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What's the most underrated thing about Bellingham High School that outsiders don't know?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
1,165
High
DISTRICT 642 · STATE 573
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·BELLINGHAM SCHOOL DISTRICT·NCES 530042000099
Bellingham High School
2020 Cornwall Ave, Bellingham, WA 98225 · (360) 676-6575 · Whatcom County
GRADES 09–12HIGH13-CITYREGULAR SCHOOL1,165 STUDENTS
Student : Teacher
21.3:1
55 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 18.2:1 · STATE 21.6:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
35%
413 students
DISTRICT 44% · 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 | 293 | 25% |
| Grade 10 | 300 | 26% |
| Grade 11 | 298 | 26% |
| Grade 12 | 274 | 24% |
Student demographics
49%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 55% · 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
61.1%
WA avg 58.4% . +31.7pp since 2014
Math
38.6%
WA avg 51.2% . +28.6pp since 2014
What this means: On the Smarter Balanced + WCAS, Washington's statewide test, about 61 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 39 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 32 points since 2014, while math scores are up about 29 points.
Smarter Balanced + WCAS results by year
| School year | English Language Arts | Math |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 61.1% | 38.6% |
| 2023-24 | 71.1% | 35.2% |
| 2022-23 | 71.8% | 38.2% |
| 2021-22 | 73.2% | 40.1% |
| 2018-19 | 87.4% | 50.7% |
| 2017-18 | 85.3% | 56.0% |
| 2016-17 | 19.4% | 26.3% |
| 2015-16 | 43.6% | 26.7% |
| 2014-15 | 29.4% | 10.0% |
% 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
AS EXPECTED
Performing as predicted given the school's student profile
Actual proficiency
51.7%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
56.4%
based on WA schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
-4.7pp
below demographic expectation
What this means: About 52% of students here test proficient in math and reading, compared with the roughly 56% typical for Washington schools with a similar share of low-income students. BeatsExpectations measures results against demographically similar schools rather than by raw scores, and this school falls within the typical range, neither among Washington's top nor bottom 10%.
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 Bellingham High School
Bellingham High School's state test result (51.7% proficient) is higher than 4 of the 4 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bellingham High School this school | 1,165 | 35.5% | 51.7% |
| Orting High School Orting | 876 | 36.9% | 41.5% |
| Arlington High School Arlington | 1,650 | 37.0% | 49.0% |
| Columbia River High VANCOUVER | 1,138 | 32.6% | N/A |
| Ellensburg High School Ellensburg | 957 | 38.2% | 48.1% |
| Enumclaw Sr High School Enumclaw | 1,333 | 31.6% | 37.6% |
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 Bellingham High School ranks
Among high schools| Measure | This school | In Washington | In Whatcom County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 51.7% | #71 of 271 | #3 of 10 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 38.6% | #89 of 321 ▲ 10 | #3 of 10 ▲ 1 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 61.1% | #136 of 327 ▼ 60 | #6 of 10 ▼ 4 |
| 3-year test score change ranked biggest drop first | -6.7pp | #44 of 259 | #4 of 9 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 1,165 | #134 of 570 | #3 of 18 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 21.3:1 | #195 of 311 | #6 of 9 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 48.9% | #212 of 316 | #8 of 9 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 35.5% | #297 of 386 | #10 of 12 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked fastest growth first | +4.1% | #102 of 136 | N/A |
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
1,165
-29 (-2%) vs 2020
-10% since 1990-91, when it was 1,290
Student : Teacher
21.3:1
was 21.3:1
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 | 1,165 | 54.7 | 21.3:1 | 35% (413) |
| 2023-24 | 1,188 | 54.6 | 21.8:1 | 37% (435) |
| 2022-23 | 1,218 | 58.3 | 20.9:1 | 34% (418) |
| 2020-21 | 1,194 | 56 | 21.3:1 | 30% (354) |
| 2017-18 | 1,119 | 53 | 21.1:1 | 30% (337) |
| 2015-16 | 1,047 | 45 | 23.3:1 | 32% (340) |
| 2010-11 | 1,109 | 47 | 23.6:1 | 23% (260) |
| 2000-01 | 737 | 35 | 21.1:1 | N/A |
| 1990-91 | 1,290 | 63 | 20.5:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Bellingham High School.
Since 2017-18: students up 4% (1,119 to 1,165); teachers up 3% (53 to 54.7).
About Bellingham High School
Bellingham, Washington, is home to Bellingham High School, a high-enrollment high school. The latest federal count shows 1,165 students in grades 9 through 12. The average for high schools in Washington is about 573 students, so this school is 103% bigger than average.
Bellingham School District has 11,337 students in 25 schools, and Bellingham High School is one of those schools.
Roughly 68% of students at Bellingham High School are White. Other reported shares: 18% Hispanic, 8% multiracial, and 2% Asian. Whatcom County's residents are about 78% White, 10 points above the school's share. The school's diversity index is 49%, meaning two students picked at random have a 49% chance of belonging to different racial or ethnic groups.
Bellingham High School's 54.7 full-time-equivalent teachers put its ratio at 21.3:1. For comparison, high schools in Washington average 21.6:1. The school's rate of free or reduced-price lunch eligibility is 35%. That is 12 points below the 47% average for public schools in Whatcom County.
Based on student poverty, the model expects 56.4% at Bellingham High School; the school's average proficiency rate on state tests is 51.7%.
Bellingham High School is located in Whatcom County, where the median household income is $81,784, about 39% of adults have at least a bachelor's degree, and the poverty rate is about 7%. Besides Bellingham High School, Whatcom County has 77 other public schools.
The school nearest to Bellingham High School is Options High School, at a distance of about 0.1 miles. Other public schools within five miles number at least 8. Ranked by average proficiency, Bellingham High School places 3rd out of 6 schools in its immediate area.
Bellingham High School is coded as City: Small in federal locale data.
In 2020-21, Bellingham High School enrolled 1,194; in 2024-25, 1,165.
The discussion area below is open to posts about sports tryouts, band and choir, and theater. Questions from prospective families are welcome too.
Whatcom County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
230,503
Census ACS
Median income
$81,784
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
39%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
7%
Below federal line
Schools in county
78
27,779 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in Bellingham School District
- Squalicum High SchoolHigh · 1,273 students
- Sehome High SchoolHigh · 1,116 students
- Whatcom Middle SchoolMiddle · 637 students
- Shuksan Middle SchoolMiddle · 606 students
- Fairhaven Middle SchoolMiddle · 588 students
- Kulshan Middle SchoolMiddle · 575 students
Other schools in Bellingham
- Squalicum High SchoolHigh · 1,273 students
- Sehome High SchoolHigh · 1,116 students
- Whatcom Middle SchoolMiddle · 637 students
- Shuksan Middle SchoolMiddle · 606 students
- Fairhaven Middle SchoolMiddle · 588 students
- Kulshan Middle SchoolMiddle · 575 students
Other Bellingham High schools
One other US public school is named Bellingham High. Bellingham High School is the largest of the 2.
- Bellingham High SchoolBellingham, MA · 740 students
Nearby schools
- Options High School0.1 mi · 176
- Whatcom Middle School0.3 mi · 637
- Whatcom Co Detention Center0.3 mi · 4
- Sunnyland Elementary School0.8 mi · 288
- Carl Cozier Elementary School0.9 mi · 325
- Columbia Elementary School1.0 mi · 187
Frequently asked questions
About Bellingham High SchoolWhat is the total enrollment at Bellingham High School?
Bellingham High School enrolls approximately 1,165 students in grades 09-12.
What grades does Bellingham High School serve?
Bellingham High School serves grades 09-12.
What is the student-teacher ratio at Bellingham High School?
The student-to-teacher ratio at Bellingham High School is approximately 21.3:1 (55 FTE teachers).
How diverse is Bellingham High School?
Bellingham High School reports a student body of 68% White, 18% Hispanic, 2% Black, 2% Asian, 8% Two or more.
Who oversees Bellingham High School?
Bellingham High School is overseen by Bellingham School District in Whatcom County.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.