Lake Wilderness Elementary

Lake Wilderness Elementary operates as a roomy elementary campus in Maple Valley, Washington, part of Tahoma School District. Current enrollment sits at 923 students spanning grades pre-K through 5. That puts it 143% larger than the typical public school in Washington, which averages around 380 students.

Across the 9 schools in Tahoma School District (9,234 students total), Lake Wilderness Elementary accounts for its share of the district's footprint.

Looking at the student body, Lake Wilderness Elementary records that the most-represented group is White (53%), with the rest of the student body spread across multiple groups; the rest consists of 19% Asian, 13% Hispanic, 11% multiracial, 4% Black. That mix tracks the wider county fairly closely.

On the income-and-resources front, On paper, Lake Wilderness Elementary has 49 full-time-equivalent teachers, translating to a class-load average of around 19.0:1. The state averages around 17.3:1, so this campus is higher than the state norm typical. Roughly 21% of students at Lake Wilderness Elementary qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, often used as a Title I proxy. Set against King County (around 38%), the school's rate is meaningfully below typical.

After controlling for student poverty, Lake Wilderness Elementary performs roughly as the BeatsExpectations model predicts for a school with this FRL share. The predicted value is around 66.0%, the actual is 69.8%, a residual of +3.8 points.

Across the wider county, ACS estimates for King County put the typical household earns roughly $124,746 per year, about 57% of the adult population holds a bachelor's degree or above, and roughly 5% of residents live below the federal poverty line. In all, King County runs 544 public schools (combined enrollment of about 278,492 students), of which Lake Wilderness Elementary is one.

The closest other public school is Shadow Lake Elementary, roughly 1.0 miles away. 8 of the 8 nearest public schools sit inside a five-mile radius. Ranking that nearby cluster on reported proficiency puts Lake Wilderness Elementary at 3rd of 9; the average score across the group is 58.9%.

The campus sits in a commuter-belt setting.

Five-year trend. Lake Wilderness Elementary's enrollment has held roughly steady since 2018, when it stood at 906 (now 923). The White share of enrollment fell from 69% to 53% over that span. The student-to-teacher ratio pulled in from 22.2:1 in 2018 to 19.0:1 today.

In the discussion threads here, posts here usually surface around school events, parent volunteer needs, and clubs. Parents, students, alumni, and staff are welcome to weigh in.