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What do you wish you knew before starting at Rainier Elementary School?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
493
Elementary
DISTRICT 339 · STATE 380
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·RAINIER SCHOOL DISTRICT·NCES 530711002537
Rainier Elementary School
600 W 3rd, Rainier, WA 98576 · (360) 446-4020 · Thurston County
GRADES PK–05ELEMENTARY42-RURALTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL493 STUDENTS
Student : Teacher
16.6:1
30 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 18.6:1 · STATE 17.3:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
46%
225 students
DISTRICT 47% · 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Pre-K | 43 | 9% |
| Kindergarten | 72 | 15% |
| Grade 1 | 78 | 16% |
| Grade 2 | 75 | 15% |
| Grade 3 | 66 | 13% |
| Grade 4 | 75 | 15% |
| Grade 5 | 84 | 17% |
This year's kindergarten class (72) is 14% smaller than its 5th grade class (84).
Student demographics
36%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 35% · 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
School pathway
Students here typically continue to
Based on grade levels within Rainier School District. Attendance zones can vary; confirm enrollment with the district.
Test scores
Smarter Balanced + WCAS 2024-25 . % Met or Exceeded StandardEnglish Language Arts
53.4%
WA avg 58.4% . +7.9pp since 2014
Math
49.5%
WA avg 51.2% . +8.3pp since 2014
What this means: On the Smarter Balanced + WCAS, Washington's statewide test, about 53 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 50 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 8 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 | 53.4% | 49.5% |
| 2023-24 | 56.5% | 56.1% |
| 2022-23 | 51.9% | 57.1% |
| 2021-22 | 49.3% | 49.3% |
| 2018-19 | 53.5% | 48.5% |
| 2017-18 | 48.2% | 44.1% |
| 2016-17 | 55.5% | 49.7% |
| 2015-16 | 52.0% | 40.6% |
| 2014-15 | 45.5% | 41.2% |
% 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
53.9%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
49.6%
based on WA schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
+4.3pp
above demographic expectation
What this means: About 54% of students here test proficient in math and reading, compared with the roughly 50% 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 Rainier Elementary School
Rainier Elementary School's state test result (53.9% proficient) is higher than 2 of the 3 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rainier Elementary School this school | 493 | 45.6% | 53.9% |
| Monte Cristo Elementary Granite Falls | 502 | 43.6% | 34.3% |
| Windsor Elementary SPOKANE | 549 | 44.1% | 55.5% |
| Brentwood Elementary School SPOKANE | 468 | 44.4% | 46.3% |
| Tukes Valley Primary Battle Ground | 546 | 42.9% | N/A |
| North Fork Elementary School Woodland | 473 | 41.4% | 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 Rainier Elementary School ranks
Among elementary schools| Measure | This school | In Washington | In Thurston County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 53.9% | #367 of 936 | #14 of 39 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 49.5% | #448 of 1,103 ▼ 126 | #18 of 39 ▼ 12 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 53.4% | #438 of 1,102 ▼ 74 | #20 of 39 ▼ 9 |
| 3-year test score change ranked biggest gain first | +2.2pp | #423 of 928 | #16 of 39 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 493 | #309 of 1,268 | #14 of 43 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 16.6:1 | #709 of 1,085 | #23 of 40 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 35.5% | #973 of 1,088 | #38 of 39 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 45.6% | #717 of 1,169 | #20 of 43 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked fastest growth first | +14.1% | #95 of 257 | #7 of 13 |
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
493
+62 (+14%) vs 2020
+27% since 2000-01, when it was 388
Student : Teacher
16.6:1
was 16.6:1
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 | 493 | 29.8 | 16.6:1 | 46% (225) |
| 2023-24 | 472 | 29.8 | 15.8:1 | 47% (224) |
| 2022-23 | 460 | 29.8 | 15.4:1 | 48% (220) |
| 2020-21 | 431 | 26 | 16.6:1 | 36% (154) |
| 2017-18 | 432 | 22.5 | 19.2:1 | 50% (215) |
| 2015-16 | 344 | 21 | 16.4:1 | 58% (198) |
| 2010-11 | 374 | 12 | 31.2:1 | 51% (189) |
| 2000-01 | 388 | 13 | 29.9:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Rainier Elementary School.
Since 2017-18: students up 14% (432 to 493); teachers up 32% (22.5 to 29.8).
About Rainier Elementary School
Rainier Elementary School is an elementary school in Rainier, Washington, according to federal school records. The school had 493 students in pre-K through 5 in 2024-25. Average enrollment for elementary schools in Washington is about 380, so this school runs 30% bigger than that.
Rainier School District serves 1,017 students across 3 schools.
White students make up a majority at Rainier Elementary School, at 79%. The remaining students are 12% Hispanic and 7% multiracial. Rainier Elementary School's diversity index is 36%, against a US figure of 70%.
Federal records show a student-to-teacher ratio of 16.6:1 at Rainier Elementary School, with 29.8 full-time-equivalent teachers. This ratio sits 0.8 below the 17.3:1 average for elementary schools in Washington. Free and reduced-price lunch eligibility, a common measure of family income, is 46%. That tracks the 43% average for public schools in Thurston County.
Rainier Elementary School's average proficiency rate on state tests of 53.9% is 4.3 points above the 49.6% the model predicts from its lunch-eligibility share.
Thurston County has these Census figures: the median household income is $96,563, roughly 39% of adults have a four-year degree or more, and about 6% of residents live below the federal poverty line. Thurston County is home to 86 public schools and about 44,412 public school students.
Of nearby public schools, Rainier Senior High School is the closest, at about 0.2 miles. In all, 2 other public schools sit within five miles of Rainier Elementary School. Its average proficiency rate of 53.9% is above the 46.6% average for nearby schools.
Rainier Elementary School has an NCES locale of Rural: Distant.
The school enrolled 493 students in 2024-25, 62 more than the 431 it had in 2020-21.
Posts about science fairs, picture day, and bus routes are welcome on this page. Questions from prospective families are welcome too.
Thurston County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
299,067
Census ACS
Median income
$96,563
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
39%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
6%
Below federal line
Schools in county
86
44,412 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in Rainier School District
- Rainier Senior High SchoolHigh · 283 students
- Rainier Middle SchoolMiddle · 241 students
Other schools in Rainier
- Rainier Senior High SchoolHigh · 283 students
- Rainier Middle SchoolMiddle · 241 students
Other Rainier Elementary schools
One other US public school is named Rainier Elementary. Rainier Elementary School is the 2nd largest of the 2.
- Rainier Elementary SchoolJBLM Lewis Main, WA · 576 students
Nearby schools
- Rainier Senior High School0.2 mi · 283
- Rainier Middle School0.3 mi · 241
- Ridgeline Middle School5.0 mi · 568
- Mill Pond Elementary School5.1 mi · 374
- Yelm High School 125.7 mi · 1,693
- Yelm Prairie Elementary5.8 mi · 427
Frequently asked questions
About Rainier Elementary SchoolHow many students attend Rainier Elementary School?
Rainier Elementary School enrolls approximately 493 students in grades PK-05.
Is Rainier Elementary School an elementary, middle, or high school?
Rainier Elementary School is an elementary school covering grades PK-05.
How many teachers does Rainier Elementary School have?
Rainier Elementary School employs 30 FTE teachers, for a student-to-teacher ratio of 16.6:1.
What is the racial breakdown of students at Rainier Elementary School?
At Rainier Elementary School, the student body is approximately 79% White, 12% Hispanic, 0% Black, 7% Two or more.
Is Rainier Elementary School public or private?
Rainier Elementary School is a public K-12 school, overseen by Rainier School District.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.