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Honest take: what's the hardest part about being a student at Pioneer Valley Elementary?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
524
Elementary
DISTRICT 409 · STATE 380
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·BETHEL SCHOOL DISTRICT·NCES 530048002430
Pioneer Valley Elementary
7315 Eustis Hunt Road, Spanaway, WA 98387 · (253) 800-8900 · Pierce County
GRADES KG–05ELEMENTARY21-SUBURBTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL524 STUDENTS
Student : Teacher
15.5:1
34 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 17.8:1 · STATE 17.3:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
56%
296 students
DISTRICT 59% · 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 | 65 | 12% |
| Grade 1 | 86 | 16% |
| Grade 2 | 89 | 17% |
| Grade 3 | 99 | 19% |
| Grade 4 | 93 | 18% |
| Grade 5 | 92 | 18% |
This year's kindergarten class (65) is 29% smaller than its 5th grade class (92).
Student demographics
74%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 75% · 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
59.8%
WA avg 58.4% . +12.1pp since 2014
Math
57.3%
WA avg 51.2% . +7.9pp since 2014
What this means: On the Smarter Balanced + WCAS, Washington's statewide test, about 60 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 57 of 100 do math at grade level. Across all Washington schools, those numbers are about 58 and 51. Reading and writing scores are up about 12 points since 2014, while math scores are up about 8 points.
Smarter Balanced + WCAS results by year
| School year | English Language Arts | Math |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 59.8% | 57.3% |
| 2023-24 | 54.4% | 59.9% |
| 2022-23 | 59.9% | 59.2% |
| 2021-22 | 59.5% | 55.1% |
| 2018-19 | 63.0% | 56.9% |
| 2017-18 | 71.9% | 63.2% |
| 2016-17 | 54.0% | 57.3% |
| 2015-16 | 56.6% | 48.8% |
| 2014-15 | 47.7% | 49.4% |
% 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
OUTPERFORMING
Top 10% of WA schools after controlling for student poverty
Actual proficiency
56.2%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
42.3%
based on WA schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
+13.9pp
above demographic expectation
What this means: About 56% of students here test proficient in math and reading, well above the roughly 42% 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 14 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 →
Schools most like Pioneer Valley Elementary
Pioneer Valley Elementary's state test result (56.2% proficient) is higher than 4 of the 4 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pioneer Valley Elementary this school | 524 | 56.5% | 56.2% |
| Chambers Prairie Elementary School Lacey | 490 | 57.8% | 43.3% |
| Edward Zeiger Elem Puyallup | 500 | 57.4% | 44.1% |
| Naches Trail Elementary Tacoma | 519 | 57.4% | 43.0% |
| Collins Elementary Tacoma | 466 | 55.4% | 42.4% |
| Burton Elementary School Vancouver | 452 | 58.2% | N/A |
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 Pioneer Valley Elementary ranks
Among elementary schools| Measure | This school | In Washington | In Pierce County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 56.2% | #317 of 936 | #52 of 142 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 57.3% | #306 of 1,103 ▼ 45 | #37 of 142 ▼ 3 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 59.8% | #306 of 1,102 ▲ 109 | #41 of 142 ▲ 20 |
| 3-year test score change ranked biggest gain first | +1.2pp | #487 of 928 | #70 of 141 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 524 | #232 of 1,268 | #37 of 155 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 15.5:1 | #463 of 1,085 | #49 of 145 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 73.9% | #167 of 1,088 | #53 of 145 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 56.5% | #513 of 1,169 | #61 of 148 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked fastest growth first | +24.2% | #44 of 257 | #8 of 43 |
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
524
+84 (+19%) vs 2020
-34% since 2000-01, when it was 797
Student : Teacher
15.5:1
was 13.8:1
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 | 524 | 33.8 | 15.5:1 | 56% (296) |
| 2023-24 | 527 | 32.2 | 16.4:1 | 54% (286) |
| 2022-23 | 512 | 32.7 | 15.7:1 | 51% (261) |
| 2020-21 | 440 | 32 | 13.8:1 | 42% (184) |
| 2017-18 | 422 | 26.6 | 15.8:1 | 38% (160) |
| 2015-16 | 464 | 28 | 16.6:1 | 41% (189) |
| 2010-11 | 580 | 27 | 21.5:1 | 27% (157) |
| 2000-01 | 797 | 34 | 23.4:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Pioneer Valley Elementary.
Since 2017-18: students up 24% (422 to 524); teachers up 27% (26.6 to 33.8).
About Pioneer Valley Elementary
Among the schools in Spanaway, Washington, is Pioneer Valley Elementary, a mid-sized elementary school. The school runs kindergarten through 5 and enrolls 524 students. Elementary schools in Washington average about 380 students, which makes this school 38% above average.
Bethel School District has a total of 39 schools and 21,732 students, Pioneer Valley Elementary among them.
White students account for 41% of enrollment at Pioneer Valley Elementary, more than any other group. Smaller groups are 23% Hispanic, 17% multiracial, 8% Pacific Islander, and 7% Black. County-wide, 64% of Pierce County residents are White. Measured by the diversity index, the student body scores 74%.
The school has 33.8 full-time-equivalent teachers and a ratio of 15.5 students per teacher. Statewide, elementary schools in Washington average 17.3:1. Of all students at Pioneer Valley Elementary, 56% are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch.
On allk12's BeatsExpectations measure, Pioneer Valley Elementary is among the top 10% of schools in Washington. Predicted: 42.3%. Actual: 56.2%.
American Community Survey estimates for Pierce County show that the median household earns about $99,564 a year, about 31% of adults have at least a bachelor's degree, and roughly 6% of residents are in poverty. Pierce County has 287 public schools with about 138,462 students, including Pioneer Valley Elementary.
A public school about 0.1 miles away, Liberty Middle School, is the closest to Pioneer Valley Elementary. The count of other public schools within five miles is at least 8. On proficiency, Pioneer Valley Elementary is ahead of the 43.1% nearby average, ranking 1st of 8.
The federal government classifies Pioneer Valley Elementary's location as Suburb: Large.
A 19% rise took enrollment from 440 in 2020-21 to 524 in 2024-25. The student-to-teacher ratio increased from 13.8:1 in 2020-21 to 15.5:1 in 2024-25.
Use the discussion section to ask about homework, tutoring, and testing dates at Pioneer Valley Elementary. You can also rate the school on this page.
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 Bethel School District
- Graham Kapowsin High SchoolHigh · 2,087 students
- Spanaway Lake High SchoolHigh · 1,787 students
- Bethel High SchoolHigh · 1,688 students
- Liberty Middle SchoolMiddle · 857 students
- Spanaway Middle SchoolMiddle · 766 students
- Cedarcrest Middle SchoolMiddle · 765 students
Other schools in Spanaway
- Spanaway Lake High SchoolHigh · 1,787 students
- Bethel High SchoolHigh · 1,688 students
- Liberty Middle SchoolMiddle · 857 students
- Cedarcrest Middle SchoolMiddle · 765 students
- Bethel Middle SchoolMiddle · 661 students
- Shining Mountain ElementaryElementary · 613 students
Nearby schools
- Liberty Middle School0.1 mi · 857
- Bethel Virtual Academy0.1 mi · 482
- North Star Elementary1.1 mi · 446
- Graham Elementary1.6 mi · 428
- Emma L Carson Elementary1.6 mi · 676
- Frederickson Elementary2.0 mi · 527
Frequently asked questions
About Pioneer Valley ElementaryWhat is the total enrollment at Pioneer Valley Elementary?
Pioneer Valley Elementary enrolls approximately 524 students in grades KG-05.
What grades does Pioneer Valley Elementary serve?
Pioneer Valley Elementary serves grades KG-05.
How many students per teacher at Pioneer Valley Elementary?
Approximately 15.5:1 students per teacher at Pioneer Valley Elementary.
What is the racial breakdown of students at Pioneer Valley Elementary?
At Pioneer Valley Elementary, the student body is approximately 41% White, 23% Hispanic, 7% Black, 3% Asian, 17% Two or more.
Is Pioneer Valley Elementary public or private?
Pioneer Valley Elementary is a public K-12 school, overseen by Bethel School District.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.