Enrollment
346
Elementary
DISTRICT 387 · STATE 380
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·FRANKLIN PIERCE SCHOOL DISTRICT·NCES 530294000472
Christensen Elementary
10232 Barnes Lane S, Tacoma, WA 98444 · (253) 298-3305 · Pierce County
GRADES KG–05ELEMENTARY21-SUBURBTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL346 STUDENTS
Student : Teacher
15.0:1
23 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 17.0:1 · STATE 17.3:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
74%
257 students
DISTRICT 70% · STATE 51%
Community
0
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 | 49 | 14% |
| Grade 1 | 57 | 16% |
| Grade 2 | 51 | 15% |
| Grade 3 | 73 | 21% |
| Grade 4 | 65 | 19% |
| Grade 5 | 51 | 15% |
This year's kindergarten class (49) is about the same size as its 5th grade class (51).
Student demographics
79%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 77% · 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
40.9%
WA avg 58.4% . +10.2pp since 2014
Math
32.2%
WA avg 51.2% . +4.9pp since 2014
What this means: On the Smarter Balanced + WCAS, Washington's statewide test, about 41 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 32 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 10 points since 2014, while math scores are up about 5 points.
Smarter Balanced + WCAS results by year
| School year | English Language Arts | Math |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 40.9% | 32.2% |
| 2023-24 | 30.3% | 27.5% |
| 2022-23 | 34.7% | 21.1% |
| 2021-22 | 23.7% | 17.2% |
| 2018-19 | 37.3% | 30.7% |
| 2017-18 | 45.5% | 37.1% |
| 2016-17 | 37.1% | 25.8% |
| 2015-16 | 37.3% | 31.2% |
| 2014-15 | 30.7% | 27.2% |
% 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
32.8%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
30.4%
based on WA schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
+2.4pp
above demographic expectation
What this means: About 33% of students here test proficient in math and reading, compared with the roughly 30% 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 Christensen Elementary
Christensen Elementary's state test result (32.8% proficient) is higher than 1 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Christensen Elementary this school | 346 | 74.3% | 32.8% |
| Custer Elementary School Lakewood | 358 | 74.0% | 41.0% |
| Whitman Elementary School Tacoma | 365 | 71.2% | 31.5% |
| Twin Lakes Elementary School FEDERAL WAY | 371 | 72.5% | 47.1% |
| James Sales Elementary Tacoma | 387 | 75.2% | 51.7% |
| Edison Elementary School Tacoma | 413 | 70.9% | 37.0% |
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 Christensen Elementary ranks
Among elementary schools| Measure | This school | In Washington | In Pierce County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 32.8% | #761 of 936 | #118 of 142 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 32.2% | #835 of 1,103 ▲ 62 | #115 of 142 ▲ 6 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 40.9% | #722 of 1,102 ▲ 213 | #102 of 142 ▲ 25 |
| 3-year test score change ranked biggest gain first | +16.1pp | #17 of 928 | #2 of 141 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 346 | #812 of 1,268 | #113 of 155 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 15.0:1 | #346 of 1,085 | #35 of 145 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 79.2% | #39 of 1,088 | #18 of 145 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 74.3% | #191 of 1,169 | #17 of 148 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked steepest decline first | -24.8% | #193 of 778 | #17 of 91 |
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
346
-57 (-14%) vs 2020
-7% since 1990-91, when it was 373
Student : Teacher
15.0:1
was 16.1:1
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 | 346 | 23 | 15.0:1 | 74% (257) |
| 2023-24 | 346 | 23.1 | 15.0:1 | 75% (261) |
| 2022-23 | 368 | 24 | 15.3:1 | 74% (271) |
| 2020-21 | 403 | 25 | 16.1:1 | 72% (290) |
| 2017-18 | 460 | 25 | 18.4:1 | 76% (351) |
| 2015-16 | 457 | 24 | 19.0:1 | 78% (355) |
| 2010-11 | 409 | 24 | 17.0:1 | 72% (296) |
| 2000-01 | 478 | 25 | 19.1:1 | N/A |
| 1990-91 | 373 | 18 | 20.7:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Christensen Elementary.
Since 2017-18: students down 25% (460 to 346); teachers down 8% (25 to 23).
About Christensen Elementary
Christensen Elementary is a mid-sized elementary school in Tacoma, Washington. It teaches 346 students in kindergarten through 5.
Franklin Pierce School District (14 schools, 7,187 students) runs Christensen Elementary.
No group is above 50% at Christensen Elementary; the largest is Hispanic, at 32%. The rest of enrollment is 19% White, 16% multiracial, 16% Black, and 12% Pacific Islander. Among all residents of Pierce County, the Hispanic share is about 13%. A diversity index of 79% means there is a 79% chance two randomly chosen students at Christensen Elementary are from different groups.
On staff are 23 full-time-equivalent teachers; the student-to-teacher ratio is 15.0:1. Statewide, elementary schools in Washington average 17.3:1. Christensen Elementary has a free or reduced-price lunch rate of 74%. Across public schools in Pierce County, the average is 50%.
Christensen Elementary sits between the top and bottom 10% of Washington schools on BeatsExpectations, with an actual average proficiency rate across its state test results of 32.8% and a predicted 30.4%.
The school is in Pierce County, where median household income comes to about $99,564, roughly 31% of adults have a four-year degree or more, and about 6% of residents live below the federal poverty line. Pierce County's 287 public schools enroll about 138,462 students and include Christensen Elementary.
Christensen Elementary is about 0.6 miles from James Sales Elementary, its nearest public school. Around the school, at least 8 other public schools are within five miles. In a group of 8 nearby schools with scores, Christensen Elementary ranks 4th on average proficiency.
The National Center for Education Statistics classifies the school's location as Suburb: Large, meaning it is in a suburban area outside a principal city, within an urbanized area with a population of 250,000 or more.
Over the 4 years from 2020-21 to 2024-25, enrollment fell 14%. The ratio was 16.1:1 in 2020-21 and 15.0:1 in 2024-25.
Anyone can start a thread about fundraisers, report cards, and school supplies at Christensen Elementary. Teachers and staff are welcome to share updates too.
Pierce County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
930,319
Census ACS
Median income
$99,564
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
31%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
6%
Below federal line
Schools in county
287
138,462 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in Franklin Pierce School District
- Washington High SchoolHigh · 989 students
- Franklin Pierce High SchoolHigh · 977 students
- Morris Ford Middle SchoolMiddle · 831 students
- Perry G Keithley Middle SchoolMiddle · 804 students
- Brookdale ElementaryElementary · 483 students
- Collins ElementaryElementary · 466 students
Other schools in Tacoma
- Stadium High SchoolHigh · 1,700 students
- Lincoln High SchoolHigh · 1,556 students
- Mount Tahoma High SchoolHigh · 1,410 students
- Dr. Dolores Silas High SchoolHigh · 1,160 students
- Washington High SchoolHigh · 989 students
- Franklin Pierce High SchoolHigh · 977 students
Nearby schools
- James Sales Elementary0.6 mi · 387
- Helen Stafford Elementary School0.9 mi · 453
- Fern Hill Elementary School1.1 mi · 311
- Perry G Keithley Middle School1.3 mi · 804
- Larchmont Elementary School1.4 mi · 303
- Baker Middle School1.4 mi · 687
Frequently asked questions
About Christensen ElementaryHow many students attend Christensen Elementary?
Christensen Elementary enrolls approximately 346 students in grades KG-05.
Is Christensen Elementary an elementary, middle, or high school?
Christensen Elementary is an elementary school covering grades KG-05.
How many teachers does Christensen Elementary have?
Christensen Elementary employs 23 FTE teachers, for a student-to-teacher ratio of 15.0:1.
What is the student diversity at Christensen Elementary?
Student demographics at Christensen Elementary are roughly 19% White, 32% Hispanic, 16% Black, 3% Asian, 16% Two or more.
Who oversees Christensen Elementary?
Christensen Elementary is overseen by Franklin Pierce School District in Pierce County.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.