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Honest take: what's the hardest part about being a student at Cascadia Elementary?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
440
Elementary
DISTRICT 281 · STATE 380
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·FERNDALE SCHOOL DISTRICT·NCES 530285003339
Cascadia Elementary
6175 Church Rd, Ferndale, WA 98248 · (360) 383-2300 · Whatcom County
GRADES KG–05ELEMENTARY22-SUBURBTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL440 STUDENTS
Student : Teacher
15.3:1
29 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 15.6:1 · STATE 17.3:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
59%
261 students
DISTRICT 57% · STATE 51%
Community
1
0 members
Enrollment and student:teacher ratio compared against other elementary schools. Free/Reduced Lunch and demographics compared against all schools.
Enrollment by grade, 2024-25
| Grade | Students | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Kindergarten | 81 | 18% |
| Grade 1 | 79 | 18% |
| Grade 2 | 66 | 15% |
| Grade 3 | 67 | 15% |
| Grade 4 | 81 | 18% |
| Grade 5 | 66 | 15% |
This year's kindergarten class (81) is 23% larger than its 5th grade class (66).
Student demographics
67%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 64% · 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
30.5%
WA avg 58.4% . -25.5pp since 2014
Math
34.5%
WA avg 51.2% . -19.4pp since 2014
What this means: On the Smarter Balanced + WCAS, Washington's statewide test, about 31 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 35 of 100 do math at grade level. Across all Washington schools, those numbers are about 58 and 51. Reading and writing scores are down about 25 points since 2014, while math scores are down about 19 points.
Smarter Balanced + WCAS results by year
| School year | English Language Arts | Math |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 30.5% | 34.5% |
| 2023-24 | 38.6% | 35.6% |
| 2022-23 | 39.0% | 36.0% |
| 2021-22 | 36.4% | 36.9% |
| 2018-19 | 72.1% | 67.9% |
| 2017-18 | 58.0% | 52.9% |
| 2016-17 | 54.9% | 56.3% |
| 2015-16 | 56.4% | 53.0% |
| 2014-15 | 56.0% | 53.9% |
% 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
37.9%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
40.4%
based on WA schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
-2.5pp
below demographic expectation
What this means: About 38% of students here test proficient in math and reading, compared with the roughly 40% 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 Cascadia Elementary
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cascadia Elementary this school | 440 | 59.3% | 37.9% |
| Orchards Elementary School Vancouver | 433 | 59.6% | N/A |
| Skyline Elementary School Ferndale | 496 | 56.5% | 45.1% |
| Image Elementary School Vancouver | 446 | 61.4% | N/A |
| View Ridge Elementary Everett | 497 | 60.6% | 59.7% |
| Endeavour Elementary School Vancouver | 471 | 62.0% | N/A |
Matched among Washington elementary 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 Cascadia Elementary ranks
Among elementary schools| Measure | This school | In Washington | In Whatcom County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 37.9% | #666 of 936 | #23 of 30 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 34.5% | #785 of 1,103 ▼ 55 | #22 of 30 no change |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 30.5% | #931 of 1,102 ▼ 156 | #28 of 30 ▼ 6 |
| 3-year test score change ranked biggest drop first | -4.2pp | #175 of 928 | #5 of 30 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 440 | #483 of 1,268 | #8 of 42 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 15.3:1 | #430 of 1,085 | #11 of 31 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 66.5% | #364 of 1,088 | #4 of 31 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 59.3% | #459 of 1,169 | #8 of 34 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked steepest decline first | -1.8% | #743 of 778 | #19 of 20 |
Ranked against other public elementary 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
440
+23 (+6%) vs 2020
-16% since 2010-11, when it was 524
Student : Teacher
15.3:1
was 15.4:1
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 | 440 | 28.7 | 15.3:1 | 59% (261) |
| 2023-24 | 443 | 34.4 | 12.9:1 | 63% (281) |
| 2022-23 | 429 | 31.2 | 13.8:1 | 65% (279) |
| 2020-21 | 417 | 27 | 15.4:1 | 51% (214) |
| 2017-18 | 448 | 28.2 | 15.9:1 | 50% (222) |
| 2015-16 | 470 | 27 | 17.4:1 | 50% (234) |
| 2010-11 | 524 | N/A | N/A | 41% (213) |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Cascadia Elementary.
Since 2017-18: students down 2% (448 to 440); teachers up 2% (28.2 to 28.7).
About Cascadia Elementary
Cascadia Elementary sits in Ferndale, Washington, and is classified as an elementary school. Students in kindergarten through 5 attend, and enrollment is 440 students.
The 13 schools of Ferndale School District, including Cascadia Elementary, enroll 4,746 students.
Cascadia Elementary's enrollment has no majority group, and White students are the largest at 45%. Smaller groups are 35% Hispanic, 9% Asian, 7% multiracial, and 2% Black. County-wide, 78% of Whatcom County residents are White. The chance that two students picked at random at Cascadia Elementary belong to different racial or ethnic groups, known as the diversity index, is 67%.
Cascadia Elementary operates with 28.7 full-time-equivalent teachers, a ratio of about 15.3:1. For comparison, elementary schools in Washington average 17.3:1. About 59% of students at the school meet free or reduced-price lunch income limits. The rate at public schools in Whatcom County averages 47%, lower than here.
Cascadia Elementary scores 37.9% on state tests, averaged across results. The predicted figure, based on its student poverty level, is 40.4%.
Cascadia Elementary is located in Whatcom County, where median household income is about $81,784, roughly 39% of adults have a four-year degree or more, and about 7% of residents live below the federal poverty line. Federal data list 78 public schools in Whatcom County, with a combined enrollment of about 27,779.
The closest public school, Eagleridge Elementary, is about 0.4 miles from Cascadia Elementary. Around the school, at least 8 other public schools are within five miles. Of the 6 nearby schools with scores, including this one, Cascadia Elementary is 4th on average proficiency.
The federal government classifies Cascadia Elementary's location as Suburb: Mid-size.
Cascadia Elementary saw enrollment rise 6% between 2020-21 and 2024-25.
If you have questions about science fairs, picture day, and bus routes at Cascadia Elementary, you can post them here. Anyone with firsthand experience at this school can post or comment.
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 Ferndale School District
- Ferndale High SchoolHigh · 1,325 students
- Vista Middle SchoolMiddle · 550 students
- Skyline Elementary SchoolElementary · 496 students
- Eagleridge ElementaryElementary · 457 students
- Horizon Middle SchoolMiddle · 433 students
- Custer ElemElementary · 392 students
Other schools in Ferndale
- Ferndale High SchoolHigh · 1,325 students
- Vista Middle SchoolMiddle · 550 students
- Skyline Elementary SchoolElementary · 496 students
- Eagleridge ElementaryElementary · 457 students
- Horizon Middle SchoolMiddle · 433 students
- Central ElementaryElementary · 315 students
Other Cascadia Elementary schools
One other US public school is named Cascadia Elementary. Cascadia Elementary is the 2nd largest of the 2.
- Cascadia ElementarySeattle, WA · 531 students
Nearby schools
- Eagleridge Elementary0.4 mi · 457
- Horizon Middle School0.5 mi · 433
- Skyline Elementary School0.7 mi · 496
- Vista Middle School0.8 mi · 550
- Ferndale Special Services0.9 mi · 20
- Ferndale Re-Engagement0.9 mi · 33
Frequently asked questions
About Cascadia ElementaryWhat is the total enrollment at Cascadia Elementary?
Cascadia Elementary enrolls approximately 440 students in grades KG-05.
What age range does Cascadia Elementary serve?
Cascadia Elementary serves students from grade KG through grade 05.
How many students per teacher at Cascadia Elementary?
Approximately 15.3:1 students per teacher at Cascadia Elementary.
How diverse is Cascadia Elementary?
Cascadia Elementary reports a student body of 45% White, 35% Hispanic, 2% Black, 9% Asian, 7% Two or more.
Who oversees Cascadia Elementary?
Cascadia Elementary is overseen by Ferndale School District in Whatcom County.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.