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Teachers: what resource would make the biggest difference at Firgrove Elementary this year?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
593
Elementary
DISTRICT 517 · STATE 380
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·PUYALLUP SCHOOL DISTRICT·NCES 530696001025
Firgrove Elementary
13918 Meridian S, Puyallup, WA 98373 · (253) 841-8733 · Pierce County
GRADES KG–06ELEMENTARY21-SUBURBTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL593 STUDENTS
Student : Teacher
13.8:1
43 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 16.5:1 · STATE 17.3:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
68%
405 students
DISTRICT 49% · STATE 51%
Community
1
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 | 63 | 11% |
| Grade 1 | 84 | 14% |
| Grade 2 | 93 | 16% |
| Grade 3 | 102 | 17% |
| Grade 4 | 78 | 13% |
| Grade 5 | 95 | 16% |
| Grade 6 | 78 | 13% |
This year's kindergarten class (63) is 19% smaller than its 6th grade class (78).
Student demographics
77%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 71% · 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
36.9%
WA avg 58.4% . -13.6pp since 2014
Math
34.9%
WA avg 51.2% . -2.4pp since 2014
What this means: On the Smarter Balanced + WCAS, Washington's statewide test, about 37 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 35 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 2 points.
Smarter Balanced + WCAS results by year
| School year | English Language Arts | Math |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 36.9% | 34.9% |
| 2023-24 | 31.8% | 31.6% |
| 2022-23 | 35.2% | 29.5% |
| 2021-22 | 38.3% | 25.4% |
| 2018-19 | 51.4% | 39.8% |
| 2017-18 | 51.9% | 37.5% |
| 2016-17 | 49.4% | 41.8% |
| 2015-16 | 46.2% | 39.9% |
| 2014-15 | 50.5% | 37.3% |
% 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
35.4%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
34.4%
based on WA schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
+1.1pp
above demographic expectation
What this means: About 35% of students here test proficient in math and reading, compared with the roughly 34% 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 Firgrove Elementary
Firgrove Elementary's state test result (35.4% proficient) is higher than 0 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Firgrove Elementary this school | 593 | 68.3% | 35.4% |
| Shining Mountain Elementary Spanaway | 613 | 65.7% | 39.9% |
| Evergreen Elementary Spanaway | 530 | 66.4% | 42.1% |
| Camas Prairie Elementary Spanaway | 529 | 67.9% | 55.1% |
| Brookdale Elementary Tacoma | 483 | 69.2% | 40.2% |
| Lowell Elementary Everett | 531 | 69.3% | 50.2% |
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 Firgrove Elementary ranks
Among elementary schools| Measure | This school | In Washington | In Pierce County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 35.4% | #714 of 936 | #114 of 142 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 34.9% | #776 of 1,103 ▲ 45 | #110 of 142 ▲ 1 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 36.9% | #823 of 1,102 ▲ 84 | #117 of 142 ▲ 8 |
| 3-year test score change ranked biggest gain first | +4.1pp | #311 of 928 | #51 of 141 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 593 | #111 of 1,268 | #18 of 155 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 13.8:1 | #133 of 1,085 | #9 of 145 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 77.0% | #90 of 1,088 | #37 of 145 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 68.3% | #289 of 1,169 | #33 of 148 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked steepest decline first | -20.4% | #283 of 778 | #29 of 91 |
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
593
+3 (+1%) vs 2020
-5% since 1990-91, when it was 626
Student : Teacher
13.8:1
was 14.8:1
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 | 593 | 42.8 | 13.8:1 | 68% (405) |
| 2023-24 | 631 | 41.6 | 15.2:1 | 68% (431) |
| 2022-23 | 591 | 40 | 14.8:1 | 66% (389) |
| 2020-21 | 590 | 40 | 14.8:1 | 56% (328) |
| 2017-18 | 745 | 43.9 | 17.0:1 | 54% (403) |
| 2015-16 | 601 | 32 | 18.8:1 | 60% (361) |
| 2010-11 | 617 | 30 | 20.6:1 | 48% (294) |
| 2000-01 | 671 | 37 | 18.1:1 | N/A |
| 1990-91 | 626 | 37 | 16.9:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Firgrove Elementary.
Since 2017-18: students down 20% (745 to 593); teachers down 2% (43.9 to 42.8).
About Firgrove Elementary
Firgrove Elementary is a public high-enrollment elementary school in Puyallup, Washington. It covers kindergarten through 6, with a total enrollment of 593 students. Statewide, elementary schools in Washington average about 380 students each.
Puyallup School District has 37 schools; together they serve 23,026 students.
No single group makes up more than half of enrollment at Firgrove Elementary. The largest is White students, at 36%. Next come 22% Hispanic, 17% multiracial, 11% Black, and 6% Asian. That compares with about 64% White among all Pierce County residents. The school's diversity index is 77%, meaning two students picked at random have a 77% chance of belonging to different racial or ethnic groups.
A ratio of 13.8:1 comes from the school's 42.8 full-time-equivalent teachers. That is 3.5 students per teacher below the 17.3:1 average for elementary schools in Washington. Free or reduced-price lunch eligibility was 68% in 2024-25. The gap from the 50% average for public schools in Pierce County is 18 points.
After adjusting for student poverty, Firgrove Elementary lands between the top and bottom 10% of Washington schools. Its average proficiency rate on state tests is 35.4%; the prediction is 34.4%.
Among Pierce County residents, the median household income is $99,564, 31% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, and about 6% of residents live below the federal poverty line. Firgrove Elementary is one of 287 public schools in the county.
The next-closest public school is Ballou Jr High, about 0.2 miles away. Firgrove Elementary is one of several public schools in the area, with at least 8 others within five miles. Firgrove Elementary's average proficiency of 35.4% compares with 47.3% for its nearest scored neighbors.
For locale, NCES codes Firgrove Elementary as Suburb: Large.
There was little change in enrollment from 2020-21 (590) to 2024-25 (593).
Families, students, and staff can use this page to discuss enrollment questions, class placement, and PTA news at Firgrove Elementary. Anyone with firsthand experience at this school can post or comment.
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 Puyallup School District
- Puyallup High SchoolHigh · 1,815 students
- Gov John Rogers High SchoolHigh · 1,788 students
- Emerald Ridge High SchoolHigh · 1,599 students
- Dessie F Evans ElementaryElementary · 919 students
- Ballou Jr HighMiddle · 852 students
- Doris Stahl Junior HighMiddle · 846 students
Other schools in Puyallup
- Puyallup High SchoolHigh · 1,815 students
- Gov John Rogers High SchoolHigh · 1,788 students
- Emerald Ridge High SchoolHigh · 1,599 students
- Dessie F Evans ElementaryElementary · 919 students
- Ballou Jr HighMiddle · 852 students
- Doris Stahl Junior HighMiddle · 846 students
Nearby schools
- Ballou Jr High0.2 mi · 852
- Edward Zeiger Elem0.8 mi · 500
- Gov John Rogers High School1.0 mi · 1,788
- Dessie F Evans Elementary1.4 mi · 919
- Pope Elementary1.5 mi · 710
- Warren Hunt Elem1.7 mi · 681
Frequently asked questions
About Firgrove ElementaryHow large is Firgrove Elementary?
Firgrove Elementary enrolls approximately 593 students in grades KG-06.
Is Firgrove Elementary an elementary, middle, or high school?
Firgrove Elementary is an elementary school covering grades KG-06.
How many students per teacher at Firgrove Elementary?
Approximately 13.8:1 students per teacher at Firgrove Elementary.
What is the racial breakdown of students at Firgrove Elementary?
At Firgrove Elementary, the student body is approximately 36% White, 22% Hispanic, 11% Black, 6% Asian, 17% Two or more.
Is Firgrove Elementary public or private?
Firgrove Elementary is a public K-12 school, overseen by Puyallup School District.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.