Enrollment
337
Elementary
DISTRICT 376 · STATE 380
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·CLOVER PARK SCHOOL DISTRICT·NCES 530141000252
Dower Elementary School
7817 Dower Rd West, Lakewood, WA 98499 · (253) 583-5240 · Pierce County
GRADES PK–05ELEMENTARY13-CITYTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL337 STUDENTS
Student : Teacher
15.7:1
22 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 15.1:1 · STATE 17.3:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
74%
251 students
DISTRICT 66% · 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 | 54 | 16% |
| Kindergarten | 49 | 15% |
| Grade 1 | 49 | 15% |
| Grade 2 | 40 | 12% |
| Grade 3 | 43 | 13% |
| Grade 4 | 47 | 14% |
| Grade 5 | 55 | 16% |
This year's kindergarten class (49) is 11% smaller than its 5th grade class (55).
Student demographics
80%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 76% · 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
30.3%
WA avg 58.4% . -16.1pp since 2014
Math
23.9%
WA avg 51.2% . -14.2pp since 2014
What this means: On the Smarter Balanced + WCAS, Washington's statewide test, about 30 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 24 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 16 points since 2014, while math scores are down about 14 points.
Smarter Balanced + WCAS results by year
| School year | English Language Arts | Math |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 30.3% | 23.9% |
| 2023-24 | 28.9% | 29.6% |
| 2022-23 | 34.9% | 32.2% |
| 2021-22 | 34.8% | 30.4% |
| 2018-19 | 50.7% | 47.3% |
| 2017-18 | 40.1% | 44.5% |
| 2016-17 | 38.0% | 45.4% |
| 2015-16 | 55.8% | 50.4% |
| 2014-15 | 46.4% | 38.2% |
% 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
29.6%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
30.2%
based on WA schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
-0.6pp
below demographic expectation
What this means: About 30% 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 Dower Elementary School
Dower Elementary School's state test result (29.6% proficient) is higher than 5 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dower Elementary School this school | 337 | 74.5% | 29.6% |
| Edna Travis Elementary School Tacoma | 337 | 78.3% | 16.1% |
| Reed Elementary School Tacoma | 426 | 72.5% | 27.7% |
| Manitou Park Elementary School Tacoma | 429 | 76.0% | 27.3% |
| Silver Lake Elementary School FEDERAL WAY | 382 | 74.6% | 28.9% |
| Stanley Elementary School Tacoma | 325 | 66.2% | 27.7% |
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 Dower Elementary School ranks
Among elementary schools| Measure | This school | In Washington | In Pierce County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 29.6% | #805 of 936 | #127 of 142 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 23.9% | #977 of 1,103 ▼ 114 | #132 of 142 ▼ 16 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 30.3% | #938 of 1,102 ▲ 22 | #130 of 142 ▲ 1 |
| 3-year test score change ranked biggest drop first | -5.5pp | #126 of 928 | #20 of 141 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 337 | #838 of 1,268 | #117 of 155 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 15.7:1 | #509 of 1,085 | #54 of 145 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 80.3% | #17 of 1,088 | #9 of 145 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 74.5% | #186 of 1,169 | #15 of 148 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked fastest growth first | +8.7% | #135 of 257 | #24 of 43 |
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
337
+53 (+19%) vs 2020
-35% since 1990-91, when it was 519
Student : Teacher
15.7:1
was 14.2:1
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 | 337 | 21.5 | 15.7:1 | 74% (251) |
| 2023-24 | 306 | 21.5 | 14.2:1 | 79% (241) |
| 2022-23 | 289 | 20.5 | 14.1:1 | 82% (237) |
| 2020-21 | 284 | 20 | 14.2:1 | 65% (186) |
| 2017-18 | 310 | 20.5 | 15.1:1 | 68% (211) |
| 2015-16 | 293 | 20 | 14.7:1 | 80% (233) |
| 2010-11 | 297 | 19 | 15.6:1 | 71% (212) |
| 2000-01 | 267 | 12 | 22.3:1 | N/A |
| 1990-91 | 519 | 24 | 21.6:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Dower Elementary School.
Since 2017-18: students up 9% (310 to 337); teachers up 5% (20.5 to 21.5).
About Dower Elementary School
Dower Elementary School is listed by the National Center for Education Statistics as an elementary school in Lakewood, Washington. A federal count lists 337 students at the school, in pre-K through 5.
Clover Park School District oversees Dower Elementary School and 31 other schools, with 12,345 students in total.
Hispanic students are the largest group at Dower Elementary School, with 26% of enrollment. The next largest groups are 25% Black, 17% White, 14% Pacific Islander, and 12% multiracial. The school's Hispanic share is 13 points above the 13% share among Pierce County residents. Dower Elementary School has a diversity index of 80%, compared with 70% for all US public school students.
Dower Elementary School's 21.5 full-time-equivalent teachers put its ratio at 15.7:1. That ratio is under the 17.3:1 average for elementary schools in Washington. The school's rate of free or reduced-price lunch eligibility is 74%. Among public schools in Pierce County, the average eligibility rate is 50%.
Dower Elementary School is within a point of its predicted average proficiency rate on state tests (29.6% versus 30.2%), which places it in neither the top nor the bottom 10% in Washington.
In Pierce County (population about 930,319), median household income is about $99,564, the share of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher is 31%, and about 6% of people live in poverty. A total of 287 public schools operate in Pierce County, serving about 138,462 students.
Nearby, Lochburn Middle School is about 0.7 miles away. Other public schools within five miles number at least 8. The average proficiency across nearby scored schools is 29.4%; Dower Elementary School's is 29.6%, ranking 4th of 9.
NCES assigns Dower Elementary School the locale City: Small, meaning inside a principal city with a population under 100,000.
Between 2020-21 and 2024-25, the student count climbed from 284 to 337. Federal data show the ratio rising from 14.2:1 to 15.7:1.
Discussion on this page can cover school safety, transportation, and start times. Reviews and ratings from people who know the school are welcome.
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 Clover Park School District
- Clover Park High SchoolHigh · 1,161 students
- Lakes High SchoolHigh · 1,158 students
- Thomas Middle SchoolMiddle · 934 students
- General William H. Harrison Preparatory SchoolHigh · 738 students
- Rainier Elementary SchoolElementary · 576 students
- Hillside Elementary SchoolElementary · 567 students
Other schools in Lakewood
- Clover Park High SchoolHigh · 1,161 students
- Lakes High SchoolHigh · 1,158 students
- Thomas Middle SchoolMiddle · 934 students
- General William H. Harrison Preparatory SchoolHigh · 738 students
- Hudtloff Middle SchoolMiddle · 555 students
- Four Heroes ElementaryElementary · 541 students
Nearby schools
- Lochburn Middle School0.7 mi · 497
- Hudtloff Middle School0.8 mi · 555
- Custer Elementary School0.9 mi · 358
- Mount Tahoma High School1.0 mi · 1,410
- Four Heroes Elementary1.1 mi · 541
- General William H. Harrison Preparatory School1.1 mi · 738
Frequently asked questions
About Dower Elementary SchoolHow many students attend Dower Elementary School?
Dower Elementary School enrolls approximately 337 students in grades PK-05.
What age range does Dower Elementary School serve?
Dower Elementary School serves students from grade PK through grade 05.
How many students per teacher at Dower Elementary School?
Approximately 15.7:1 students per teacher at Dower Elementary School.
How diverse is Dower Elementary School?
Dower Elementary School reports a student body of 17% White, 26% Hispanic, 25% Black, 5% Asian, 12% Two or more.
What district is Dower Elementary School in?
Dower Elementary School is part of Clover Park School District.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.