1
What's the one class at James Sales Elementary every student should take?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
387
Elementary
DISTRICT 387 · STATE 380
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·FRANKLIN PIERCE SCHOOL DISTRICT·NCES 530294000477
James Sales Elementary
1301 113th Street S, Tacoma, WA 98444 · (253) 298-4205 · Pierce County
GRADES KG–05ELEMENTARY21-SUBURBTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL387 STUDENTS
Student : Teacher
16.1:1
24 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 17.0:1 · STATE 17.3:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
75%
291 students
DISTRICT 70% · 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
Student demographics
Student head counts by race/ethnicity from federal NCES enrollment data. 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
47.9%
WA avg 58.4% . +0.1pp since 2014
Math
46.7%
WA avg 51.2% . +2.6pp since 2014
What this means: On the Smarter Balanced + WCAS, Washington's statewide test, about 48 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 47 of 100 do math at grade level. Across all Washington schools, those numbers are about 58 and 51. Reading and writing scores have held steady since 2014, while math scores are up about 3 points.
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
51.7%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
29.8%
based on WA schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
+22.0pp
above demographic expectation
What this means: About 52% of students here test proficient in math and reading, well above the roughly 30% 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 22 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 →
7-year change
SY 2017-18 vs SY 2024-25Enrollment
387
-67 (-15%) vs 2017
Student : Teacher
16.1:1
was 16.2:1
% White
26%
was 28%
% Hispanic
33%
was 32%
% Black
13%
was 12%
% Asian
3%
was 2%
Source: NCES Common Core of Data
About James Sales Elementary
James Sales Elementary is a mid-tier elementary campus in Tacoma, Washington, run under Franklin Pierce School District. The school hosts 387 students in grades K through 5.
Franklin Pierce School District runs 14 schools in total, collectively educating 7,187 students. James Sales Elementary is one of those campuses.
On the student-mix side, James Sales Elementary logs that 33% of students identify as Hispanic, with the remaining enrollment distributed across several groups. Other groups include 26% White, 14% multiracial, 13% Black, 9% Pacific Islander. That is meaningfully more Hispanic than the county at large, where the share is closer to 13%.
On the resource side, The school reports having 24 full-time-equivalent teachers, for a student-teacher ratio near 16.1:1. Statewide, the average ratio sits near 17.3:1, putting James Sales Elementary tighter than the state norm the norm. About 75% of enrolled students meet the income threshold for free or reduced-price lunch, a commonly cited indicator of low-income enrollment. That share is above Pierce County's rate of about 50%.
With demographic context factored in, James Sales Elementary sits in the top 10% of Washington schools after the BeatsExpectations adjustment. Predicted proficiency for the school's FRL share is roughly 29.8%; actual is 51.7%, +22.0 points clear of the demographic baseline.
In the area at large, the surrounding county (Pierce County) shows that median household earnings sit near $99,564, 31% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, and the poverty rate sits near 6%. In all, Pierce County runs 287 public schools (combined enrollment of about 138,462 students), of which James Sales Elementary is one.
Nearest neighbor: Christensen Elementary, around 0.6 miles off. 8 of the 8 nearest public schools sit inside a five-mile radius. On composite proficiency, James Sales Elementary comes 1st of 8 in the immediate cluster, higher than the nearby-schools average of 32.2%.
James Sales Elementary operates from an outer-ring location.
Trend over the last 7 years. Looking back 7 years, enrollment at James Sales Elementary has fell 15%, going from 454 students in 2018 to 387 in 2025.
In the discussion threads here, posts here usually surface around pickup logistics, teacher feedback, and after-school programs. The community welcomes input from current and former families.
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
- Franklin Pierce High SchoolHigh · 977 students
- Morris Ford Middle SchoolMiddle · 831 students
- Perry G Keithley Middle SchoolMiddle · 804 students
- Brookdale ElementaryElementary · 483 students
- Collins ElementaryElementary · 466 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
- Christensen Elementary0.6 mi · 346
- Perry G Keithley Middle School0.7 mi · 804
- Washington High School0.8 mi · 989
- Hewins Early Learning Center1.1 mi · 266
- Brookdale Elementary1.2 mi · 483
- Helen Stafford Elementary School1.4 mi · 453
Frequently asked questions
About James Sales ElementaryHow large is James Sales Elementary?
James Sales Elementary enrolls approximately 387 students in grades KG-05.
Is James Sales Elementary an elementary, middle, or high school?
James Sales Elementary is an elementary school covering grades KG-05.
What is the student-teacher ratio at James Sales Elementary?
The student-to-teacher ratio at James Sales Elementary is approximately 16.1:1 (24 FTE teachers).
What is the racial breakdown of students at James Sales Elementary?
At James Sales Elementary, the student body is approximately 26% White, 33% Hispanic, 13% Black, 3% Asian, 14% Two or more.
Who oversees James Sales Elementary?
James Sales Elementary is overseen by Franklin Pierce School District in Pierce County.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.