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What advice would you give to incoming students at Federal Way High School?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
1,665
High
DISTRICT 711 · STATE 573
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·FEDERAL WAY SCHOOL DISTRICT·NCES 530282000435
Federal Way High School
30611 16TH AV S, FEDERAL WAY, WA 98003 · (253) 945-5400 · King County
GRADES 09–12HIGH21-SUBURBTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL1,665 STUDENTS
D
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 13% of Washington public high schools
- DTest scores Share of students meeting the state standard in reading, math, and other tested subjects, 2023-24 and 2024-25.
- CBeats expectations How far test scores land above or below what the share of low-income students predicts for a school in this state.
- BThree-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
20.7:1
81 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 21.6:1 · STATE 21.6:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
74%
1,229 students
DISTRICT 72% · 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 | 388 | 23% |
| Grade 10 | 410 | 25% |
| Grade 11 | 436 | 26% |
| Grade 12 | 431 | 26% |
Student demographics
76%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 79% · 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
45.5%
WA avg 58.4% . +32.0pp since 2014
Math
13.3%
WA avg 51.2% . +10.0pp since 2014
What this means: On the Smarter Balanced + WCAS, Washington's statewide test, about 45 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 13 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 32 points since 2014, while math scores are up about 10 points.
Smarter Balanced + WCAS results by year
| School year | English Language Arts | Math |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 45.5% | 13.3% |
| 2023-24 | 44.6% | 11.7% |
| 2022-23 | 43.5% | 13.8% |
| 2021-22 | 46.8% | 11.7% |
| 2018-19 | 54.5% | 18.3% |
| 2017-18 | 55.6% | 22.6% |
| 2016-17 | 16.8% | 3.1% |
| 2015-16 | 15.8% | 16.1% |
| 2014-15 | 13.5% | 3.4% |
% 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
AS EXPECTED
Performing as predicted given the school's student profile
Actual proficiency
22.5%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
30.7%
based on WA schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
-8.2pp
below demographic expectation
What this means: About 22% of students here test proficient in math and reading, compared with the roughly 31% 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 Federal Way High School
Federal Way High School's state test result (22.5% proficient) is higher than 1 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Federal Way High School this school | 1,665 | 73.8% | 22.5% |
| Lincoln High School Tacoma | 1,556 | 72.7% | 22.3% |
| Todd Beamer High School FEDERAL WAY | 1,412 | 72.8% | 25.9% |
| Thomas Jefferson High School AUBURN | 1,810 | 71.9% | 22.7% |
| Kent-Meridian High School Kent | 1,639 | 68.9% | 24.6% |
| Mount Tahoma High School Tacoma | 1,410 | 69.6% | 24.9% |
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 Federal Way High School ranks
Among high schools| Measure | This school | In Washington | In King County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 22.5% | #254 of 271 | #52 of 59 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 13.3% | #283 of 321 ▲ 3 | #52 of 59 no change |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 45.5% | #252 of 327 ▲ 14 | #46 of 61 ▲ 4 |
| 3-year test score change ranked biggest gain first | +0.2pp | #110 of 259 | #21 of 57 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 1,665 | #54 of 570 | #21 of 97 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 20.7:1 | #161 of 311 | #31 of 67 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 75.8% | #24 of 316 | #15 of 67 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 73.8% | #47 of 386 | #7 of 76 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked fastest growth first | +5.4% | #96 of 136 | #22 of 31 |
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
1,665
+33 (+2%) vs 2020
+43% since 1990-91, when it was 1,168
Student : Teacher
20.7:1
was 20.7:1
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 | 1,665 | 80.5 | 20.7:1 | 74% (1,229) |
| 2023-24 | 1,645 | 80.2 | 20.5:1 | 73% (1,206) |
| 2022-23 | 1,640 | 78.1 | 21.0:1 | 75% (1,236) |
| 2020-21 | 1,632 | 79 | 20.7:1 | 66% (1,075) |
| 2017-18 | 1,580 | 76.5 | 20.6:1 | 63% (992) |
| 2015-16 | 1,612 | 79 | 20.4:1 | 65% (1,046) |
| 2010-11 | 1,525 | 78 | 19.6:1 | 36% (554) |
| 2000-01 | 1,514 | 64 | 23.7:1 | N/A |
| 1990-91 | 1,168 | 54 | 21.6:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Federal Way High School.
Since 2017-18: students up 5% (1,580 to 1,665); teachers up 5% (76.5 to 80.5).
About Federal Way High School
Federal Way High School is a high-enrollment high school in FEDERAL WAY, Washington, one of the schools in Federal Way School District. The school's 1,665 students are in grades 9 through 12. Statewide, high schools in Washington average about 573 students each.
Federal Way School District has 43 schools; together they serve 22,250 students.
No single group makes up more than half of enrollment at Federal Way High School. The largest is Hispanic students, at 40%. Smaller groups are 17% Black, 14% White, 12% Asian, and 10% multiracial. For comparison, the population of King County is roughly 11% Hispanic. The school's diversity index is 76%, meaning two students picked at random have a 76% chance of belonging to different racial or ethnic groups.
Federal Way High School employs 80.5 full-time-equivalent teachers. That gives a ratio of about 20.7:1. This ratio sits 0.9 below the 21.6:1 average for high schools in Washington. Free or reduced-price lunch eligibility was 74% in 2024-25. That rate is above the 38% average among public schools in King County.
Measured against Washington public high schools, Federal Way High School receives a D. The grade weighs proficiency most heavily, then how results compare with what the school's low-income share predicts, then the three-year change.
Federal Way High School sits between the top and bottom 10% of Washington schools on BeatsExpectations, with an actual average proficiency rate on state tests of 22.5% and a predicted 30.7%.
King County has about 2,287,171 residents, and the median household income is $124,746, 57% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, and about 5% of residents live below the federal poverty line. Besides Federal Way High School, King County has 543 other public schools.
The closest public school to Federal Way High School is Sacajawea Middle School, about 0.5 miles away. Federal Way High School is one of several public schools in the area, with at least 8 others within five miles. The nearest schools with test data average 30.9%, higher than Federal Way High School's 22.5%.
Federal data place Federal Way High School in the Suburb: Large locale, which means it is in a suburban area outside a principal city, within an urbanized area with a population of 250,000 or more.
Federal data show 1,632 students in 2020-21 and 1,665 in 2024-25, a difference of under 3%.
Posts about school events, clubs, and volunteer needs are welcome on this page. Reviews and ratings from people who know the school are welcome.
King County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
2,287,171
Census ACS
Median income
$124,746
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
57%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
5%
Below federal line
Schools in county
544
278,492 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in Federal Way School District
- Thomas Jefferson High SchoolHigh · 1,810 students
- Todd Beamer High SchoolHigh · 1,412 students
- Decatur High SchoolHigh · 1,352 students
- Evergreen Middle SchoolMiddle · 810 students
- Kilo Middle SchoolMiddle · 669 students
- Sacajawea Middle SchoolMiddle · 668 students
Other schools in FEDERAL WAY
- Todd Beamer High SchoolHigh · 1,412 students
- Decatur High SchoolHigh · 1,352 students
- Sacajawea Middle SchoolMiddle · 668 students
- Illahee Middle SchoolMiddle · 655 students
- Lakota Middle SchoolMiddle · 645 students
- Wildwood Elementary SchoolElementary · 598 students
Nearby schools
- Sacajawea Middle School0.5 mi · 668
- Wildwood Elementary School0.7 mi · 598
- Mirror Lake Elementary School0.7 mi · 491
- Open Doors Youth Reengagement (1418)0.9 mi · 154
- Internet Academy0.9 mi · 370
- Career Academy at Truman High School0.9 mi · 83
Frequently asked questions
About Federal Way High SchoolHow many students attend Federal Way High School?
Federal Way High School enrolls approximately 1,665 students in grades 09-12.
Is Federal Way High School an elementary, middle, or high school?
Federal Way High School is a high school covering grades 09-12.
What is the student-teacher ratio at Federal Way High School?
The student-to-teacher ratio at Federal Way High School is approximately 20.7:1 (81 FTE teachers).
How diverse is Federal Way High School?
Federal Way High School reports a student body of 14% White, 40% Hispanic, 17% Black, 12% Asian, 10% Two or more.
Who oversees Federal Way High School?
Federal Way High School is overseen by Federal Way School District in King County.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.