1
What's the vibe like in the hallways at Highlands Elementary School right now?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
386
Elementary
DISTRICT 419 · STATE 380
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·RENTON SCHOOL DISTRICT·NCES 530723001072
Highlands Elementary School
2720 NE 7th St, Renton, WA 98056 · (425) 204-4600 · King County
GRADES KG–05ELEMENTARY12-CITYTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL386 STUDENTS
Student : Teacher
14.5:1
27 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 16.6:1 · STATE 17.3:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
70%
271 students
DISTRICT 52% · 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Kindergarten | 69 | 18% |
| Grade 1 | 56 | 15% |
| Grade 2 | 58 | 15% |
| Grade 3 | 71 | 18% |
| Grade 4 | 72 | 19% |
| Grade 5 | 60 | 16% |
This year's kindergarten class (69) is 15% larger than its 5th grade class (60).
Student demographics
62%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
24.8%
WA avg 58.4% . -7.9pp since 2014
Math
26.8%
WA avg 51.2% . -11.1pp since 2014
What this means: On the Smarter Balanced + WCAS, Washington's statewide test, about 25 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 27 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 8 points since 2014, while math scores are down about 11 points.
Smarter Balanced + WCAS results by year
| School year | English Language Arts | Math |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 24.8% | 26.8% |
| 2023-24 | 26.8% | 26.4% |
| 2022-23 | 24.5% | 21.3% |
| 2021-22 | 27.0% | 21.3% |
| 2018-19 | 38.4% | 40.5% |
| 2017-18 | 33.7% | 37.2% |
| 2016-17 | 37.5% | 35.5% |
| 2015-16 | 33.6% | 41.5% |
| 2014-15 | 32.6% | 37.8% |
% 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
25.6%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
33.1%
based on WA schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
-7.5pp
below demographic expectation
What this means: About 26% of students here test proficient in math and reading, compared with the roughly 33% 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 Highlands Elementary School
Highlands Elementary School's state test result (25.6% proficient) is higher than 2 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Highlands Elementary School this school | 386 | 70.2% | 25.6% |
| Cedarhurst Elementary Burien | 399 | 69.9% | 26.5% |
| Seahurst Elementary School Burien | 405 | 69.6% | 24.2% |
| Honey Dew Elementary Renton | 276 | 71.0% | 26.6% |
| Harvard Elementary Tacoma | 445 | 75.7% | 27.3% |
| Hazel Valley Elementary Burien | 469 | 67.0% | 24.2% |
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 Highlands Elementary School ranks
Among elementary schools| Measure | This school | In Washington | In King County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 25.6% | #865 of 936 | #259 of 280 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 26.8% | #935 of 1,103 ▼ 10 | #248 of 281 ▼ 2 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 24.8% | #1,024 of 1,102 ▼ 34 | #262 of 280 ▼ 9 |
| 3-year test score change ranked biggest gain first | +1.6pp | #461 of 928 | #121 of 274 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 386 | #686 of 1,268 | #194 of 299 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 14.5:1 | #233 of 1,085 | #59 of 280 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 61.8% | #486 of 1,088 | #212 of 281 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 70.2% | #257 of 1,169 | #49 of 292 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked steepest decline first | -24.9% | #191 of 778 | #71 of 220 |
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
386
-94 (-20%) vs 2020
-34% since 1990-91, when it was 581
Student : Teacher
14.5:1
was 16.6:1
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 | 386 | 26.6 | 14.5:1 | 70% (271) |
| 2023-24 | 403 | 26.4 | 15.3:1 | 71% (286) |
| 2022-23 | 462 | 29.1 | 15.9:1 | 73% (335) |
| 2020-21 | 480 | 29 | 16.6:1 | 65% (310) |
| 2017-18 | 514 | 33.3 | 15.4:1 | 67% (343) |
| 2015-16 | 578 | 33 | 17.5:1 | 70% (402) |
| 2010-11 | 664 | 28 | 23.7:1 | 67% (443) |
| 2000-01 | 551 | 21 | 26.2:1 | N/A |
| 1990-91 | 581 | 25 | 23.2:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Highlands Elementary School.
Since 2017-18: students down 25% (514 to 386); teachers down 20% (33.3 to 26.6).
About Highlands Elementary School
Families in Renton, Washington, are served by Highlands Elementary School, a mid-sized elementary school. In all, 386 students attend the school in kindergarten through 5.
Highlands Elementary School is one school in a 29-school district, Renton School District, which enrolls 14,873 students.
The largest group at Highlands Elementary School is Hispanic students, at 58%. The remaining students are 11% Asian, 11% Black, 10% multiracial, and 9% White. Among people living in King County, the Hispanic share is about 11%. On the diversity index, which measures the chance that two random students are from different groups, Highlands Elementary School scores 62%.
The student-to-teacher ratio at Highlands Elementary School is 14.5:1, based on 26.6 full-time-equivalent teachers. The average for elementary schools in Washington is 17.3:1, so this school has fewer students per teacher. Highlands Elementary School counts 70% of students as eligible for free or reduced-price lunch. It compares with 38% for public schools in King County.
Predicted from its free or reduced-price lunch share, Highlands Elementary School would score about 33.1%. It scores 25.6%, 7.5 points below that figure.
American Community Survey estimates for King County show that median household income comes to 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. King County counts 544 public schools with about 278,492 students.
YouthSource and RTC, about 0.5 miles away, is the closest public school. Counting only straight-line distance, at least 8 other public schools are within five miles. Highlands Elementary School places 6th of 6 on proficiency among the closest schools that report scores.
Highlands Elementary School is inside a principal city with a population between 100,000 and 250,000, a location NCES labels City: Mid-size.
Enrollment in 2024-25 stood at 386, compared with 480 in 2020-21. From 2020-21 to 2024-25, the ratio dropped from 16.6:1 to 14.5:1.
You can use this page to share news and ask questions about fundraisers, report cards, and school supplies. You can also rate the school on this page.
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 Renton School District
- Hazen Senior High SchoolHigh · 1,796 students
- Renton Senior High SchoolHigh · 1,208 students
- Lindbergh Senior High SchoolHigh · 1,201 students
- Nelsen Middle SchoolMiddle · 913 students
- McKnight Middle SchoolMiddle · 811 students
- Vera Risdon Middle SchoolMiddle · 751 students
Other schools in Renton
- Hazen Senior High SchoolHigh · 1,796 students
- Liberty Sr High SchoolHigh · 1,495 students
- Renton Senior High SchoolHigh · 1,208 students
- Lindbergh Senior High SchoolHigh · 1,201 students
- Nelsen Middle SchoolMiddle · 913 students
- Northwood Middle SchoolMiddle · 911 students
Other Highlands Elementary schools
24 other US public schools in 13 states are named Highlands Elementary. Highlands Elementary School is the 17th largest of the 25.
- Highlands Elementary SchoolHIGHLANDS, TX · 868 students
- Highlands ElementarySaugus, CA · 666 students
- HIGHLANDS ELEMENTARY SCHOOLIMMOKALEE, FL · 599 students
- Highlands Elementary SchoolLa Grange Highlands, IL · 565 students
- HIGHLANDS ELEMENTARY SCHOOLKISSIMMEE, FL · 564 students
Nearby schools
- YouthSource and RTC0.5 mi · 296
- Renton Technical High School0.5 mi · 66
- McKnight Middle School0.7 mi · 811
- Honey Dew Elementary0.9 mi · 276
- Meadow Crest Early Childhood Education Center0.9 mi · 490
- Sartori Elementary School1.0 mi · 510
Frequently asked questions
About Highlands Elementary SchoolHow large is Highlands Elementary School?
Highlands Elementary School enrolls approximately 386 students in grades KG-05.
Is Highlands Elementary School an elementary, middle, or high school?
Highlands Elementary School is an elementary school covering grades KG-05.
How many teachers does Highlands Elementary School have?
Highlands Elementary School employs 27 FTE teachers, for a student-to-teacher ratio of 14.5:1.
How diverse is Highlands Elementary School?
Highlands Elementary School reports a student body of 9% White, 58% Hispanic, 11% Black, 11% Asian, 10% Two or more.
What district is Highlands Elementary School in?
Highlands Elementary School is part of Renton School District.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.