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How has Garfield High School changed in the last five years, for better or worse?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
1,507
High
DISTRICT 831 · STATE 573
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·SEATTLE SCHOOL DISTRICT NO. 1·NCES 530771001171
Garfield High School
400 23 Ave, SEATTLE, WA 98122 · (206) 252-2270 · King County
GRADES 09–12HIGH11-CITYTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL1,507 STUDENTS
A-
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 78% of Washington public high schools
- A-Test scores Share of students meeting the state standard in reading, math, and other tested subjects, 2023-24 and 2024-25.
- A-Beats expectations How far test scores land above or below what the share of low-income students predicts for a school in this state.
- C-Three-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
21.5:1
70 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 17.6:1 · STATE 21.6:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
41%
621 students
DISTRICT 36% · 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 | 321 | 21% |
| Grade 10 | 369 | 24% |
| Grade 11 | 386 | 26% |
| Grade 12 | 431 | 29% |
Student demographics
75%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 73% · 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
63.3%
WA avg 58.4% . +61.7pp since 2014
Math
38.7%
WA avg 51.2% . +37.7pp since 2014
What this means: On the Smarter Balanced + WCAS, Washington's statewide test, about 63 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 39 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 62 points since 2014, while math scores are up about 38 points.
Smarter Balanced + WCAS results by year
| School year | English Language Arts | Math |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 63.3% | 38.7% |
| 2023-24 | 73.4% | 47.0% |
| 2022-23 | 74.9% | 46.2% |
| 2021-22 | 68.2% | 46.5% |
| 2018-19 | 83.6% | 63.6% |
| 2017-18 | 75.5% | 58.6% |
| 2016-17 | 19.3% | 1.1% |
| 2015-16 | 30.4% | 1.1% |
| 2014-15 | 1.6% | 1.1% |
% 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
53.7%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
52.6%
based on WA schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
+1.2pp
above demographic expectation
What this means: About 54% of students here test proficient in math and reading, compared with the roughly 53% 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 Garfield High School
Garfield High School's state test result (53.7% proficient) is higher than 4 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Garfield High School this school | 1,507 | 41.2% | 53.7% |
| Summit Public School: Atlas Seattle | 566 | 43.5% | 48.0% |
| Chief Sealth International High School SEATTLE | 1,184 | 51.6% | 31.6% |
| Summit Public School: Sierra Seattle | 214 | 38.3% | 45.4% |
| Franklin High School SEATTLE | 1,277 | 57.2% | 37.2% |
| Curtis Senior High UNIVERSITY PLACE | 1,321 | 36.8% | 62.9% |
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 Garfield High School ranks
Among high schools| Measure | This school | In Washington | In King County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 53.7% | #54 of 271 | #25 of 59 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 38.7% | #87 of 321 ▼ 37 | #32 of 59 ▼ 4 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 63.3% | #120 of 327 ▼ 60 | #31 of 61 ▼ 5 |
| 3-year test score change ranked biggest drop first | -6.3pp | #48 of 259 | #11 of 57 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 1,507 | #83 of 570 | #30 of 97 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 21.5:1 | #206 of 311 | #43 of 67 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 75.5% | #26 of 316 | #17 of 67 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 41.2% | #263 of 386 | #36 of 76 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked steepest decline first | -18.8% | #26 of 164 | #11 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
1,507
-222 (-13%) vs 2020
+7% since 1990-91, when it was 1,406
Student : Teacher
21.5:1
was 24.0:1
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 | 1,507 | 70 | 21.5:1 | 41% (621) |
| 2023-24 | 1,641 | 68.3 | 24.0:1 | 39% (635) |
| 2022-23 | 1,642 | 68.2 | 24.1:1 | 40% (660) |
| 2020-21 | 1,729 | 72 | 24.0:1 | 30% (522) |
| 2017-18 | 1,857 | 84 | 22.1:1 | 30% (561) |
| 2015-16 | 1,712 | 74 | 23.1:1 | 33% (571) |
| 2010-11 | 1,786 | 75 | 23.8:1 | 38% (684) |
| 2000-01 | 1,733 | 69 | 25.1:1 | N/A |
| 1990-91 | 1,406 | 51 | 27.6:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Garfield High School.
Since 2017-18: students down 19% (1,857 to 1,507); teachers down 17% (84 to 70).
About Garfield High School
Garfield High School is a large high school in SEATTLE, Washington, (ZIP code 98122). A total of 1,507 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 163% above average.
Seattle School District No. 1 includes 107 schools. Together they enroll 50,773 students.
White students form the largest group at Garfield High School, 33% of enrollment. Enrollment also includes 29% Black, 12% multiracial, 12% Asian, and 10% Hispanic. Among people living in King County, the White share is about 55%. The chance that two students picked at random at Garfield High School belong to different racial or ethnic groups, known as the diversity index, is 75%.
Garfield High School's 70 full-time-equivalent teachers put its ratio at 21.5:1. High schools in Washington average about 21.6:1, a similar figure. Eligibility for subsidized school meals is 41%.
Garfield High School is graded A- by allk12, scoring above 78% of Washington public high schools once test results, poverty-adjusted performance, and the recent trend are combined.
Garfield High School is 1.2 points above its predicted average proficiency rate on state tests (53.7% versus 52.6%), which places it in neither the top nor the bottom 10% in Washington.
Recent Census Bureau figures for King County show that median household income is about $124,746, roughly 57% of adults have a four-year degree or more, and about 5% of residents live below the federal poverty line. Federal data list 544 public schools in King County, with a combined enrollment of about 278,492.
The nearest public school is Nova High School, at about 0.2 miles. There are at least 8 other public schools within five miles. Among the 6 closest schools with test data, this one included, Garfield High School ranks 1st on average proficiency.
On the NCES locale scale, the school is City: Large.
From 2020-21 to 2024-25, Garfield High School went from 1,729 students to 1,507. The ratio of students to teachers went from 24.0:1 to 21.5:1 over the same years.
Families, students, and staff can use this page to discuss science fairs, picture day, and bus routes at Garfield High School. Alumni can share how the school prepared them.
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 Seattle School District No. 1
- Lincoln High SchoolHigh · 1,770 students
- Ballard High SchoolHigh · 1,697 students
- Roosevelt High SchoolHigh · 1,542 students
- West Seattle High SchoolHigh · 1,479 students
- Ingraham High SchoolHigh · 1,391 students
- Franklin High SchoolHigh · 1,277 students
Other schools in SEATTLE
- Lincoln High SchoolHigh · 1,770 students
- Ballard High SchoolHigh · 1,697 students
- Roosevelt High SchoolHigh · 1,542 students
- West Seattle High SchoolHigh · 1,479 students
- Ingraham High SchoolHigh · 1,391 students
- Franklin High SchoolHigh · 1,277 students
Other Garfield High schools
2 other US public schools in 3 states are named Garfield High. Garfield High School is the largest of the 3.
- Garfield High SchoolGARFIELD, NJ · 1,258 students
- Garfield HighSan Diego, CA · 226 students
Nearby schools
- Nova High School0.2 mi · 256
- Washington Middle School0.5 mi · 566
- Leschi Elementary School0.5 mi · 240
- Interagency Detention School0.7 mi · 47
- Seattle World School0.7 mi · 218
- Bailey Gatzert Elementary School0.7 mi · 402
Frequently asked questions
About Garfield High SchoolHow many students attend Garfield High School?
Garfield High School enrolls approximately 1,507 students in grades 09-12.
What age range does Garfield High School serve?
Garfield High School serves students from grade 09 through grade 12.
How many students per teacher at Garfield High School?
Approximately 21.5:1 students per teacher at Garfield High School.
What is the racial breakdown of students at Garfield High School?
At Garfield High School, the student body is approximately 33% White, 10% Hispanic, 29% Black, 12% Asian, 12% Two or more.
Is Garfield High School public or private?
Garfield High School is a public K-12 school, overseen by Seattle School District No. 1.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.