Enrollment
311
Elementary
DISTRICT 356 · STATE 380
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·TACOMA SCHOOL DISTRICT·NCES 530870001465
Fern Hill Elementary School
8442 S Park Ave, Tacoma, WA 98444 · (253) 571-3888 · Pierce County
GRADES PK–05ELEMENTARY12-CITYTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL311 STUDENTS
A-
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 76% 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.
- ABeats expectations How far test scores land above or below what the share of low-income students predicts for a school in this state.
- A+Three-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
18.2:1
17 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 17.2:1 · STATE 17.3:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
71%
221 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Pre-K | 38 | 12% |
| Kindergarten | 66 | 21% |
| Grade 1 | 35 | 11% |
| Grade 2 | 49 | 16% |
| Grade 3 | 38 | 12% |
| Grade 4 | 46 | 15% |
| Grade 5 | 39 | 13% |
This year's kindergarten class (66) is 69% larger than its 5th grade class (39).
Student demographics
76%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
41.2%
WA avg 58.4% . -14.4pp since 2014
Math
39.2%
WA avg 51.2% . -11.4pp since 2014
What this means: On the Smarter Balanced + WCAS, Washington's statewide test, about 41 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 39 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 14 points since 2014, while math scores are down about 11 points.
Smarter Balanced + WCAS results by year
| School year | English Language Arts | Math |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 41.2% | 39.2% |
| 2023-24 | 48.8% | 41.6% |
| 2022-23 | 47.4% | 47.4% |
| 2021-22 | 29.8% | 21.7% |
| 2018-19 | 50.7% | 52.7% |
| 2017-18 | 55.4% | 47.6% |
| 2016-17 | 50.6% | 48.8% |
| 2015-16 | 57.2% | 51.1% |
| 2014-15 | 55.6% | 50.6% |
% 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
OUTPERFORMING
Top 10% of WA schools after controlling for student poverty
Actual proficiency
45.7%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
32.5%
based on WA schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
+13.1pp
above demographic expectation
What this means: About 46% of students here test proficient in math and reading, well above the roughly 33% typical for Washington schools with a similar share of low-income students. BeatsExpectations ranks schools against others at the same poverty level, not by raw scores, so a school can post high scores and still fall short of its prediction, or post lower scores and still beat it. This school clears its prediction by about 13 points, placing it in Washington's top 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 Fern Hill Elementary School
Fern Hill Elementary School's state test result (45.7% proficient) is higher than 5 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fern Hill Elementary School this school | 311 | 71.1% | 45.7% |
| Larchmont Elementary School Tacoma | 303 | 71.6% | 34.1% |
| Adelaide Elementary School Federal Way | 321 | 72.3% | 28.5% |
| Lyon Elementary School Tacoma | 381 | 67.7% | 39.6% |
| Seahurst Elementary School Burien | 405 | 69.6% | 24.2% |
| Camelot Elementary School AUBURN | 292 | 69.5% | 40.8% |
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 Fern Hill Elementary School ranks
Among elementary schools| Measure | This school | In Washington | In Pierce County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 45.7% | #509 of 936 | #84 of 142 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 39.2% | #681 of 1,103 ▼ 81 | #94 of 142 ▼ 7 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 41.2% | #715 of 1,102 ▼ 185 | #100 of 142 ▼ 25 |
| 3-year test score change ranked biggest gain first | +14.5pp | #32 of 928 | #5 of 141 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 311 | #928 of 1,268 | #127 of 155 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 18.2:1 | #991 of 1,085 | #127 of 145 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 76.5% | #105 of 1,088 | #43 of 145 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 71.1% | #243 of 1,169 | #25 of 148 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked fastest growth first | +1.6% | #233 of 257 | #40 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
311
-15 (-5%) vs 2020
-47% since 1990-91, when it was 589
Student : Teacher
18.2:1
was 16.3:1
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 | 311 | 17.1 | 18.2:1 | 71% (221) |
| 2023-24 | 287 | 18.6 | 15.4:1 | 71% (204) |
| 2022-23 | 297 | 17.6 | 16.9:1 | 67% (199) |
| 2020-21 | 326 | 20 | 16.3:1 | 69% (225) |
| 2017-18 | 306 | 18.1 | 16.9:1 | 72% (219) |
| 2015-16 | 324 | 20 | 16.2:1 | 73% (236) |
| 2010-11 | 354 | 20 | 17.7:1 | 62% (219) |
| 2000-01 | 647 | 31 | 20.9:1 | N/A |
| 1990-91 | 589 | 27 | 21.8:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Fern Hill Elementary School.
Since 2017-18: students up 2% (306 to 311); teachers down 6% (18.1 to 17.1).
About Fern Hill Elementary School
Fern Hill Elementary School is a low-enrollment elementary school. Its address is in Tacoma, Washington. It covers pre-K through 5, with a total enrollment of 311 students.
Tacoma School District is the local district for Fern Hill Elementary School. It runs 66 schools with 28,900 students.
Hispanic students are the largest group at Fern Hill Elementary School, with 38% of enrollment. The rest of enrollment is 20% White, 16% multiracial, 10% Black, and 8% Asian. Among all residents of Pierce County, the Hispanic share is about 13%. The chance that two students picked at random at Fern Hill Elementary School belong to different racial or ethnic groups, known as the diversity index, is 76%.
Federal records show a student-to-teacher ratio of 18.2:1 at Fern Hill Elementary School, with 17.1 full-time-equivalent teachers. Among elementary schools in Washington, the typical ratio is 17.3:1. The count of students eligible for free or reduced-price lunch equals 71% of enrollment. Among public schools in Pierce County, the average eligibility rate is 50%.
Measured against Washington public elementary schools, Fern Hill Elementary School receives an A-. The grade weighs proficiency most heavily, then how results compare with what the school's low-income share predicts, then the three-year change.
On allk12's BeatsExpectations measure, Fern Hill Elementary School is among the top 10% of schools in Washington. Predicted: 32.5%. Actual: 45.7%.
Census Bureau estimates for Pierce County show that median household income is about $99,564, a bachelor's degree or higher is held by about 31% of adults, and the share of residents below the poverty line is 6%. Fern Hill Elementary School is one of 287 public schools in Pierce County, which together enroll about 138,462 students.
The closest public school, Baker Middle School, is about 0.3 miles from Fern Hill Elementary School. Around the school, at least 8 other public schools are within five miles. Fern Hill Elementary School places 2nd of 9 on proficiency among the closest schools that report scores.
The school's setting, by NCES definition, is City: Mid-size: inside a principal city with a population between 100,000 and 250,000.
From 2020-21 to 2024-25, Fern Hill Elementary School went from 326 students to 311. The ratio was 16.3:1 in 2020-21 and 18.2:1 in 2024-25.
Threads on this page can be about enrollment questions, class placement, and PTA news. 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
- Dr. Dolores Silas High SchoolHigh · 1,160 students
- Baker Middle SchoolMiddle · 687 students
- Tacoma School of the ArtsHigh · 658 students
Other schools in Tacoma
- Stadium High SchoolHigh · 1,700 students
- Lincoln High SchoolHigh · 1,556 students
- Mount Tahoma High SchoolHigh · 1,410 students
- Dr. Dolores Silas High SchoolHigh · 1,160 students
- Washington High SchoolHigh · 989 students
- Franklin Pierce High SchoolHigh · 977 students
Other Fern Hill Elementary schools
2 other US public schools in 3 states are named Fern Hill Elementary. Fern Hill Elementary School is the 2nd largest of the 3.
- Fern Hill Elementary SchoolWest Chester, PA · 408 students
- Fern Hill Elementary SchoolForest Grove, OR · 249 students
Nearby schools
- Baker Middle School0.3 mi · 687
- Birney Elementary School0.7 mi · 476
- Larchmont Elementary School0.7 mi · 303
- Helen Stafford Elementary School0.7 mi · 453
- Industrial Design Engineering and Arts1.1 mi · 392
- Christensen Elementary1.1 mi · 346
Frequently asked questions
About Fern Hill Elementary SchoolHow large is Fern Hill Elementary School?
Fern Hill Elementary School enrolls approximately 311 students in grades PK-05.
What grades does Fern Hill Elementary School serve?
Fern Hill Elementary School serves grades PK-05.
How many students per teacher at Fern Hill Elementary School?
Approximately 18.2:1 students per teacher at Fern Hill Elementary School.
What is the racial breakdown of students at Fern Hill Elementary School?
At Fern Hill Elementary School, the student body is approximately 20% White, 38% Hispanic, 10% Black, 8% Asian, 16% Two or more.
Who oversees Fern Hill Elementary School?
Fern Hill Elementary School is overseen by Tacoma School District in Pierce County.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.