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What's the best and worst thing about the food at Panther Lake Elementary School?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
427
Elementary
DISTRICT 433 · STATE 380
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·FEDERAL WAY SCHOOL DISTRICT·NCES 530282001767
Panther Lake Elementary School
34424 1ST AV S, FEDERAL WAY, WA 98003 · (253) 945-3600 · King County
GRADES PK–05ELEMENTARY21-SUBURBTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL427 STUDENTS
D
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 14% 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.
- C+Beats expectations How far test scores land above or below what the share of low-income students predicts for a school in this state.
- B-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
16.8:1
26 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 16.1:1 · STATE 17.3:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
84%
358 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 | 72 | 17% |
| Grade 1 | 82 | 19% |
| Grade 2 | 69 | 16% |
| Grade 3 | 61 | 14% |
| Grade 4 | 72 | 17% |
| Grade 5 | 71 | 17% |
This year's kindergarten class (72) is about the same size as its 5th grade class (71).
Student demographics
78%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
22.2%
WA avg 58.4% . -22.1pp since 2014
Math
17.0%
WA avg 51.2% . -23.8pp since 2014
What this means: On the Smarter Balanced + WCAS, Washington's statewide test, about 22 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 17 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 22 points since 2014, while math scores are down about 24 points.
Smarter Balanced + WCAS results by year
| School year | English Language Arts | Math |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 22.2% | 17.0% |
| 2023-24 | 29.4% | 20.6% |
| 2022-23 | 25.6% | 20.2% |
| 2021-22 | 22.6% | 13.8% |
| 2018-19 | 32.8% | 23.5% |
| 2017-18 | 37.5% | 28.8% |
| 2016-17 | 40.6% | 32.0% |
| 2015-16 | 40.4% | 35.9% |
| 2014-15 | 44.3% | 40.8% |
% 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
24.0%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
23.9%
based on WA schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
+0.1pp
above demographic expectation
What this means: About 24% of students here test proficient in math and reading, compared with the roughly 24% 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 Panther Lake Elementary School
Panther Lake Elementary School's state test result (24.0% proficient) is higher than 2 of the 4 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Panther Lake Elementary School this school | 427 | 83.8% | 24.0% |
| Manitou Park Elementary School Tacoma | 429 | 76.0% | 27.3% |
| Thorndyke Elementary SEATTLE | 386 | 86.5% | 21.2% |
| Federal Way Public School ECEAP Federal Way | 348 | 80.7% | N/A |
| Edna Travis Elementary School Tacoma | 337 | 78.3% | 16.1% |
| Silver Lake Elementary School FEDERAL WAY | 382 | 74.6% | 28.9% |
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 Panther Lake Elementary School ranks
Among elementary schools| Measure | This school | In Washington | In King County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 24.0% | #877 of 936 | #264 of 280 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 17.0% | #1,067 of 1,103 ▼ 50 | #276 of 281 ▼ 12 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 22.2% | #1,048 of 1,102 ▼ 100 | #271 of 280 ▼ 28 |
| 3-year test score change ranked biggest gain first | +1.4pp | #469 of 928 | #127 of 274 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 427 | #526 of 1,268 | #143 of 299 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 16.8:1 | #764 of 1,085 | #199 of 280 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 78.5% | #53 of 1,088 | #31 of 281 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 83.8% | #78 of 1,169 | #4 of 292 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked steepest decline first | -4.9% | #678 of 778 | #194 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
427
+57 (+15%) vs 2020
-28% since 1990-91, when it was 591
Student : Teacher
16.8:1
was 14.8:1
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 | 427 | 25.5 | 16.8:1 | 84% (358) |
| 2023-24 | 422 | 23.7 | 17.8:1 | 88% (370) |
| 2022-23 | 414 | 24.5 | 16.9:1 | 86% (355) |
| 2020-21 | 370 | 25 | 14.8:1 | 72% (268) |
| 2017-18 | 449 | 27 | 16.6:1 | 82% (368) |
| 2015-16 | 459 | 25 | 18.4:1 | 67% (309) |
| 2010-11 | 407 | 22 | 18.5:1 | 45% (182) |
| 2000-01 | 539 | 25 | 21.6:1 | N/A |
| 1990-91 | 591 | 25 | 23.6:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Panther Lake Elementary School.
Since 2017-18: students down 5% (449 to 427); teachers down 6% (27 to 25.5).
About Panther Lake Elementary School
Panther Lake Elementary School is a mid-sized elementary school in FEDERAL WAY, Washington, under Federal Way School District. In all, 427 students attend the school in pre-K through 5.
A total of 43 schools make up Federal Way School District, with 22,250 students enrolled.
The largest racial or ethnic group at Panther Lake Elementary School is Hispanic, with 33% of students. Next come 24% Black, 14% White, 13% Pacific Islander, and 10% multiracial. The county population is about 11% Hispanic. The diversity index for Panther Lake Elementary School is 78%. For US public schools as a whole it is 70%.
On staff are 25.5 full-time-equivalent teachers; the student-to-teacher ratio is 16.8:1. That is in line with the 17.3:1 average for elementary schools in Washington. Panther Lake Elementary School has a free or reduced-price lunch rate of 84%. On average, public schools in King County report 38%.
Panther Lake Elementary School holds a D allk12 Grade, placing it above 14% of Washington public elementary schools.
Panther Lake Elementary School's average proficiency rate across its state test results of 24.0% is within a point of the 23.9% the model predicts from its lunch-eligibility share.
Five-year Census Bureau estimates for King County show that median household income comes to about $124,746, a bachelor's degree or higher is held by about 57% of adults, and the poverty rate is about 5%. The county's public schools total 544, with about 278,492 students.
Of the public schools around it, Panther Lake Elementary School is closest to Federal Way Public Academy, about 0.6 miles away. The count of other public schools within five miles is at least 8. Panther Lake Elementary School is 4th of 5 nearby schools by average proficiency rate.
On the NCES locale scale, the school is Suburb: Large.
Since 2020-21, enrollment has grown 15%, from 370 to 427. Students per teacher increased from 14.8 in 2020-21 to 16.8 in 2024-25.
Panther Lake Elementary School has a community page on allk12 for topics such as special education services, counseling, and support programs. 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 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 Panther Lake Elementary schools
2 other US public schools in 2 states are named Panther Lake Elementary. Panther Lake Elementary School is the 2nd largest of the 3.
- Panther Lake Elementary SchoolKent, WA · 396 students
- PANTHER LAKE ELEMENTARYWINTER GARDEN, FL · 797 students
Nearby schools
- Federal Way Public Academy0.6 mi · 309
- Enterprise Elementary School0.6 mi · 450
- Sherwood Forest Elementary School0.8 mi · 325
- Federal Way Running Start Home School0.9 mi · 17
- Federal Way Public School ECEAP0.9 mi · 348
- Gateway to College0.9 mi · 23
Frequently asked questions
About Panther Lake Elementary SchoolHow many students attend Panther Lake Elementary School?
Panther Lake Elementary School enrolls approximately 427 students in grades PK-05.
Is Panther Lake Elementary School an elementary, middle, or high school?
Panther Lake Elementary School is an elementary school covering grades PK-05.
How many teachers does Panther Lake Elementary School have?
Panther Lake Elementary School employs 26 FTE teachers, for a student-to-teacher ratio of 16.8:1.
What is the student diversity at Panther Lake Elementary School?
Student demographics at Panther Lake Elementary School are roughly 14% White, 33% Hispanic, 24% Black, 7% Asian, 10% Two or more.
Who oversees Panther Lake Elementary School?
Panther Lake 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.