |
| 2016-17 | 35.5% | 6.8% |
| 2015-16 | 26.0% | 10.5% |
| 2014-15 | 2.2% | N/A |
% Met or Exceeded Standard, all students and all tested grades.
Source: Smarter Balanced + WCAS. All students, all grades. See all years and grades →
BeatsExpectations
Demographically-adjusted score · methodologyTier
UNDERPERFORMING
Bottom 10% of WA schools after controlling for student poverty
Actual proficiency
60.3%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
71.7%
based on WA schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
-11.3pp
below demographic expectation
What this means: About 60% of students here test proficient in math and reading, below the roughly 72% typical for Washington schools with a similar share of low-income students. BeatsExpectations compares each school with others at the same poverty level, not by raw scores, so a school lands here when its results trail those comparable schools, which is not the same as having low scores. A higher-scoring school can still fall in this tier if similar schools score higher still.
BeatsExpectations runs a per-state regression of proficiency on free/reduced-lunch share, then scores each school by residual. How this is calculated →
Schools most like Ballard High School
Ballard High School's state test result (60.3% proficient) is higher than 2 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ballard High School this school | 1,697 | 12.7% | 60.3% |
| Bainbridge High School Bainbridge Island | 1,208 | 10.8% | 78.8% |
| Gig Harbor High Gig Harbor | 1,375 | 15.0% | 54.1% |
| Mount Si High School SNOQUALMIE | 2,152 | 13.2% | 66.7% |
| West Seattle High School SEATTLE | 1,479 | 18.4% | 59.1% |
| Roosevelt High School SEATTLE | 1,542 | 18.2% | 63.4% |
Matched among Washington high schools on enrollment, the share of students from low-income families (eligible for free or reduced-price lunch), and racial and ethnic makeup. Proficient is the average share of students meeting the state standard across all of the school's state tests in 2023-24 and 2024-25, the same combined score our test-score rankings use. Online schools and schools serving specialized populations are not matched.
Where Ballard High School ranks
Among high schools| Measure | This school | In Washington | In King County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 60.3% | #29 of 271 | #17 of 59 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 67.9% | #8 of 321 ▲ 6 | #6 of 59 ▲ 6 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 87.2% | #4 of 327 ▲ 3 | #2 of 61 ▲ 1 |
| 3-year test score change ranked biggest gain first | +4.1pp | #54 of 259 | #5 of 57 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 1,697 | #49 of 570 | #19 of 97 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 22.9:1 | #256 of 311 | #56 of 67 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 45.7% | #227 of 316 | #63 of 67 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 12.7% | #376 of 386 | #68 of 76 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked steepest decline first | -12.1% | #52 of 164 | #17 of 34 |
Ranked against other public high schools. Online schools are left out of every list, and test-score lists leave out schools that serve specialized populations. Each rank links to the full list. Arrows under a test-score rank show places moved since the prior test year, among schools tested both years.
4-year change
SY 2020-21 vs SY 2024-25Enrollment
1,697
-58 (-3%) vs 2020
+34% since 1990-91, when it was 1,269
Student : Teacher
22.9:1
was 21.7:1
Source: NCES Common Core of Data
Enrollment and staffing by year
| School year | Students | Teachers (FTE) | Students per teacher | Free and reduced lunch |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 1,697 | 74.2 | 22.9:1 | 13% (216) |
| 2023-24 | 1,645 | 71.7 | 22.9:1 | 12% (194) |
| 2022-23 | 1,590 | 75.6 | 21.0:1 | 12% (191) |
| 2020-21 | 1,755 | 81 | 21.7:1 | 8% (145) |
| 2017-18 | 1,930 | 87.8 | 22.0:1 | 11% (219) |
| 2015-16 | 1,696 | 80 | 21.2:1 | 13% (222) |
| 2010-11 | 1,606 | 76 | 21.1:1 | 22% (353) |
| 2000-01 | 1,502 | 68 | 22.1:1 | N/A |
| 1990-91 | 1,269 | 51 | 24.9:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Ballard High School.
Since 2017-18: students down 12% (1,930 to 1,697); teachers down 15% (87.8 to 74.2).
About Ballard High School
Ballard High School is a public high school run by Seattle School District No. 1 in SEATTLE, Washington. It enrolls 1,697 students in 2024-25. The grades offered are 9 through 12. That is 196% above the average of about 573 students for high schools in Washington.
Ballard High School is one of 107 schools in Seattle School District No. 1, which enrolls 50,773 students in total.
The share of White students at Ballard High School is 70%, a majority. The school is also 11% multiracial, 9% Hispanic, 4% Asian, and 2% Black. That is higher than the 55% White share among all King County residents. Its diversity index, the chance that two randomly chosen students belong to different racial or ethnic groups, is 46%.
With 74.2 full-time-equivalent teachers, the student-to-teacher ratio is about 22.9:1. The average for high schools in Washington is 21.6:1, so this school has more students per teacher. Student poverty is often measured by lunch eligibility; at Ballard High School, 13% qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. For comparison, public schools in King County average 38%.
Test results at Ballard High School are 11.3 points below what its student poverty level predicts. The average proficiency rate across its state test results is 60.3%, compared with a predicted 71.7%, which ranks in the bottom 10% in Washington.
Looking at the county, King County, the median household earns about $124,746 a year, the share of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher is 57%, and roughly 5% of residents are in poverty. King County has 544 public schools with about 278,492 students, including Ballard High School.
Ballard High School's closest public school neighbor is Salmon Bay K-8 School, about 0.3 miles away. The five-mile area around Ballard High School holds at least 8 other public schools. Ballard High School's average proficiency of 60.3% compares with 78.1% for its nearest scored neighbors.
Federal records code the school's setting as City: Large.
A 3% decline took enrollment from 1,755 in 2020-21 to 1,697 in 2024-25. Federal data show the ratio rising from 21.7:1 to 22.9:1.
Use the discussion section to ask about special education services, counseling, and support programs at Ballard High School. You can also rate the school on this page.
King County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
2,287,171
Census ACS
Median income
$124,746
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
57%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
5%
Below federal line
Schools in county
544
278,492 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in Seattle School District No. 1
- Lincoln High SchoolHigh · 1,770 students
- Roosevelt High SchoolHigh · 1,542 students
- Garfield High SchoolHigh · 1,507 students
- West Seattle High SchoolHigh · 1,479 students
- Ingraham High SchoolHigh · 1,391 students
- Franklin High SchoolHigh · 1,277 students
Other schools in SEATTLE
- Lincoln High SchoolHigh · 1,770 students
- Roosevelt High SchoolHigh · 1,542 students
- Garfield High SchoolHigh · 1,507 students
- West Seattle High SchoolHigh · 1,479 students
- Ingraham High SchoolHigh · 1,391 students
- Franklin High SchoolHigh · 1,277 students
Other Ballard High schools
3 other US public schools in 4 states are named Ballard High. Ballard High School is the 2nd largest of the 4.
- Ballard HighLouisville, KY · 2,148 students
- Ballard High SchoolHuxley, IA · 586 students
- BALLARD HIGHBUTLER, MO · 59 students
Nearby schools
- Salmon Bay K-8 School0.3 mi · 595
- Whittier Elementary School0.5 mi · 346
- West Woodland Elementary School0.7 mi · 355
- Adams Elementary School0.8 mi · 285
- Loyal Heights Elementary School0.9 mi · 527
- Greenwood Elementary School1.0 mi · 339
Frequently asked questions
About Ballard High SchoolHow many students attend Ballard High School?
Ballard High School enrolls approximately 1,697 students in grades 09-12.
Is Ballard High School an elementary, middle, or high school?
Ballard High School is a high school covering grades 09-12.
How many teachers does Ballard High School have?
Ballard High School employs 74 FTE teachers, for a student-to-teacher ratio of 22.9:1.
What is the student diversity at Ballard High School?
Student demographics at Ballard High School are roughly 70% White, 9% Hispanic, 2% Black, 4% Asian, 11% Two or more.
What district is Ballard High School in?
Ballard High School is part of Seattle School District No. 1.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.