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Best kept secret at Spanaway Lake High School?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
1,787
High
DISTRICT 963 · STATE 573
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·BETHEL SCHOOL DISTRICT·NCES 530048001821
Spanaway Lake High School
1305 168th Street East, Spanaway, WA 98387 · (253) 800-5600 · Pierce County
GRADES 09–12HIGH21-SUBURBTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL1,787 STUDENTS
Student : Teacher
22.8:1
79 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 27.4:1 · STATE 21.6:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
61%
1,082 students
DISTRICT 59% · STATE 51%
Community
1
0 members
Enrollment and student:teacher ratio compared against other high schools. Free/Reduced Lunch and demographics compared against all schools.
Enrollment by grade, 2024-25
| Grade | Students | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Grade 9 | 452 | 25% |
| Grade 10 | 474 | 27% |
| Grade 11 | 446 | 25% |
| Grade 12 | 415 | 23% |
Student demographics
80%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
50.0%
WA avg 58.4% . +4.5pp since 2014
Math
15.2%
WA avg 51.2% . +1.2pp since 2014
What this means: On the Smarter Balanced + WCAS, Washington's statewide test, about 50 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 15 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 5 points since 2014, while math scores are up about 1 points.
Smarter Balanced + WCAS results by year
| School year | English Language Arts | Math |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 50.0% | 15.2% |
| 2023-24 | 56.7% | 12.6% |
| 2022-23 | 54.1% | 15.1% |
| 2021-22 | 50.6% | 15.2% |
| 2018-19 | 62.6% | 22.2% |
| 2017-18 | 61.2% | 24.0% |
| 2016-17 | 17.2% | 15.3% |
| 2015-16 | 26.7% | 19.3% |
| 2014-15 | 45.5% | 14.0% |
% 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
35.1%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
39.6%
based on WA schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
-4.5pp
below demographic expectation
What this means: About 35% of students here test proficient in math and reading, compared with the roughly 40% 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 Spanaway Lake High School
Spanaway Lake High School's state test result (35.1% proficient) is higher than 3 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Spanaway Lake High School this school | 1,787 | 60.5% | 35.1% |
| Lakes High School Lakewood | 1,158 | 56.3% | 36.3% |
| Decatur High School FEDERAL WAY | 1,352 | 64.8% | 20.1% |
| Mount Rainier High School Des Moines | 1,846 | 58.8% | 32.3% |
| Franklin Pierce High School TACOMA | 977 | 64.4% | 36.8% |
| Auburn Senior High School AUBURN | 1,918 | 63.2% | 29.5% |
Matched among Washington high 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 Spanaway Lake High School ranks
Among high schools| Measure | This school | In Washington | In Pierce County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 35.1% | #199 of 271 | #24 of 32 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 15.2% | #259 of 321 ▲ 20 | #24 of 32 ▲ 1 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 50.0% | #223 of 327 ▼ 33 | #24 of 33 ▼ 3 |
| 3-year test score change ranked biggest drop first | -0.3pp | #135 of 259 | #17 of 32 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 1,787 | #43 of 570 | #5 of 51 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 22.8:1 | #249 of 311 | #21 of 34 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 80.2% | #2 of 316 | #2 of 35 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 60.5% | #115 of 386 | #14 of 39 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked fastest growth first | +12.7% | #52 of 136 | #6 of 17 |
Ranked against other public high 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
1,787
+247 (+16%) vs 2020
+92% since 1990-91, when it was 931
Student : Teacher
22.8:1
was 21.7:1
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 | 1,787 | 78.5 | 22.8:1 | 61% (1,082) |
| 2023-24 | 1,804 | 80.3 | 22.5:1 | 58% (1,049) |
| 2022-23 | 1,817 | 76.6 | 23.7:1 | 64% (1,159) |
| 2020-21 | 1,540 | 71 | 21.7:1 | 56% (858) |
| 2017-18 | 1,585 | 69.3 | 22.9:1 | 55% (867) |
| 2015-16 | 1,715 | 69 | 24.9:1 | 53% (914) |
| 2010-11 | 1,220 | 52 | 23.5:1 | 28% (345) |
| 2000-01 | 1,568 | 71 | 22.1:1 | N/A |
| 1990-91 | 931 | 45 | 20.7:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Spanaway Lake High School.
Since 2017-18: students up 13% (1,585 to 1,787); teachers up 13% (69.3 to 78.5).
About Spanaway Lake High School
Spanaway Lake High School is a high school in Spanaway, Washington, reachable at (253) 800-5600. Enrollment is 1,787 students in 2024-25, and the school serves grades 9 through 12. Against the 573-student average for high schools in Washington, enrollment here is 212% higher.
Bethel School District is the district for Spanaway Lake High School. It has 39 schools and 21,732 students.
White students form the largest group at Spanaway Lake High School, 28% of enrollment. Next come 24% Hispanic, 17% multiracial, 14% Black, and 9% Pacific Islander. That compares with about 64% White among all Pierce County residents. By the diversity index, Spanaway Lake High School comes in at 80%.
The school reports 78.5 full-time-equivalent teachers, which works out to about 22.8 students per teacher. The 21.6:1 average for high schools in Washington is lower than this school's figure. The free or reduced-price lunch share, often used to gauge student poverty, is 61%. Compared with the 50% average for public schools in Pierce County, the school's rate is higher.
On the allk12 BeatsExpectations measure, Spanaway Lake High School is 4.5 points below the average proficiency rate on state tests predicted for its free or reduced-price lunch share: 35.1% actual, 39.6% predicted. That is outside both the top and bottom 10% in Washington.
Among Pierce County residents, median household income is about $99,564, 31% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, and about 6% of people live in poverty. Federal data list 287 public schools in Pierce County, with a combined enrollment of about 138,462.
The school nearest to Spanaway Lake High School is Evergreen Elementary, at a distance of about 0.3 miles. Within five miles of Spanaway Lake High School, there are at least 8 other public schools. Ranked by average proficiency, Spanaway Lake High School places 6th out of 6 schools in its immediate area.
Federal records code the school's setting as Suburb: Large.
Spanaway Lake High School saw enrollment rise 16% between 2020-21 and 2024-25. Its ratio of students to teachers was 21.7:1 in 2020-21, and 22.8:1 in 2024-25.
If you have questions about sports schedules, lunch menus, and spirit week at Spanaway Lake High School, you can post them here. Posting is open to anyone connected to the school.
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
- Bethel High SchoolHigh · 1,688 students
- Liberty Middle SchoolMiddle · 857 students
- Spanaway Middle SchoolMiddle · 766 students
- Cedarcrest Middle SchoolMiddle · 765 students
- Chester H Thompson ElementaryElementary · 688 students
Other schools in Spanaway
- 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
- Elk Plain School of ChoiceElementary · 574 students
Nearby schools
- Evergreen Elementary0.3 mi · 530
- Chester H Thompson Elementary0.8 mi · 688
- Transition 18-21 Program0.9 mi · 58
- Thompson Preschool0.9 mi · 227
- Camas Prairie Elementary1.0 mi · 529
- Katherine G. Johnson Elementary School1.0 mi · 592
Frequently asked questions
About Spanaway Lake High SchoolWhat is the total enrollment at Spanaway Lake High School?
Spanaway Lake High School enrolls approximately 1,787 students in grades 09-12.
Is Spanaway Lake High School an elementary, middle, or high school?
Spanaway Lake High School is a high school covering grades 09-12.
How many teachers does Spanaway Lake High School have?
Spanaway Lake High School employs 79 FTE teachers, for a student-to-teacher ratio of 22.8:1.
What is the racial breakdown of students at Spanaway Lake High School?
At Spanaway Lake High School, the student body is approximately 28% White, 24% Hispanic, 14% Black, 7% Asian, 17% Two or more.
Is Spanaway Lake High School public or private?
Spanaway Lake High School 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.