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What clubs or activities at Dr. Dolores Silas High School are worth joining?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
1,160
High
DISTRICT 656 · STATE 573
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·TACOMA SCHOOL DISTRICT·NCES 530870001513
Dr. Dolores Silas High School
1202 N Orchard St, Tacoma, WA 98406 · (253) 571-6000 · Pierce County
GRADES 09–12HIGH12-CITYTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL1,160 STUDENTS
D
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 5% of Washington public high schools
- C-Test scores Share of students meeting the state standard in reading, math, and other tested subjects, 2023-24 and 2024-25.
- FBeats expectations How far test scores land above or below what the share of low-income students predicts for a school in this state.
- FThree-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 high schools
Student : Teacher
23.0:1
50 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 24.5:1 · STATE 21.6:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
42%
486 students
DISTRICT 57% · STATE 51%
Community
1
0 members
Enrollment and student:teacher ratio compared against other high schools. Free/Reduced Lunch and demographics compared against all schools.
Enrollment by grade, 2024-25
| Grade | Students | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Grade 9 | 288 | 25% |
| Grade 10 | 333 | 29% |
| Grade 11 | 274 | 24% |
| Grade 12 | 265 | 23% |
Student demographics
69%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 78% · 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
54.2%
WA avg 58.4% . +13.0pp since 2014
Math
16.3%
WA avg 51.2% . +5.8pp since 2014
What this means: On the Smarter Balanced + WCAS, Washington's statewide test, about 54 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 16 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 13 points since 2014, while math scores are up about 6 points.
Smarter Balanced + WCAS results by year
| School year | English Language Arts | Math |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 54.2% | 16.3% |
| 2023-24 | 50.0% | 15.6% |
| 2022-23 | 60.9% | 19.6% |
| 2021-22 | 60.4% | 31.1% |
| 2018-19 | 60.1% | 29.6% |
| 2017-18 | 70.8% | 33.7% |
| 2016-17 | 5.0% | N/A |
| 2015-16 | 7.7% | 3.5% |
| 2014-15 | 41.2% | 10.4% |
% 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
UNDERPERFORMING
Bottom 10% of WA schools after controlling for student poverty
Actual proficiency
34.9%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
52.1%
based on WA schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
-17.2pp
below demographic expectation
What this means: About 35% of students here test proficient in math and reading, below the roughly 52% typical for Washington schools with a similar share of low-income students. BeatsExpectations compares each school with others at the same poverty level, not by raw scores, so a school lands here when its results trail those comparable schools, which is not the same as having low scores. A higher-scoring school can still fall in this tier if similar schools score higher still.
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 Dr. Dolores Silas High School
Dr. Dolores Silas High School's state test result (34.9% proficient) is higher than 0 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dr. Dolores Silas High School this school | 1,160 | 41.9% | 34.9% |
| Nathan Hale High School SEATTLE | 1,052 | 38.8% | 49.9% |
| Emerald Ridge High School Puyallup | 1,599 | 43.7% | 45.6% |
| Curtis Junior High UNIVERSITY PLACE | 904 | 39.4% | 57.1% |
| Stadium High School Tacoma | 1,700 | 38.2% | 36.5% |
| Timberline High School Lacey | 1,401 | 40.9% | 42.4% |
Matched among Washington high 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 Dr. Dolores Silas High School ranks
Among high schools| Measure | This school | In Washington | In Pierce County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 34.9% | #203 of 271 | #25 of 32 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 16.3% | #251 of 321 ▼ 2 | #23 of 32 ▼ 1 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 54.2% | #202 of 327 ▲ 29 | #22 of 33 ▲ 4 |
| 3-year test score change ranked biggest drop first | -10.5pp | #18 of 259 | #2 of 32 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 1,160 | #138 of 570 | #17 of 51 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 23.0:1 | #263 of 311 | #24 of 34 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 68.6% | #76 of 316 | #22 of 35 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 41.9% | #260 of 386 | #26 of 39 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked steepest decline first | -9.4% | #69 of 164 | #6 of 15 |
Ranked against other public high 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
1,160
-54 (-4%) vs 2020
-31% since 1990-91, when it was 1,670
Student : Teacher
23.0:1
was 22.9:1
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 | 1,160 | 50.4 | 23.0:1 | 42% (486) |
| 2023-24 | 1,136 | 48.2 | 23.6:1 | 47% (537) |
| 2022-23 | 1,114 | 48.3 | 23.1:1 | 45% (500) |
| 2020-21 | 1,214 | 53 | 22.9:1 | 40% (489) |
| 2017-18 | 1,280 | 58.4 | 21.9:1 | 37% (478) |
| 2015-16 | 1,244 | 57 | 21.8:1 | 44% (549) |
| 2010-11 | 1,392 | 70 | 19.9:1 | 30% (419) |
| 2000-01 | 1,872 | 79 | 23.7:1 | N/A |
| 1990-91 | 1,670 | 76 | 22.0:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Dr. Dolores Silas High School.
Since 2017-18: students down 9% (1,280 to 1,160); teachers down 14% (58.4 to 50.4).
About Dr. Dolores Silas High School
Dr. Dolores Silas High School is a public high school in Tacoma, Washington. The student body numbers 1,160 students, from grades 9 through 12. An average school in this group (high schools in Washington) has about 573 students.
Tacoma School District operates 66 schools. Combined enrollment is 28,900 students.
By race and ethnicity, the largest group at Dr. Dolores Silas High School is White (50%). Smaller groups are 17% multiracial, 13% Hispanic, 10% Black, and 7% Asian. For comparison, the population of Pierce County is roughly 64% White. Dr. Dolores Silas High School has a diversity index of 69%, compared with 70% for all US public school students.
Dr. Dolores Silas High School employs 50.4 full-time-equivalent teachers. That gives a ratio of about 23.0:1. The average ratio among high schools in Washington is 21.6:1, lower than at this school. Dr. Dolores Silas High School's free or reduced-price lunch eligibility rate is 42%. The rate at public schools in Pierce County averages 50%, higher than here.
The allk12 Grade for Dr. Dolores Silas High School is D. Compared with Washington public high schools, the school scored higher than 5% on a mix of test scores, poverty-adjusted results, and recent trend.
When test results are adjusted for free or reduced-price lunch eligibility, Dr. Dolores Silas High School ranks in the bottom 10% of Washington schools. It scores 34.9%; the prediction is 52.1%.
In Pierce County (population about 930,319), median household income is about $99,564, about 31% of adults have at least a bachelor's degree, and the poverty rate is about 6%. A total of 287 public schools operate in Pierce County, serving about 138,462 students.
The closest other public school is Remann Hall Juvenile Detention Center, about 0.4 miles away. There are at least 8 other public schools within five miles. Dr. Dolores Silas High School's average proficiency of 34.9% compares with 53.7% for its nearest scored neighbors.
The school's setting, by NCES definition, is City: Mid-size: inside a principal city with a population between 100,000 and 250,000.
Enrollment was 1,214 in 2020-21 and 1,160 in 2024-25, a decrease of 54 students.
Families, students, and staff can use this page to discuss science fairs, picture day, and bus routes at Dr. Dolores Silas High School. Alumni can share how the school prepared them.
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 Tacoma School District
- Stadium High SchoolHigh · 1,700 students
- Lincoln High SchoolHigh · 1,556 students
- Mount Tahoma High SchoolHigh · 1,410 students
- Baker Middle SchoolMiddle · 687 students
- Tacoma School of the ArtsHigh · 658 students
- Stewart Middle SchoolMiddle · 650 students
Other schools in Tacoma
- Stadium High SchoolHigh · 1,700 students
- Lincoln High SchoolHigh · 1,556 students
- Mount Tahoma High SchoolHigh · 1,410 students
- Washington High SchoolHigh · 989 students
- Franklin Pierce High SchoolHigh · 977 students
- Fife High SchoolHigh · 885 students
Nearby schools
- Remann Hall Juvenile Detention Center0.4 mi · 21
- Jefferson Elementary School0.5 mi · 358
- Downing Elementary School0.6 mi · 298
- The School at Pearl Youth Residence0.7 mi · 21
- Delong Elementary School0.9 mi · 349
- Skyline Elementary School0.9 mi · 329
Frequently asked questions
About Dr. Dolores Silas High SchoolWhat is the total enrollment at Dr. Dolores Silas High School?
Dr. Dolores Silas High School enrolls approximately 1,160 students in grades 09-12.
Is Dr. Dolores Silas High School an elementary, middle, or high school?
Dr. Dolores Silas High School is a high school covering grades 09-12.
How many students per teacher at Dr. Dolores Silas High School?
Approximately 23.0:1 students per teacher at Dr. Dolores Silas High School.
What is the racial breakdown of students at Dr. Dolores Silas High School?
At Dr. Dolores Silas High School, the student body is approximately 50% White, 13% Hispanic, 10% Black, 7% Asian, 17% Two or more.
Is Dr. Dolores Silas High School public or private?
Dr. Dolores Silas High School is a public K-12 school, overseen by Tacoma School District.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.