Enrollment
187
Elementary
DISTRICT 344 · STATE 380
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·BELLINGHAM SCHOOL DISTRICT·NCES 530042000103
Columbia Elementary School
2508 Utter St, Bellingham, WA 98225 · (360) 676-6413 · Whatcom County
GRADES PK–05ELEMENTARY13-CITYREGULAR SCHOOL187 STUDENTS
Student : Teacher
17.0:1
11 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 15.9:1 · STATE 17.3:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
25%
46 students
DISTRICT 44% · 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Pre-K | 1 | 1% |
| Kindergarten | 23 | 12% |
| Grade 1 | 30 | 16% |
| Grade 2 | 29 | 16% |
| Grade 3 | 40 | 21% |
| Grade 4 | 28 | 15% |
| Grade 5 | 36 | 19% |
This year's kindergarten class (23) is 36% smaller than its 5th grade class (36).
Student demographics
37%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
59.4%
WA avg 58.4% . -19.9pp since 2014
Math
50.5%
WA avg 51.2% . -28.8pp since 2014
What this means: On the Smarter Balanced + WCAS, Washington's statewide test, about 59 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 51 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 20 points since 2014, while math scores are down about 29 points.
Smarter Balanced + WCAS results by year
| School year | English Language Arts | Math |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 59.4% | 50.5% |
| 2023-24 | 69.9% | 48.5% |
| 2022-23 | 61.6% | 51.2% |
| 2021-22 | 58.2% | 53.7% |
| 2018-19 | 77.5% | 65.2% |
| 2017-18 | 80.0% | 67.1% |
| 2016-17 | 78.6% | 80.7% |
| 2015-16 | 84.8% | 76.8% |
| 2014-15 | 79.3% | 79.3% |
% 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
62.4%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
63.7%
based on WA schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
-1.3pp
below demographic expectation
What this means: About 62% of students here test proficient in math and reading, compared with the roughly 64% 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 Columbia Elementary School
Columbia Elementary School's state test result (62.4% proficient) is higher than 2 of the 4 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Columbia Elementary School this school | 187 | 24.6% | 62.4% |
| Boston Harbor Elementary OLYMPIA | 178 | 18.0% | 66.5% |
| Wilkeson Elementary School Wilkeson | 253 | 27.7% | 59.5% |
| Cascade K-8 Community School Shoreline | 197 | 17.3% | 71.9% |
| Green Mountain School WOODLAND | 163 | 23.9% | N/A |
| Nine Mile Falls Elementary Nine Mile Falls | 136 | 29.4% | 55.8% |
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 Columbia Elementary School ranks
Among elementary schools| Measure | This school | In Washington | In Whatcom County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 62.4% | #223 of 936 | #2 of 30 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 50.5% | #440 of 1,103 ▲ 30 | #6 of 30 ▲ 4 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 59.4% | #316 of 1,102 ▼ 163 | #4 of 30 ▼ 2 |
| 3-year test score change ranked biggest drop first | -1.0pp | #319 of 928 | #9 of 30 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 187 | #1,102 of 1,268 | #32 of 42 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 24.6% | #989 of 1,169 | #31 of 34 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked steepest decline first | -36.4% | #52 of 778 | #1 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
187
-74 (-28%) vs 2020
-37% since 1990-91, when it was 297
Student : Teacher
17.0:1
was 14.5:1
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 | 187 | 11 | 17.0:1 | 25% (46) |
| 2023-24 | 210 | 14.3 | 14.7:1 | 27% (56) |
| 2022-23 | 231 | 16.2 | 14.2:1 | 26% (59) |
| 2020-21 | 261 | 18 | 14.5:1 | 22% (58) |
| 2017-18 | 294 | 16.9 | 17.4:1 | 19% (56) |
| 2015-16 | 286 | 14 | 20.4:1 | 20% (57) |
| 2010-11 | 248 | 10 | 24.8:1 | 16% (40) |
| 2000-01 | 218 | 11 | 19.8:1 | N/A |
| 1990-91 | 297 | 16 | 18.6:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Columbia Elementary School.
Since 2017-18: students down 36% (294 to 187); teachers down 35% (16.9 to 11).
About Columbia Elementary School
Columbia Elementary School is an elementary school located in Bellingham, Washington, in Whatcom County. It is open to students in pre-K through 5 and enrolls 187 students. By comparison, elementary schools in Washington enroll about 380 students on average.
Columbia Elementary School is among 25 schools run by Bellingham School District, which serves 11,337 students.
Of every 100 students at Columbia Elementary School, about 78 are White. The rest of enrollment is 12% Hispanic, 4% multiracial, and 4% Asian. Among Whatcom County residents, the White share is about 78%. Measured by the diversity index, the student body scores 37%.
The school has 11 full-time-equivalent teachers and a ratio of 17.0 students per teacher. The average ratio among elementary schools in Washington is similar, at 17.3:1. Of all students at Columbia Elementary School, 25% are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch. On average, public schools in Whatcom County report 47%.
Columbia Elementary School sits between the top and bottom 10% of Washington schools on BeatsExpectations, with an actual average proficiency rate across its state test results of 62.4% and a predicted 63.7%.
The county, Whatcom County, is where the school is located. Median household income comes to 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. Counting Columbia Elementary School, Whatcom County has 78 public schools.
Whatcom Middle School is about 0.6 miles away, making it the nearest public school. Other public schools within five miles number at least 8. Ranked by average proficiency, Columbia Elementary School places 1st out of 5 schools in its immediate area.
The school's locale code, City: Small, means it is inside a principal city with a population under 100,000.
By 2024-25, enrollment had dropped to 187, from 261 in 2020-21. By 2024-25, the school had 17.0 students per teacher, compared with 14.5 in 2020-21.
Anyone can start a thread about fundraisers, report cards, and school supplies at Columbia Elementary School. Teachers and staff are welcome to share updates 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
- Bellingham High SchoolHigh · 1,165 students
- Sehome High SchoolHigh · 1,116 students
- Whatcom Middle SchoolMiddle · 637 students
- Shuksan Middle SchoolMiddle · 606 students
- Fairhaven Middle SchoolMiddle · 588 students
Other schools in Bellingham
- Squalicum High SchoolHigh · 1,273 students
- Bellingham High SchoolHigh · 1,165 students
- Sehome High SchoolHigh · 1,116 students
- Whatcom Middle SchoolMiddle · 637 students
- Shuksan Middle SchoolMiddle · 606 students
- Fairhaven Middle SchoolMiddle · 588 students
Other Columbia Elementary schools
24 other US public schools in 13 states are named Columbia Elementary. Columbia Elementary School is the 24th largest of the 25.
- Columbia ElementaryMukilteo, WA · 596 students
- Columbia ElementaryBURBANK, WA · 367 students
- Columbia Elementary SchoolWoodland, WA · 365 students
- Columbia Elementary SchoolWENATCHEE, WA · 339 students
- Columbia ElementaryEl Monte, CA · 706 students
Nearby schools
- Whatcom Middle School0.6 mi · 637
- Parkview Elementary School0.8 mi · 422
- Blaine Re-Engagement0.8 mi · 14
- Whatcom Co Detention Center0.9 mi · 4
- Meridian Impact Re-Engagement0.9 mi · 21
- Bellingham High School1.0 mi · 1,165
Frequently asked questions
About Columbia Elementary SchoolHow many students attend Columbia Elementary School?
Columbia Elementary School enrolls approximately 187 students in grades PK-05.
Is Columbia Elementary School an elementary, middle, or high school?
Columbia Elementary School is an elementary school covering grades PK-05.
How many teachers does Columbia Elementary School have?
Columbia Elementary School employs 11 FTE teachers, for a student-to-teacher ratio of 17.0:1.
How diverse is Columbia Elementary School?
Columbia Elementary School reports a student body of 78% White, 12% Hispanic, 1% Black, 4% Asian, 4% Two or more.
What district is Columbia Elementary School in?
Columbia Elementary School is part of Bellingham School District.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.