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How has Foothills Elementary changed in the last five years, for better or worse?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
470
Elementary
DISTRICT 349 · STATE 380
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·WHITE RIVER SCHOOL DISTRICT·NCES 530978002245
Foothills Elementary
10621 234th Ave E., Buckley, WA 98321 · (360) 829-3355 · Pierce County
GRADES 01–05ELEMENTARY21-SUBURBTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL470 STUDENTS
Student : Teacher
15.2:1
31 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 17.1:1 · STATE 17.3:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
50%
234 students
DISTRICT 38% · 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Grade 1 | 88 | 19% |
| Grade 2 | 91 | 19% |
| Grade 3 | 98 | 21% |
| Grade 4 | 96 | 20% |
| Grade 5 | 97 | 21% |
This year's 1st grade class (88) is 9% smaller than its 5th grade class (97).
Student demographics
53%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 43% · 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
School pathway
Students here typically continue to
Foothills Elementary→Glacier Middle School
Based on grade levels within White River School District. Attendance zones can vary; confirm enrollment with the district.
Test scores
Smarter Balanced + WCAS 2024-25 . % Met or Exceeded StandardEnglish Language Arts
56.6%
WA avg 58.4% . -5.0pp since 2014
Math
49.2%
WA avg 51.2% . -10.8pp since 2014
What this means: On the Smarter Balanced + WCAS, Washington's statewide test, about 57 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 49 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 5 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 | 56.6% | 49.2% |
| 2023-24 | 55.1% | 52.7% |
| 2022-23 | 51.1% | 49.2% |
| 2021-22 | 59.9% | 53.6% |
| 2018-19 | 59.2% | 60.5% |
| 2017-18 | 57.7% | 60.5% |
| 2016-17 | 62.5% | 59.9% |
| 2015-16 | 59.4% | 57.1% |
| 2014-15 | 61.6% | 60.0% |
% 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
53.0%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
46.8%
based on WA schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
+6.2pp
above demographic expectation
What this means: About 53% of students here test proficient in math and reading, compared with the roughly 47% 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 Foothills Elementary
Foothills Elementary's state test result (53.0% proficient) is higher than 4 of the 4 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Foothills Elementary this school | 470 | 49.8% | 53.0% |
| Maple Grove Primary BATTLE GROUND | 497 | 50.1% | N/A |
| Cougar Creek Elementary School Arlington | 422 | 50.2% | 41.3% |
| Yelm Prairie Elementary Yelm | 427 | 49.9% | 48.3% |
| Hidden Creek Elementary School PORT ORCHARD | 439 | 48.1% | 42.5% |
| McKenna Elementary McKenna | 418 | 49.3% | 51.1% |
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 Foothills Elementary ranks
Among elementary schools| Measure | This school | In Washington | In Pierce County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 53.0% | #386 of 936 | #61 of 142 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 49.2% | #457 of 1,103 ▼ 69 | #64 of 142 ▼ 5 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 56.6% | #376 of 1,102 ▲ 26 | #52 of 142 ▲ 4 |
| 3-year test score change ranked biggest drop first | -3.9pp | #185 of 928 | #32 of 141 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 470 | #383 of 1,268 | #57 of 155 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 15.2:1 | #380 of 1,085 | #40 of 145 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 53.5% | #681 of 1,088 | #122 of 145 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 49.8% | #645 of 1,169 | #86 of 148 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked steepest decline first | -18.5% | #339 of 778 | #38 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
470
+11 (+2%) vs 2020
-20% since 1990-91, when it was 591
Student : Teacher
15.2:1
was 18.4:1
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 | 470 | 31 | 15.2:1 | 50% (234) |
| 2023-24 | 499 | 29 | 17.2:1 | 49% (243) |
| 2022-23 | 489 | 27.5 | 17.8:1 | 51% (249) |
| 2020-21 | 459 | 25 | 18.4:1 | 35% (160) |
| 2017-18 | 577 | 28 | 20.6:1 | 42% (243) |
| 2015-16 | 526 | 26 | 20.2:1 | 38% (202) |
| 2010-11 | 483 | 21 | 23.0:1 | 34% (165) |
| 2000-01 | 681 | 35 | 19.5:1 | N/A |
| 1990-91 | 591 | 29 | 20.4:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Foothills Elementary.
Since 2017-18: students down 19% (577 to 470); teachers up 11% (28 to 31).
About Foothills Elementary
Foothills Elementary is a mid-sized elementary school in Buckley, Washington. It reports enrollment of 470 students in grades 1 through 5. On average, elementary schools in Washington enroll around 380, and this school is 24% larger than that mark.
White River School District is made up of 9 schools with 4,475 students in all.
Federal enrollment data show Foothills Elementary is 65% White. The next largest groups are 19% Hispanic, 10% multiracial, 2% Pacific Islander, and 2% Black. In Pierce County overall, the White share is about 64%. A diversity index of 53% means there is a 53% chance two randomly chosen students at Foothills Elementary are from different groups.
The school lists 31 full-time-equivalent teachers and a student-to-teacher ratio of 15.2:1. Compared with the 17.3:1 average for elementary schools in Washington, this school's ratio is lower. Free or reduced-price lunch covers 50% of the student body. The average for public schools in Pierce County is similar, at 50%.
When test results are adjusted for free or reduced-price lunch eligibility, Foothills Elementary is 6.2 points above its prediction. Actual: 53.0%. Predicted: 46.8%.
The school is in Pierce County, where the median household earns about $99,564 a year, about 31% of adults have at least a bachelor's degree, and roughly 6% of residents are in poverty. Across Pierce County, 287 public schools serve about 138,462 students.
About 2.0 miles separate Foothills Elementary from the closest public school, Liberty Ridge Elementary. Other public schools within five miles: at least 8. Compared with its nearest neighbors, Foothills Elementary ranks 6th of 7 on average proficiency.
The National Center for Education Statistics classifies the school's location as Suburb: Large, meaning it is in a suburban area outside a principal city, within an urbanized area with a population of 250,000 or more.
Enrollment has been fairly stable: 459 in 2020-21 and 470 in 2024-25. The student-to-teacher ratio dropped from 18.4:1 in 2020-21 to 15.2:1 in 2024-25.
This page is set up for the Foothills Elementary community to discuss homework, tutoring, and testing dates. Members of the school community can share what they know.
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 White River School District
- White River High SchoolHigh · 1,340 students
- Glacier Middle SchoolMiddle · 999 students
- Elk Ridge ElementaryElementary · 564 students
- Mountain Meadow ElementaryElementary · 443 students
- White River Early Learning CenterElementary · 360 students
- Wilkeson Elementary SchoolElementary · 253 students
Other schools in Buckley
- White River High SchoolHigh · 1,340 students
- Glacier Middle SchoolMiddle · 999 students
- Elk Ridge ElementaryElementary · 564 students
- Mountain Meadow ElementaryElementary · 443 students
- White River Early Learning CenterElementary · 360 students
- White River Reengagement ProgramHigh · 40 students
Other Foothills Elementary schools
4 other US public schools in 4 states are named Foothills Elementary. Foothills Elementary is the 3rd largest of the 5.
- Foothills ElementaryMaryville, TN · 660 students
- Foothills Elementary SchoolGLENDALE, AZ · 537 students
- Foothills Elementary SchoolCOLORADO SPRINGS, CO · 400 students
- Foothills Elementary SchoolLAKEWOOD, CO · 363 students
Nearby schools
- Liberty Ridge Elementary2.0 mi · 515
- Mountain View Middle School2.2 mi · 937
- White River Reengagement Program2.2 mi · 40
- White River High School2.2 mi · 1,340
- Bonney Lake High School2.5 mi · 1,643
- White River Early Learning Center2.6 mi · 360
Frequently asked questions
About Foothills ElementaryHow large is Foothills Elementary?
Foothills Elementary enrolls approximately 470 students in grades 01-05.
Is Foothills Elementary an elementary, middle, or high school?
Foothills Elementary is an elementary school covering grades 01-05.
How many teachers does Foothills Elementary have?
Foothills Elementary employs 31 FTE teachers, for a student-to-teacher ratio of 15.2:1.
What is the racial breakdown of students at Foothills Elementary?
At Foothills Elementary, the student body is approximately 65% White, 19% Hispanic, 2% Black, 2% Asian, 10% Two or more.
Who oversees Foothills Elementary?
Foothills Elementary is overseen by White River School District in Pierce County.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.