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What's one thing Foster Senior High School gets right about preparing students for what comes next?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
910
High
DISTRICT 577 · STATE 573
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·TUKWILA SCHOOL DISTRICT·NCES 530813001341
Foster Senior High School
4242 S 144th St, Tukwila, WA 98168 · (206) 901-7900 · King County
GRADES 09–12HIGH21-SUBURBTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL910 STUDENTS
D
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 14% 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.
- C+Beats expectations How far test scores land above or below what the share of low-income students predicts for a school in this state.
- CThree-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
23.9:1
38 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 20.0:1 · STATE 21.6:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
69%
626 students
DISTRICT 77% · 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 | 217 | 24% |
| Grade 10 | 248 | 27% |
| Grade 11 | 222 | 24% |
| Grade 12 | 223 | 25% |
Student demographics
75%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 76% · 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
40.0%
WA avg 58.4% . +24.6pp since 2014
Math
16.2%
WA avg 51.2% . +9.8pp since 2014
What this means: On the Smarter Balanced + WCAS, Washington's statewide test, about 40 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 16 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 25 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 | 40.0% | 16.2% |
| 2023-24 | 50.5% | 19.4% |
| 2022-23 | 44.5% | 15.7% |
| 2021-22 | 50.5% | 12.9% |
| 2018-19 | 52.2% | 25.6% |
| 2017-18 | 52.2% | 33.7% |
| 2016-17 | 11.0% | 19.4% |
| 2015-16 | 17.5% | 18.5% |
| 2014-15 | 15.4% | 6.4% |
% 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
27.7%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
34.0%
based on WA schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
-6.3pp
below demographic expectation
What this means: About 28% 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 Foster Senior High School
Foster Senior High School's state test result (27.7% proficient) is higher than 4 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Foster Senior High School this school | 910 | 68.8% | 27.7% |
| Renton Senior High School Renton | 1,208 | 65.6% | 27.0% |
| Todd Beamer High School FEDERAL WAY | 1,412 | 72.8% | 25.9% |
| Franklin High School SEATTLE | 1,277 | 57.2% | 37.2% |
| Lincoln High School Tacoma | 1,556 | 72.7% | 22.3% |
| Kent-Meridian High School Kent | 1,639 | 68.9% | 24.6% |
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 Foster Senior High School ranks
Among high schools| Measure | This school | In Washington | In King County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 27.7% | #237 of 271 | #47 of 59 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 16.2% | #253 of 321 ▼ 29 | #47 of 59 ▼ 5 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 40.0% | #276 of 327 ▼ 49 | #48 of 61 ▼ 4 |
| 3-year test score change ranked biggest drop first | -3.6pp | #81 of 259 | #19 of 57 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 910 | #164 of 570 | #47 of 97 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 23.9:1 | #278 of 311 | #59 of 67 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 74.7% | #32 of 316 | #22 of 67 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 68.8% | #66 of 386 | #11 of 76 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked steepest decline first | -1.5% | #153 of 164 | #32 of 34 |
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
910
+89 (+11%) vs 2020
+116% since 1990-91, when it was 421
Student : Teacher
23.9:1
was 19.6:1
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 | 910 | 38 | 23.9:1 | 69% (626) |
| 2023-24 | 893 | 40.5 | 22.0:1 | 78% (699) |
| 2022-23 | 864 | 42.1 | 20.5:1 | 79% (684) |
| 2020-21 | 821 | 42 | 19.6:1 | 67% (549) |
| 2017-18 | 924 | 44 | 21.0:1 | 67% (620) |
| 2015-16 | 895 | 43 | 20.8:1 | 75% (669) |
| 2010-11 | 915 | 42 | 21.8:1 | 72% (661) |
| 2000-01 | 740 | 30 | 24.7:1 | N/A |
| 1990-91 | 421 | 20 | 21.1:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Foster Senior High School.
Since 2017-18: students down 2% (924 to 910); teachers down 14% (44 to 38).
About Foster Senior High School
Foster Senior High School is a large high school in Washington, located in Tukwila. A total of 910 students attend the school, which covers grades 9 through 12. The average for high schools in Washington is about 573 students, so this school is 59% larger than average.
Foster Senior High School is run by Tukwila School District, whose 5 schools enroll 2,886 students.
Enrollment at Foster Senior High School is mixed, with Hispanic students the largest group at 37%. It is also 25% Black, 20% Asian, 8% White, and 6% multiracial. For comparison, the population of King County is roughly 11% Hispanic. Foster Senior High School has a diversity index of 75%, compared with 70% for all US public school students.
The teaching staff at Foster Senior High School is 38 full-time-equivalent teachers, and the ratio is 23.9:1. That ratio is over the 21.6:1 average for high schools in Washington. The percentage of students eligible for free or reduced-price lunch is 69%. That rate is above the 38% average among public schools in King County.
The allk12 Grade for Foster Senior High School is D. Compared with Washington public high schools, the school scored higher than 14% on a mix of test scores, poverty-adjusted results, and recent trend.
BeatsExpectations compares each school's average proficiency rate on state tests with a prediction based on free or reduced-price lunch eligibility. For Foster Senior High School, the prediction is 34.0% and the result is 27.7%.
Across King County, median household income is about $124,746, a bachelor's degree or higher is held by about 57% of adults, and the poverty rate is about 5%. The public schools of King County number 544 and enroll about 278,492.
The closest public school to Foster Senior High School is Showalter Middle School, about 0.2 miles away. Other public schools within five miles number at least 8. The nearest schools with test data average 27.3%, lower than Foster Senior High School's 27.7%.
In the federal locale system, Foster Senior High School is coded Suburb: Large, for schools in a suburban area outside a principal city, within an urbanized area with a population of 250,000 or more.
A comparison of 2020-21 and 2024-25 shows enrollment up 11%, from 821 to 910. The number of students per teacher rose from 19.6 to 23.9 over 4 years.
The allk12 site hosts a discussion page for Foster Senior High School covering things like enrollment questions, class placement, and PTA news. Posting is open to anyone connected to the school.
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 Tukwila School District
- Showalter Middle SchoolMiddle · 651 students
- Cascade View ElementaryElementary · 481 students
- Tukwila ElementaryElementary · 458 students
- Thorndyke ElementaryElementary · 386 students
- Gateway to CollegeHigh
- Renton Technical CollegeHigh
Other schools in Tukwila
- Impact Public SchoolsElementary · 505 students
- Cascade View ElementaryElementary · 481 students
- Tukwila ElementaryElementary · 458 students
- Raisbeck Aviation High SchoolHigh · 400 students
- Tukwila Online LearningHigh
Nearby schools
- Showalter Middle School0.2 mi · 651
- Impact Public Schools0.4 mi · 505
- Thorndyke Elementary0.5 mi · 386
- Cascade View Elementary0.8 mi · 481
- Glacier Middle School0.9 mi · 803
- Tukwila Elementary1.1 mi · 458
Frequently asked questions
About Foster Senior High SchoolHow large is Foster Senior High School?
Foster Senior High School enrolls approximately 910 students in grades 09-12.
What grades does Foster Senior High School serve?
Foster Senior High School serves grades 09-12.
How many teachers does Foster Senior High School have?
Foster Senior High School employs 38 FTE teachers, for a student-to-teacher ratio of 23.9:1.
How diverse is Foster Senior High School?
Foster Senior High School reports a student body of 8% White, 37% Hispanic, 25% Black, 20% Asian, 6% Two or more.
Who oversees Foster Senior High School?
Foster Senior High School is overseen by Tukwila School District in King County.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.