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What advice would you give to incoming students at Franklin Pierce High School?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
977
High
DISTRICT 690 · STATE 573
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·FRANKLIN PIERCE SCHOOL DISTRICT·NCES 530294000475
Franklin Pierce High School
11002 18TH AVE E, TACOMA, WA 98445 · (253) 298-3805 · Pierce County
GRADES 09–12HIGH21-SUBURBTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL977 STUDENTS
C+
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 38% of Washington public high schools
- CTest scores Share of students meeting the state standard in reading, math, and other tested subjects, 2023-24 and 2024-25.
- B+Beats expectations How far test scores land above or below what the share of low-income students predicts for a school in this state.
- DThree-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
17.9:1
55 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 14.4:1 · STATE 21.6:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
64%
629 students
DISTRICT 70% · 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 | 268 | 27% |
| Grade 10 | 273 | 28% |
| Grade 11 | 232 | 24% |
| Grade 12 | 204 | 21% |
Student demographics
78%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 77% · 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
46.6%
WA avg 58.4% . +12.4pp since 2014
Math
16.9%
WA avg 51.2% . -5.0pp since 2014
What this means: On the Smarter Balanced + WCAS, Washington's statewide test, about 47 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 17 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 12 points since 2014, while math scores are down about 5 points.
Smarter Balanced + WCAS results by year
| School year | English Language Arts | Math |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 46.6% | 16.9% |
| 2023-24 | 57.7% | 16.1% |
| 2022-23 | 51.4% | 23.4% |
| 2021-22 | 59.2% | 20.1% |
| 2018-19 | 70.5% | 42.2% |
| 2017-18 | 63.5% | 27.9% |
| 2016-17 | 6.1% | 15.7% |
| 2015-16 | 14.0% | 14.6% |
| 2014-15 | 34.2% | 21.8% |
% 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
36.8%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
37.0%
based on WA schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
-0.2pp
below demographic expectation
What this means: About 37% of students here test proficient in math and reading, compared with the roughly 37% 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 Franklin Pierce High School
Franklin Pierce High School's state test result (36.8% proficient) is higher than 3 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Franklin Pierce High School this school | 977 | 64.4% | 36.8% |
| Decatur High School FEDERAL WAY | 1,352 | 64.8% | 20.1% |
| General William H. Harrison Preparatory School Lakewood | 738 | 63.1% | 44.7% |
| Auburn Senior High School AUBURN | 1,918 | 63.2% | 29.5% |
| Washington High School Tacoma | 989 | 69.1% | 32.5% |
| Mariner High School Everett | 2,106 | 62.5% | 40.5% |
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 Franklin Pierce High School ranks
Among high schools| Measure | This school | In Washington | In Pierce County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 36.8% | #179 of 271 | #19 of 32 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 16.9% | #248 of 321 ▼ 3 | #22 of 32 ▼ 1 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 46.6% | #245 of 327 ▼ 64 | #25 of 33 ▼ 6 |
| 3-year test score change ranked biggest drop first | -7.9pp | #35 of 259 | #5 of 32 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 977 | #152 of 570 | #20 of 51 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 17.9:1 | #59 of 311 | #5 of 34 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 77.6% | #15 of 316 | #7 of 35 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 64.4% | #92 of 386 | #9 of 39 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked steepest decline first | -18.3% | #27 of 164 | #2 of 15 |
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
977
-214 (-18%) vs 2020
+16% since 1990-91, when it was 839
Student : Teacher
17.9:1
was 20.2:1
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 | 977 | 54.7 | 17.9:1 | 64% (629) |
| 2023-24 | 1,138 | 64.1 | 17.8:1 | 65% (744) |
| 2022-23 | 1,141 | 64.3 | 17.7:1 | 59% (670) |
| 2020-21 | 1,191 | 59 | 20.2:1 | 60% (711) |
| 2017-18 | 1,196 | 60.2 | 19.9:1 | 64% (761) |
| 2015-16 | 1,202 | 58 | 20.7:1 | 61% (729) |
| 2010-11 | 1,204 | 57 | 21.1:1 | 41% (499) |
| 2000-01 | 1,098 | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| 1990-91 | 839 | 35 | 24.0:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Franklin Pierce High School.
Since 2017-18: students down 18% (1,196 to 977); teachers down 9% (60.2 to 54.7).
About Franklin Pierce High School
Franklin Pierce High School operates as a large high school in TACOMA, Washington. Total enrollment is 977 students, and the grades served are 9 through 12. It has 71% more students than the average for high schools in Washington (about 573).
Franklin Pierce High School falls under Franklin Pierce School District, which has 14 schools enrolling 7,187 students.
The student body at Franklin Pierce High School has no majority group. Hispanic students lead at 34%. The remaining shares are 26% White, 14% multiracial, 10% Asian, and 10% Black. Pierce County as a whole is about 13% Hispanic, so the school's share is higher. A diversity index of 78% means there is a 78% chance two randomly chosen students at Franklin Pierce High School are from different groups.
Franklin Pierce High School reports a ratio of 17.9 students per teacher, from 54.7 full-time-equivalent teachers. Across high schools in Washington, the average ratio is 21.6:1. Lunch program data show 64% of students are eligible for free or reduced-price meals. Compared with the 50% average for public schools in Pierce County, the school's rate is higher.
Franklin Pierce High School earns a C+ on the allk12 Grade, which blends test scores, results against poverty-based expectations, and the three-year trend. It scored higher than 38% of Washington public high schools.
On BeatsExpectations, Franklin Pierce High School is within a point of its prediction, a result in the middle 80% of Washington schools.
The school's county is Pierce County. According to Census Bureau estimates, the median household earns about $99,564 a year, roughly 31% of adults have a four-year degree or more, and the share of residents below the poverty line is 6%. Franklin Pierce High School shares Pierce County with 286 other public schools.
Morris Ford Middle School sits about 0.3 miles from Franklin Pierce High School. Franklin Pierce High School has at least 8 other public schools within five miles. The nearest schools with test data average 33.7%, lower than Franklin Pierce High School's 36.8%.
By NCES locale, the school is Suburb: Large, or in a suburban area outside a principal city, within an urbanized area with a population of 250,000 or more.
An 18% drop took enrollment from 1,191 in 2020-21 to 977 in 2024-25. Staffing shifted too: the ratio moved from 20.2:1 to 17.9:1.
This page is set up for the Franklin Pierce High School community to discuss homework, tutoring, and testing dates. Current and former families are welcome to add their experience.
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 Franklin Pierce School District
- Washington High SchoolHigh · 989 students
- Morris Ford Middle SchoolMiddle · 831 students
- Perry G Keithley Middle SchoolMiddle · 804 students
- Brookdale ElementaryElementary · 483 students
- Collins ElementaryElementary · 466 students
- Harvard ElementaryElementary · 445 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
- Fife High SchoolHigh · 885 students
Nearby schools
- Morris Ford Middle School0.3 mi · 831
- Midland Elementary0.5 mi · 399
- Collins Elementary1.2 mi · 466
- Hewins Early Learning Center1.4 mi · 266
- Harvard Elementary1.6 mi · 445
- Elmhurst Elementary School1.7 mi · 335
Frequently asked questions
About Franklin Pierce High SchoolHow many students attend Franklin Pierce High School?
Franklin Pierce High School enrolls approximately 977 students in grades 09-12.
Is Franklin Pierce High School an elementary, middle, or high school?
Franklin Pierce High School is a high school covering grades 09-12.
How many students per teacher at Franklin Pierce High School?
Approximately 17.9:1 students per teacher at Franklin Pierce High School.
What is the student diversity at Franklin Pierce High School?
Student demographics at Franklin Pierce High School are roughly 26% White, 34% Hispanic, 10% Black, 10% Asian, 14% Two or more.
What district is Franklin Pierce High School in?
Franklin Pierce High School is part of Franklin Pierce School District.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.