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How has Helen Stafford Elementary School changed in the last five years, for better or worse?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
453
Elementary
DISTRICT 356 · STATE 380
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·TACOMA SCHOOL DISTRICT·NCES 530870003064
Helen Stafford Elementary School
1615 South 92nd St, Tacoma, WA 98444 · (253) 571-4300 · Pierce County
GRADES PK–05ELEMENTARY12-CITYTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL453 STUDENTS
C-
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 22% of Washington public elementary schools
- DTest scores Share of students meeting the state standard in reading, math, and other tested subjects, 2023-24 and 2024-25.
- CBeats expectations How far test scores land above or below what the share of low-income students predicts for a school in this state.
- B+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 elementary schools
Student : Teacher
19.0:1
24 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 17.2:1 · STATE 17.3:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
74%
337 students
DISTRICT 57% · 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Pre-K | 24 | 5% |
| Kindergarten | 74 | 16% |
| Grade 1 | 71 | 16% |
| Grade 2 | 69 | 15% |
| Grade 3 | 81 | 18% |
| Grade 4 | 61 | 13% |
| Grade 5 | 73 | 16% |
This year's kindergarten class (74) is about the same size as its 5th grade class (73).
Student demographics
81%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 78% · 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
29.3%
WA avg 58.4% . -21.0pp since 2014
Math
29.7%
WA avg 51.2% . -25.8pp since 2014
What this means: On the Smarter Balanced + WCAS, Washington's statewide test, about 29 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 30 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 21 points since 2014, while math scores are down about 26 points.
Smarter Balanced + WCAS results by year
| School year | English Language Arts | Math |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 29.3% | 29.7% |
| 2023-24 | 30.8% | 26.6% |
| 2022-23 | 25.9% | 25.9% |
| 2021-22 | 25.9% | 23.9% |
| 2018-19 | 44.2% | 55.6% |
| 2017-18 | 47.1% | 47.8% |
| 2016-17 | 52.6% | 55.4% |
| 2015-16 | 57.1% | 50.8% |
| 2014-15 | 50.2% | 55.5% |
% 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
30.0%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
30.3%
based on WA schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
-0.3pp
below demographic expectation
What this means: About 30% 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 Helen Stafford Elementary School
Helen Stafford Elementary School's state test result (30.0% proficient) is higher than 3 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Helen Stafford Elementary School this school | 453 | 74.4% | 30.0% |
| Star Lake Elementary School KENT | 434 | 70.0% | 41.0% |
| Rainier View Elementary School FEDERAL WAY | 495 | 78.4% | 21.8% |
| Woodmont K-8 School DES MOINES | 402 | 70.9% | 34.5% |
| Birney Elementary School Tacoma | 476 | 71.6% | 26.9% |
| East Hill Elementary School Kent | 383 | 72.1% | 16.8% |
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 Helen Stafford Elementary School ranks
Among elementary schools| Measure | This school | In Washington | In Pierce County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 30.0% | #800 of 936 | #125 of 142 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 29.7% | #882 of 1,103 ▲ 36 | #120 of 142 ▲ 4 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 29.3% | #955 of 1,102 ▼ 32 | #131 of 142 ▼ 5 |
| 3-year test score change ranked biggest gain first | +4.6pp | #285 of 928 | #50 of 141 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 453 | #439 of 1,268 | #62 of 155 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 19.0:1 | #1,038 of 1,085 | #136 of 145 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 80.8% | #10 of 1,088 | #5 of 145 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 74.4% | #188 of 1,169 | #16 of 148 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked steepest decline first | -12.4% | #510 of 778 | #59 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
453
-7 (-2%) vs 2020
+8% since 2010-11, when it was 418
Student : Teacher
19.0:1
was 17.7:1
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 | 453 | 23.8 | 19.0:1 | 74% (337) |
| 2023-24 | 432 | 25.1 | 17.2:1 | 79% (343) |
| 2022-23 | 451 | 27.9 | 16.2:1 | 71% (319) |
| 2020-21 | 460 | 26 | 17.7:1 | 75% (345) |
| 2017-18 | 517 | 30.8 | 16.8:1 | 74% (380) |
| 2015-16 | 518 | 30 | 17.3:1 | 78% (404) |
| 2010-11 | 418 | 24 | 17.4:1 | 62% (259) |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Helen Stafford Elementary School.
Since 2017-18: students down 12% (517 to 453); teachers down 23% (30.8 to 23.8).
About Helen Stafford Elementary School
Helen Stafford Elementary School is a mid-sized elementary school in Tacoma, Washington. The school enrolls 453 students in pre-K through 5.
The 66 schools in Tacoma School District enroll 28,900 students altogether, Helen Stafford Elementary School among them.
Hispanic students account for 30% of enrollment at Helen Stafford Elementary School, more than any other group. Other students are 17% Asian, 17% multiracial, 15% White, and 13% Black. By comparison, Pierce County residents are about 13% Hispanic. On the diversity index, which measures the chance that two random students are from different groups, Helen Stafford Elementary School scores 81%.
Helen Stafford Elementary School reports a ratio of 19.0 students per teacher, from 23.8 full-time-equivalent teachers. Across elementary schools in Washington, the average ratio is 17.3:1. Lunch program data show 74% 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.
Helen Stafford Elementary 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 22% of Washington public elementary schools.
The allk12 BeatsExpectations score for Helen Stafford Elementary School is -0.3 points: 30.0% actual, 30.3% predicted.
In the wider Pierce County area, the median household earns about $99,564 a year, a bachelor's degree or higher is held by about 31% of adults, and the poverty rate is about 6%. Across Pierce County, 287 public schools serve about 138,462 students.
Helen Stafford Elementary School's nearest public school is Fern Hill Elementary School (about 0.7 miles). In all, at least 8 other public schools sit within five miles of Helen Stafford Elementary School. Of the 9 nearby schools with scores, including this one, Helen Stafford Elementary School is 6th on average proficiency.
Locale data from NCES put Helen Stafford Elementary School inside a principal city with a population between 100,000 and 250,000 (City: Mid-size).
Compared with 2020-21, when it had 460 students, enrollment in 2024-25 was about the same at 453. Over the same period, the student-to-teacher ratio increased to 19.0:1, from 17.7:1.
This page is set up for the Helen Stafford Elementary 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 Tacoma School District
- 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
- Baker Middle SchoolMiddle · 687 students
- Tacoma School of the ArtsHigh · 658 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
- Franklin Pierce High SchoolHigh · 977 students
Nearby schools
- Fern Hill Elementary School0.7 mi · 311
- Baker Middle School0.8 mi · 687
- Christensen Elementary0.9 mi · 346
- Birney Elementary School0.9 mi · 476
- Larchmont Elementary School1.3 mi · 303
- James Sales Elementary1.4 mi · 387
Frequently asked questions
About Helen Stafford Elementary SchoolHow many students attend Helen Stafford Elementary School?
Helen Stafford Elementary School enrolls approximately 453 students in grades PK-05.
Is Helen Stafford Elementary School an elementary, middle, or high school?
Helen Stafford Elementary School is an elementary school covering grades PK-05.
What is the student-teacher ratio at Helen Stafford Elementary School?
The student-to-teacher ratio at Helen Stafford Elementary School is approximately 19.0:1 (24 FTE teachers).
What is the racial breakdown of students at Helen Stafford Elementary School?
At Helen Stafford Elementary School, the student body is approximately 15% White, 30% Hispanic, 13% Black, 17% Asian, 17% Two or more.
Is Helen Stafford Elementary School public or private?
Helen Stafford Elementary School is a public K-12 school, overseen by Tacoma School District.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.