Enrollment
366
High
DISTRICT 265 · STATE 573
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·HIGHLAND SCHOOL DISTRICT·NCES 530351002876
Highland High School
17000 Summitview, Cowiche, WA 98923 · (509) 678-8800 · Yakima County
GRADES 09–12HIGH41-RURALTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL366 STUDENTS
A-
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 81% of Washington public high schools
- BTest 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
22.7:1
16 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 18.8:1 · STATE 21.6:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
67%
246 students
DISTRICT 71% · STATE 51%
Community
0
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 | 94 | 26% |
| Grade 10 | 96 | 26% |
| Grade 11 | 88 | 24% |
| Grade 12 | 88 | 24% |
Student demographics
31%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 36% · 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
Feeds from
Based on grade levels within Highland School District. Attendance zones can vary; confirm enrollment with the district.
Test scores
Smarter Balanced + WCAS 2024-25 . % Met or Exceeded StandardEnglish Language Arts
80.2%
WA avg 58.4% . +38.8pp since 2014
Math
24.2%
WA avg 51.2% . +2.9pp since 2014
What this means: On the Smarter Balanced + WCAS, Washington's statewide test, about 80 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 24 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 39 points since 2014, while math scores are up about 3 points.
Smarter Balanced + WCAS results by year
| School year | English Language Arts | Math |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 80.2% | 24.2% |
| 2023-24 | 72.5% | 26.4% |
| 2022-23 | 70.9% | 20.9% |
| 2021-22 | 76.5% | 31.4% |
| 2018-19 | 61.5% | 16.7% |
| 2017-18 | 68.8% | 23.8% |
| 2016-17 | 24.0% | 24.3% |
| 2015-16 | 14.3% | 24.7% |
| 2014-15 | 41.5% | 21.3% |
% 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
OUTPERFORMING
Top 10% of WA schools after controlling for student poverty
Actual proficiency
46.5%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
35.1%
based on WA schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
+11.4pp
above demographic expectation
What this means: About 47% of students here test proficient in math and reading, well above the roughly 35% typical for Washington schools with a similar share of low-income students. BeatsExpectations ranks schools against others at the same poverty level, not by raw scores, so a school can post high scores and still fall short of its prediction, or post lower scores and still beat it. This school clears its prediction by about 11 points, placing it in Washington's top 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 Highland High School
Highland High School's state test result (46.5% proficient) is higher than 3 of the 3 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Highland High School this school | 366 | 67.2% | 46.5% |
| Connell High School Connell | 615 | 71.4% | 29.0% |
| Warden High School WARDEN | 290 | 77.2% | 36.7% |
| Royal High School Royal City | 592 | 57.4% | 36.9% |
| Manson High School MANSON | 220 | 61.8% | N/A |
| Prosser High School Prosser | 877 | 62.3% | N/A |
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 Highland High School ranks
Among high schools| Measure | This school | In Washington | In Yakima County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 46.5% | #110 of 271 | #2 of 16 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 24.2% | #204 of 321 ▼ 35 | #6 of 16 ▼ 2 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 80.2% | #33 of 327 ▲ 34 | #1 of 16 no change |
| 3-year test score change ranked biggest drop first | -1.7pp | #114 of 259 | #8 of 15 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 366 | #241 of 570 | #13 of 31 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 22.7:1 | #246 of 311 | #12 of 15 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 31.3% | #285 of 316 | #9 of 15 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 67.2% | #74 of 386 | #13 of 19 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked fastest growth first | +8.9% | #71 of 136 | #4 of 10 |
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
366
+6 (+2%) vs 2020
+5% since 2010-11, when it was 348
Student : Teacher
22.7:1
was 18.9:1
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 | 366 | 16.1 | 22.7:1 | 67% (246) |
| 2023-24 | 364 | 17.1 | 21.3:1 | 77% (279) |
| 2022-23 | 338 | 19 | 17.8:1 | 80% (270) |
| 2020-21 | 360 | 19 | 18.9:1 | 81% (290) |
| 2017-18 | 336 | 21.2 | 15.9:1 | 78% (261) |
| 2015-16 | 364 | 22 | 16.6:1 | 77% (279) |
| 2010-11 | 348 | 19 | 18.3:1 | 72% (249) |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Highland High School.
Since 2017-18: students up 9% (336 to 366); teachers down 24% (21.2 to 16.1).
About Highland High School
Highland High School is a low-enrollment high school in Cowiche, Washington, (ZIP code 98923). A federal count lists 366 students at the school, in grades 9 through 12. Average enrollment for high schools in Washington is about 573, so this school runs 36% smaller than that.
Highland School District runs Highland High School along with 3 other schools, enrolling 1,060 students in total.
Hispanic students make up 81% of enrollment at Highland High School. Next come 17% White. That compares with about 52% Hispanic among all Yakima County residents. Highland High School's diversity index is 31%, against a US figure of 70%.
The school reported 16.1 full-time-equivalent teachers in 2024-25 and a ratio of 22.7:1. The school has more students per teacher than the 21.6:1 average for high schools in Washington. Eligible students account for 67% of enrollment in the free or reduced-price lunch program. Compared with the 77% average for public schools in Yakima County, the school's rate is lower.
Measured against Washington public high schools, Highland High School receives an A-. The grade weighs proficiency most heavily, then how results compare with what the school's low-income share predicts, then the three-year change.
Highland High School is in the top 10% of Washington schools on the allk12 BeatsExpectations measure. Based on its free or reduced-price lunch share, the model predicts an average proficiency rate on state tests of 35.1%. The school's actual rate is 46.5%, 11.4 points higher.
According to the American Community Survey, in Yakima County, the median household income is $70,656, a bachelor's degree or higher is held by about 19% of adults, and the poverty rate is about 12%. There are 119 public schools in Yakima County, enrolling about 52,145 students in all.
The closest public school to Highland High School is Highland Middle School, less than a tenth of a mile away. Counting only straight-line distance, 6 other public schools are within five miles. On proficiency, Highland High School is ahead of the 45.5% nearby average, ranking 3rd of 8.
NCES lists the school's locale as Rural: Fringe. That means it sits in rural territory close to an urban area.
The school's size has been steady, with 360 students in 2020-21 and 366 in 2024-25. The student-to-teacher ratio went up from 18.9:1 to 22.7:1.
The discussion area below is open to posts about sports tryouts, band and choir, and theater. Questions from prospective families are welcome too.
Yakima County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
257,152
Census ACS
Median income
$70,656
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
19%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
12%
Below federal line
Schools in county
119
52,145 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in Highland School District
- Marcus Whitman-Cowiche ElementaryElementary · 249 students
- Highland Middle SchoolMiddle · 243 students
- Tieton Elementary SchoolElementary · 202 students
Other schools in Cowiche
- Marcus Whitman-Cowiche ElementaryElementary · 249 students
- Highland Middle SchoolMiddle · 243 students
Other Highland High schools
15 other US public schools in 14 states are named Highland High. Highland High School is the 13th largest of the 16.
- Highland High SchoolGILBERT, AZ · 2,992 students
- Highland HighPalmdale, CA · 2,706 students
- Highland HighBakersfield, CA · 2,530 students
- Highland HighSALT LAKE CITY, UT · 1,973 students
- HIGHLAND HIGH SCHOOLPOCATELLO, ID · 1,456 students
Nearby schools
- Highland Middle School0.0 mi · 243
- Marcus Whitman-Cowiche Elementary1.4 mi · 249
- Tieton Elementary School3.0 mi · 202
- Naches Valley Elementary School3.6 mi · 482
- Naches Valley Middle School3.8 mi · 427
- Naches Valley High School4.3 mi · 399
Frequently asked questions
About Highland High SchoolHow large is Highland High School?
Highland High School enrolls approximately 366 students in grades 09-12.
What age range does Highland High School serve?
Highland High School serves students from grade 09 through grade 12.
How many students per teacher at Highland High School?
Approximately 22.7:1 students per teacher at Highland High School.
How diverse is Highland High School?
Highland High School reports a student body of 17% White, 81% Hispanic, 1% Black, 0% Asian, 1% Two or more.
Who oversees Highland High School?
Highland High School is overseen by Highland School District in Yakima County.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.