Enrollment
392
Elementary
DISTRICT 281 · STATE 380
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·FERNDALE SCHOOL DISTRICT·NCES 530285000459
Custer Elem
7660 Custer School Road, Custer, WA 98240 · (360) 383-9500 · Whatcom County
GRADES KG–05ELEMENTARY41-RURALTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL392 STUDENTS
C+
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 44% of Washington public elementary schools
- B-Test scores Share of students meeting the state standard in reading, math, and other tested subjects, 2023-24 and 2024-25.
- B-Beats expectations How far test scores land above or below what the share of low-income students predicts for a school in this state.
- CThree-year trend Change in reading and math proficiency over the last three test years.
Grades compare a school only with schools in the same state, because every state gives its own test. How grades work · Top-graded Washington public elementary schools
Student : Teacher
17.3:1
23 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 15.6:1 · STATE 17.3:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
54%
213 students
DISTRICT 57% · 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 | 91 | 23% |
| Grade 1 | 67 | 17% |
| Grade 2 | 60 | 15% |
| Grade 3 | 63 | 16% |
| Grade 4 | 52 | 13% |
| Grade 5 | 59 | 15% |
This year's kindergarten class (91) is 54% larger than its 5th grade class (59).
Student demographics
45%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
40.0%
WA avg 58.4% . -6.5pp since 2014
Math
42.9%
WA avg 51.2% . -4.2pp since 2014
What this means: On the Smarter Balanced + WCAS, Washington's statewide test, about 40 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 43 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 6 points since 2014, while math scores are down about 4 points.
Smarter Balanced + WCAS results by year
| School year | English Language Arts | Math |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 40.0% | 42.9% |
| 2023-24 | 49.4% | 48.1% |
| 2022-23 | 46.4% | 46.1% |
| 2021-22 | 41.8% | 45.6% |
| 2018-19 | 50.8% | 47.1% |
| 2017-18 | 54.5% | 50.0% |
| 2016-17 | 56.7% | 56.1% |
| 2015-16 | 56.0% | 52.2% |
| 2014-15 | 46.5% | 47.1% |
% 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
46.7%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
43.8%
based on WA schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
+3.0pp
above demographic expectation
What this means: About 47% of students here test proficient in math and reading, compared with the roughly 44% 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 Custer Elem
Custer Elem's state test result (46.7% proficient) is higher than 2 of the 4 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Custer Elem this school | 392 | 54.3% | 46.7% |
| Columbia Elementary School Woodland | 365 | 55.6% | N/A |
| Naches Valley Elementary School Naches | 482 | 54.4% | 44.9% |
| Ida Nason Aronica Elementary Ellensburg | 361 | 55.7% | 39.3% |
| Prospect Point Elementary WALLA WALLA | 414 | 57.7% | 57.9% |
| Yelm Prairie Elementary Yelm | 427 | 49.9% | 48.3% |
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 Custer Elem ranks
Among elementary schools| Measure | This school | In Washington | In Whatcom County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 46.7% | #487 of 936 | #13 of 30 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 42.9% | #586 of 1,103 ▼ 110 | #12 of 30 ▼ 1 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 40.0% | #748 of 1,102 ▼ 231 | #22 of 30 ▼ 10 |
| 3-year test score change ranked biggest drop first | -2.2pp | #266 of 928 | #8 of 30 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 392 | #664 of 1,268 | #15 of 42 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 17.3:1 | #884 of 1,085 | #24 of 31 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 44.7% | #858 of 1,088 | #25 of 31 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 54.3% | #547 of 1,169 | #14 of 34 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked fastest growth first | +12.3% | #104 of 257 | #6 of 13 |
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
392
+99 (+34%) vs 2020
-7% since 1990-91, when it was 423
Student : Teacher
17.3:1
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 | 392 | 22.6 | 17.3:1 | 54% (213) |
| 2023-24 | 367 | 27.8 | 13.2:1 | 57% (211) |
| 2022-23 | 329 | 22.7 | 14.5:1 | 55% (182) |
| 2020-21 | 293 | 19 | 15.4:1 | 44% (128) |
| 2017-18 | 349 | 20.4 | 17.1:1 | 51% (179) |
| 2015-16 | 340 | 17 | 20.0:1 | 51% (175) |
| 2010-11 | 323 | 18 | 17.9:1 | 49% (158) |
| 2000-01 | 405 | 19 | 21.3:1 | N/A |
| 1990-91 | 423 | 18 | 23.5:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Custer Elem.
Since 2017-18: students up 12% (349 to 392); teachers up 11% (20.4 to 22.6).
About Custer Elem
Custer Elem is a medium-sized elementary school based in Custer, Washington. The latest federal count shows 392 students in kindergarten through 5.
Custer Elem is one school in a 13-school district, Ferndale School District, which enrolls 4,746 students.
Custer Elem is 70% White by enrollment. Other reported shares: 26% Hispanic and 3% multiracial. That compares with about 78% White among all Whatcom County residents. Pick two students at random and there is a 45% chance they belong to different racial or ethnic groups; that figure is the school's diversity index.
Teachers at the school number 22.6 full-time equivalents, and the ratio is 17.3:1. For comparison, elementary schools in Washington average 17.3:1. Roughly 54% of the student body qualifies for free or reduced-price lunch.
Measured against Washington public elementary schools, Custer Elem receives a C+. The grade weighs proficiency most heavily, then how results compare with what the school's low-income share predicts, then the three-year change.
Custer Elem sits between the top and bottom 10% of Washington schools on BeatsExpectations, with an actual average proficiency rate on state tests of 46.7% and a predicted 43.8%.
In the county around the school, Whatcom County, the median household income is $81,784, 39% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, and about 7% of people live in poverty. Whatcom County is home to 78 public schools and about 27,779 public school students.
Of nearby public schools, Cascadia Elementary is the closest, at about 3.8 miles. In all, at least 8 other public schools sit within five miles of Custer Elem. On proficiency, Custer Elem is ahead of the 39.4% nearby average, ranking 1st of 6.
Federal data place Custer Elem in the Rural: Fringe locale, which means it is in rural territory close to an urban area.
Enrollment climbed 34% from its 2020-21 level of 293. The student-to-teacher ratio went up from 15.4:1 to 17.3:1.
Conversations here can range across school safety, transportation, and start times. Posting is open to anyone connected to the school.
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
- Cascadia ElementaryElementary · 440 students
- Horizon Middle SchoolMiddle · 433 students
Other Custer Elementary schools
5 other US public schools in 5 states are named Custer Elementary. Custer Elem is the 2nd largest of the 6.
- Custer Elementary SchoolLakewood, WA · 358 students
- Custer Elementary SchoolMONROE, MI · 769 students
- Custer Elementary - 02Custer, SD · 269 students
- Custer Elementary SchoolCuster, KY · 178 students
- CUSTER ELEMENTARY SCHOOLMandan, ND · 126 students
Nearby schools
- Cascadia Elementary3.8 mi · 440
- Horizon Middle School4.0 mi · 433
- Eagleridge Elementary4.0 mi · 457
- Skyline Elementary School4.2 mi · 496
- Vista Middle School4.4 mi · 550
- Ferndale Special Services4.4 mi · 20
Frequently asked questions
About Custer ElemHow many students attend Custer Elem?
Custer Elem enrolls approximately 392 students in grades KG-05.
Is Custer Elem an elementary, middle, or high school?
Custer Elem is an elementary school covering grades KG-05.
What is the student-teacher ratio at Custer Elem?
The student-to-teacher ratio at Custer Elem is approximately 17.3:1 (23 FTE teachers).
What is the student diversity at Custer Elem?
Student demographics at Custer Elem are roughly 70% White, 26% Hispanic, 0% Black, 1% Asian, 3% Two or more.
Who oversees Custer Elem?
Custer Elem 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.