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If you had an hour of school board time for Fords Prairie Elementary, what would you bring up?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
443
Elementary
DISTRICT 297 · STATE 380
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·CENTRALIA SCHOOL DISTRICT·NCES 530114000208
Fords Prairie Elementary
1620 Harrison Avenue, Centralia, WA 98531 · (360) 330-7633 · Lewis County
GRADES KG–06ELEMENTARY32-TOWNTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL443 STUDENTS
Student : Teacher
15.2:1
29 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 15.1:1 · STATE 17.3:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
75%
334 students
DISTRICT 77% · 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 | 48 | 11% |
| Grade 1 | 58 | 13% |
| Grade 2 | 69 | 16% |
| Grade 3 | 72 | 16% |
| Grade 4 | 73 | 16% |
| Grade 5 | 52 | 12% |
| Grade 6 | 71 | 16% |
This year's kindergarten class (48) is 32% smaller than its 6th grade class (71).
Student demographics
55%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 57% · 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
Fords Prairie Elementary→Centralia Middle School
Based on grade levels within Centralia School District. Attendance zones can vary; confirm enrollment with the district.
Test scores
Smarter Balanced + WCAS 2024-25 . % Met or Exceeded StandardEnglish Language Arts
38.1%
WA avg 58.4% . -11.9pp since 2014
Math
34.4%
WA avg 51.2% . -21.4pp since 2014
What this means: On the Smarter Balanced + WCAS, Washington's statewide test, about 38 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 34 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 12 points since 2014, while math scores are down about 21 points.
Smarter Balanced + WCAS results by year
| School year | English Language Arts | Math |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 38.1% | 34.4% |
| 2023-24 | 32.5% | 31.3% |
| 2022-23 | 32.6% | 34.8% |
| 2021-22 | 27.5% | 26.3% |
| 2018-19 | 51.0% | 58.3% |
| 2017-18 | 45.7% | 50.0% |
| 2016-17 | 51.6% | 56.8% |
| 2015-16 | 41.6% | 41.1% |
| 2014-15 | 50.0% | 55.8% |
% 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
35.3%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
29.6%
based on WA schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
+5.7pp
above demographic expectation
What this means: About 35% of students here test proficient in math and reading, compared with the roughly 30% 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 Fords Prairie Elementary
Fords Prairie Elementary's state test result (35.3% proficient) is higher than 2 of the 4 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fords Prairie Elementary this school | 443 | 75.4% | 35.3% |
| Tonasket Elementary School TONASKET | 476 | 74.4% | 31.4% |
| Sharpstein Elementary School WALLA WALLA | 340 | 78.5% | 42.6% |
| Bordeaux Elementary School Shelton | 528 | 69.3% | 44.2% |
| Olympic Elementary School Longview | 381 | 71.4% | N/A |
| Oakview Elementary School Centralia | 317 | 77.6% | 28.3% |
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 Fords Prairie Elementary ranks
Among elementary schools| Measure | This school | In Washington | In Lewis County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 35.3% | #717 of 936 | #11 of 14 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 34.4% | #789 of 1,103 ▲ 37 | #8 of 14 ▲ 3 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 38.1% | #797 of 1,102 ▲ 97 | #10 of 14 ▲ 1 |
| 3-year test score change ranked biggest gain first | +9.4pp | #97 of 928 | #3 of 14 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 443 | #470 of 1,268 | #3 of 17 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 15.2:1 | #385 of 1,085 | #3 of 14 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 54.9% | #647 of 1,088 | #4 of 14 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 75.4% | #172 of 1,169 | #5 of 15 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked fastest growth first | +18.8% | #65 of 257 | N/A |
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
443
-6 (-1%) vs 2020
0% since 1990-91, when it was 441
Student : Teacher
15.2:1
was 16.6:1
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 | 443 | 29.2 | 15.2:1 | 75% (334) |
| 2023-24 | 444 | 30.7 | 14.5:1 | 76% (339) |
| 2022-23 | 448 | 29.2 | 15.3:1 | 83% (372) |
| 2020-21 | 449 | 27 | 16.6:1 | 71% (319) |
| 2017-18 | 373 | 25.7 | 14.5:1 | 68% (255) |
| 2015-16 | 395 | 25 | 15.8:1 | 73% (287) |
| 2010-11 | 393 | 22 | 17.9:1 | 67% (265) |
| 2000-01 | 359 | 20 | 17.9:1 | N/A |
| 1990-91 | 441 | 19 | 23.2:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Fords Prairie Elementary.
Since 2017-18: students up 19% (373 to 443); teachers up 14% (25.7 to 29.2).
About Fords Prairie Elementary
This page covers Fords Prairie Elementary, a medium-sized elementary school in Centralia, Washington. Grades offered run from kindergarten through 6, with 443 students enrolled.
Centralia School District counts 3,313 students in its 9 schools, and Fords Prairie Elementary is one of them.
Fords Prairie Elementary's enrollment is 54% White. The remaining shares are 40% Hispanic and 3% multiracial. Census estimates put the White share of Lewis County's population at about 82%. By the diversity index, Fords Prairie Elementary comes in at 55%.
The school employs the equivalent of 29.2 full-time teachers, for a ratio of 15.2:1. The average ratio among elementary schools in Washington is 17.3:1, higher than at this school. The free or reduced-price lunch rate at Fords Prairie Elementary is 75%. By comparison, the figure for public schools in Lewis County is 57%.
Based on its free or reduced-price lunch share, the BeatsExpectations model predicts an average proficiency rate on state tests of 29.6% for Fords Prairie Elementary. The school posts 35.3%, 5.7 points above the prediction.
Across Lewis County, median household income is about $74,796, the share of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher is 22%, and roughly 8% of residents are in poverty. Fords Prairie Elementary is among the 45 public schools in Lewis County.
The closest public school, Centralia School District SpEd Pre-school, is about 0.6 miles from Fords Prairie Elementary. Around the school, at least 8 other public schools are within five miles. Of the 7 nearby schools with scores, including this one, Fords Prairie Elementary is 3rd on average proficiency.
NCES describes the area around Fords Prairie Elementary as Town: Distant, meaning in a town some distance from an urbanized area.
Enrollment was essentially flat over 4 years: 449 in 2020-21, 443 in 2024-25. Federal data show the ratio falling from 16.6:1 to 15.2:1.
Posts about sports tryouts, band and choir, and theater are welcome on this page. Reviews and ratings from people who know the school are welcome.
Lewis County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
85,154
Census ACS
Median income
$74,796
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
22%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
8%
Below federal line
Schools in county
45
12,548 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in Centralia School District
- Centralia High SchoolHigh · 941 students
- Centralia Middle SchoolMiddle · 479 students
- Jefferson Lincoln ElementaryElementary · 357 students
- Oakview Elementary SchoolElementary · 317 students
- Edison ElementaryElementary · 313 students
- Washington Elementary SchoolElementary · 294 students
Other schools in Centralia
- Centralia High SchoolHigh · 941 students
- Centralia Middle SchoolMiddle · 479 students
- Jefferson Lincoln ElementaryElementary · 357 students
- Oakview Elementary SchoolElementary · 317 students
- Edison ElementaryElementary · 313 students
- Washington Elementary SchoolElementary · 294 students
Nearby schools
- Centralia School District SpEd Pre-school0.6 mi · 59
- Centralia Middle School0.6 mi · 479
- Futurus High School0.7 mi · 110
- Centralia High School0.9 mi · 941
- Edison Elementary1.6 mi · 313
- Oakview Elementary School1.8 mi · 317
Frequently asked questions
About Fords Prairie ElementaryWhat is the total enrollment at Fords Prairie Elementary?
Fords Prairie Elementary enrolls approximately 443 students in grades KG-06.
What age range does Fords Prairie Elementary serve?
Fords Prairie Elementary serves students from grade KG through grade 06.
How many students per teacher at Fords Prairie Elementary?
Approximately 15.2:1 students per teacher at Fords Prairie Elementary.
What is the racial breakdown of students at Fords Prairie Elementary?
At Fords Prairie Elementary, the student body is approximately 54% White, 40% Hispanic, 1% Black, 1% Asian, 3% Two or more.
Is Fords Prairie Elementary public or private?
Fords Prairie Elementary is a public K-12 school, overseen by Centralia School District.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.