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If you could change one rule at Mark Twain Elementary School, what would it be?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
531
Elementary
DISTRICT 433 · STATE 380
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·FEDERAL WAY SCHOOL DISTRICT·NCES 530282001835
Mark Twain Elementary School
2450 S STAR LAKE RD, FEDERAL WAY, WA 98003 · (253) 945-3100 · King County
GRADES PK–05ELEMENTARY21-SUBURBTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL531 STUDENTS
C-
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 24% 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.
- B-Beats expectations How far test scores land above or below what the share of low-income students predicts for a school in this state.
- A-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
16.1:1
33 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 16.1:1 · STATE 17.3:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
89%
470 students
DISTRICT 72% · 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 | 104 | 20% |
| Grade 1 | 91 | 17% |
| Grade 2 | 99 | 19% |
| Grade 3 | 79 | 15% |
| Grade 4 | 89 | 17% |
| Grade 5 | 69 | 13% |
This year's kindergarten class (104) is 51% larger than its 5th grade class (69).
Student demographics
79%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 79% · 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
29.2%
WA avg 58.4% . -5.6pp since 2014
Math
17.6%
WA avg 51.2% . -17.2pp 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 18 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 6 points since 2014, while math scores are down about 17 points.
Smarter Balanced + WCAS results by year
| School year | English Language Arts | Math |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 29.2% | 17.6% |
| 2023-24 | 27.8% | 13.2% |
| 2022-23 | 23.7% | 15.9% |
| 2021-22 | 19.6% | 13.3% |
| 2018-19 | 29.4% | 23.8% |
| 2017-18 | 32.4% | 28.7% |
| 2016-17 | 23.1% | 31.1% |
| 2015-16 | 39.0% | 41.1% |
| 2014-15 | 34.8% | 34.8% |
% 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
22.9%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
20.8%
based on WA schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
+2.0pp
above demographic expectation
What this means: About 23% of students here test proficient in math and reading, compared with the roughly 21% 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 Mark Twain Elementary School
Mark Twain Elementary School's state test result (22.9% proficient) is higher than 3 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mark Twain Elementary School this school | 531 | 88.5% | 22.9% |
| Parkside Elementary Des Moines | 535 | 80.2% | 24.7% |
| Cascade View Elementary Tukwila | 481 | 80.7% | 19.4% |
| Mirror Lake Elementary School FEDERAL WAY | 491 | 82.3% | 21.9% |
| Lake Dolloff Elementary School AUBURN | 543 | 81.2% | 25.9% |
| Midway Elementary Des Moines | 548 | 78.1% | 13.9% |
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 Mark Twain Elementary School ranks
Among elementary schools| Measure | This school | In Washington | In King County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 22.9% | #885 of 936 | #266 of 280 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 17.6% | #1,063 of 1,103 ▲ 17 | #274 of 281 ▲ 5 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 29.2% | #956 of 1,102 ▲ 14 | #246 of 280 ▼ 2 |
| 3-year test score change ranked biggest gain first | +6.9pp | #183 of 928 | #44 of 274 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 531 | #211 of 1,268 | #57 of 299 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 16.1:1 | #619 of 1,085 | #152 of 280 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 79.1% | #41 of 1,088 | #23 of 281 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 88.5% | #39 of 1,169 | #1 of 292 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked steepest decline first | -1.1% | #760 of 778 | #215 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
531
+52 (+11%) vs 2020
+21% since 1990-91, when it was 440
Student : Teacher
16.1:1
was 15.4:1
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 | 531 | 33 | 16.1:1 | 89% (470) |
| 2023-24 | 537 | 32 | 16.8:1 | 94% (507) |
| 2022-23 | 489 | 30.1 | 16.2:1 | 92% (451) |
| 2020-21 | 479 | 31 | 15.4:1 | 97% (466) |
| 2017-18 | 537 | 31.2 | 17.2:1 | 86% (463) |
| 2015-16 | 582 | 30 | 19.4:1 | 72% (420) |
| 2010-11 | 532 | 29 | 18.3:1 | 58% (307) |
| 2000-01 | 664 | 32 | 20.8:1 | N/A |
| 1990-91 | 440 | 17 | 25.9:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Mark Twain Elementary School.
Since 2017-18: students down 1% (537 to 531); teachers up 6% (31.2 to 33).
About Mark Twain Elementary School
Mark Twain Elementary School is a medium-sized elementary school in FEDERAL WAY, Washington, under Federal Way School District. It serves 531 students in pre-K through 5. For comparison, elementary schools in Washington average about 380 students.
Federal Way School District counts 43 schools and 22,250 students, including Mark Twain Elementary School.
Federal enrollment data show Hispanic students as the largest group at Mark Twain Elementary School, at 30%. The rest of enrollment is 23% Asian, 20% Black, 12% multiracial, and 7% Pacific Islander. Among all residents of King County, the Hispanic share is about 11%. Mark Twain Elementary School's diversity index is 79%, against a US figure of 70%.
The ratio of students to teachers is 16.1:1, with 33 full-time-equivalent teachers on staff. That is 1.2 students per teacher below the 17.3:1 average for elementary schools in Washington. The percentage of students eligible for free or reduced-price lunch is 89%. Among public schools in King County, the average eligibility rate is 38%.
Measured against Washington public elementary schools, Mark Twain Elementary School receives a C-. The grade weighs proficiency most heavily, then how results compare with what the school's low-income share predicts, then the three-year change.
BeatsExpectations compares each school's average proficiency rate on state tests with a prediction based on free or reduced-price lunch eligibility. For Mark Twain Elementary School, the prediction is 20.8% and the result is 22.9%.
Federal survey data for King County show that the median household income is $124,746, about 57% of adults have at least a bachelor's degree, and roughly 5% of residents are in poverty. King County is home to 544 public schools and about 278,492 public school students.
The closest other public school is Woodmont K-8 School, about 0.8 miles away. Mark Twain Elementary School has at least 8 other public schools within five miles. Ranking the closest schools with test data puts Mark Twain Elementary School at 7th of 9.
The school's locale code, Suburb: Large, means it is in a suburban area outside a principal city, within an urbanized area with a population of 250,000 or more.
The school enrolled 531 students in 2024-25, 52 more than the 479 it had in 2020-21.
Discussion on this page can cover school events, clubs, and volunteer needs. Posting is open to anyone connected to the school.
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 Federal Way School District
- Thomas Jefferson High SchoolHigh · 1,810 students
- Federal Way High SchoolHigh · 1,665 students
- Todd Beamer High SchoolHigh · 1,412 students
- Decatur High SchoolHigh · 1,352 students
- Evergreen Middle SchoolMiddle · 810 students
- Kilo Middle SchoolMiddle · 669 students
Other schools in FEDERAL WAY
- Federal Way High SchoolHigh · 1,665 students
- Todd Beamer High SchoolHigh · 1,412 students
- Decatur High SchoolHigh · 1,352 students
- Sacajawea Middle SchoolMiddle · 668 students
- Illahee Middle SchoolMiddle · 655 students
- Lakota Middle SchoolMiddle · 645 students
Other Mark Twain Elementary schools
30 other US public schools in 13 states are named Mark Twain Elementary. Mark Twain Elementary School is the 7th largest of the 31.
- Mark Twain ElementaryPASCO, WA · 579 students
- Mark Twain ElementaryKirkland, WA · 550 students
- Mark Twain ElementaryRiverside, CA · 1,033 students
- Mark Twain Elementary SchoolALVIN, TX · 634 students
- Mark Twain ElementaryLawndale, CA · 585 students
Nearby schools
- Woodmont K-8 School0.8 mi · 402
- Valhalla Elementary School0.8 mi · 517
- Star Lake Elementary School0.8 mi · 434
- Evergreen Middle School0.8 mi · 810
- Thomas Jefferson High School1.2 mi · 1,810
- Nautilus K-8 School1.5 mi · 469
Frequently asked questions
About Mark Twain Elementary SchoolHow large is Mark Twain Elementary School?
Mark Twain Elementary School enrolls approximately 531 students in grades PK-05.
What age range does Mark Twain Elementary School serve?
Mark Twain Elementary School serves students from grade PK through grade 05.
How many teachers does Mark Twain Elementary School have?
Mark Twain Elementary School employs 33 FTE teachers, for a student-to-teacher ratio of 16.1:1.
What is the racial breakdown of students at Mark Twain Elementary School?
At Mark Twain Elementary School, the student body is approximately 7% White, 30% Hispanic, 20% Black, 23% Asian, 12% Two or more.
Who oversees Mark Twain Elementary School?
Mark Twain Elementary School is overseen by Federal Way School District in King County.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.