Enrollment
295
Elementary
DISTRICT 257 · STATE 380
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·NOOKSACK VALLEY SCHOOL DISTRICT·NCES 530567000840
Sumas Elementary
1024 Lawson Street, Sumas, WA 98295 · (360) 988-9423 · Whatcom County
GRADES PK–05ELEMENTARY42-RURALTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL295 STUDENTS
Student : Teacher
15.2:1
19 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 20.2:1 · STATE 17.3:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
62%
184 students
DISTRICT 58% · STATE 51%
Community
0
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 | 61 | 21% |
| Grade 1 | 36 | 12% |
| Grade 2 | 50 | 17% |
| Grade 3 | 47 | 16% |
| Grade 4 | 47 | 16% |
| Grade 5 | 54 | 18% |
This year's kindergarten class (61) is 13% larger than its 5th grade class (54).
Student demographics
52%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 57% · 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
Sumas Elementary→Nooksack Valley Middle School
Based on grade levels within Nooksack Valley School District. Attendance zones can vary; confirm enrollment with the district.
Test scores
Smarter Balanced + WCAS 2024-25 . % Met or Exceeded StandardEnglish Language Arts
41.5%
WA avg 58.4% . -15.3pp since 2014
Math
40.8%
WA avg 51.2% . -11.7pp since 2014
What this means: On the Smarter Balanced + WCAS, Washington's statewide test, about 42 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 41 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 15 points since 2014, while math scores are down about 12 points.
Smarter Balanced + WCAS results by year
| School year | English Language Arts | Math |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 41.5% | 40.8% |
| 2023-24 | 44.1% | 44.1% |
| 2022-23 | 36.6% | 37.0% |
| 2021-22 | 43.5% | 40.5% |
| 2018-19 | 61.7% | 62.0% |
| 2017-18 | 62.8% | 59.8% |
| 2016-17 | 50.9% | 45.5% |
| 2015-16 | 57.8% | 46.1% |
| 2014-15 | 56.8% | 52.5% |
% 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
42.6%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
38.4%
based on WA schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
+4.2pp
above demographic expectation
What this means: About 43% of students here test proficient in math and reading, compared with the roughly 38% 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 Sumas Elementary
Sumas Elementary's state test result (42.6% proficient) is higher than 3 of the 3 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sumas Elementary this school | 295 | 62.4% | 42.6% |
| Hathaway Elementary Washougal | 272 | 60.7% | N/A |
| Lincoln Elementary School VANCOUVER | 280 | 60.4% | N/A |
| McDermoth Elementary Aberdeen | 288 | 68.4% | 42.2% |
| Oroville Elementary Oroville | 298 | 68.1% | 33.3% |
| Berney Elementary School WALLA WALLA | 324 | 66.4% | 40.0% |
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 Sumas Elementary ranks
Among elementary schools| Measure | This school | In Washington | In Whatcom County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 42.6% | #567 of 936 | #17 of 30 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 40.8% | #642 of 1,103 ▼ 97 | #15 of 30 ▼ 1 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 41.5% | #705 of 1,102 ▼ 79 | #17 of 30 ▼ 2 |
| 3-year test score change ranked biggest drop first | -0.8pp | #339 of 928 | #10 of 30 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 295 | #964 of 1,268 | #27 of 42 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 15.2:1 | #395 of 1,085 | #10 of 31 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 51.8% | #725 of 1,088 | #20 of 31 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 62.4% | #401 of 1,169 | #6 of 34 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked fastest growth first | +10.9% | #119 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
295
+11 (+4%) vs 2020
-26% since 1990-91, when it was 401
Student : Teacher
15.2:1
was 13.5:1
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 | 295 | 19.4 | 15.2:1 | 62% (184) |
| 2023-24 | 281 | 20.6 | 13.7:1 | 62% (173) |
| 2022-23 | 283 | 19.7 | 14.3:1 | 67% (191) |
| 2020-21 | 284 | 21 | 13.5:1 | 53% (151) |
| 2017-18 | 266 | 19.7 | 13.5:1 | 53% (141) |
| 2015-16 | 224 | 15 | 14.9:1 | 62% (139) |
| 2010-11 | 213 | 12 | 17.8:1 | 49% (105) |
| 2000-01 | 230 | 13 | 17.7:1 | N/A |
| 1990-91 | 401 | 19 | 21.1:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Sumas Elementary.
Since 2017-18: students up 11% (266 to 295); teachers down 2% (19.7 to 19.4).
About Sumas Elementary
Sumas Elementary is a small elementary school located in Sumas, Washington. In all, 295 students attend the school in pre-K through 5. That puts enrollment 22% below the 380-student average for elementary schools in Washington.
The district for Sumas Elementary is Nooksack Valley School District, with 7 schools and 2,033 students.
The share of White students at Sumas Elementary is 61%, a majority. The school is also 32% Hispanic and 3% multiracial. That is lower than the 78% White share among all Whatcom County residents. Its diversity index, the chance that two randomly chosen students belong to different racial or ethnic groups, is 52%.
On staff are 19.4 full-time-equivalent teachers; the student-to-teacher ratio is 15.2:1. Elementary schools in Washington average 17.3:1, 2.1 more students per teacher than here. Sumas Elementary has a free or reduced-price lunch rate of 62%. Public schools in Whatcom County average 47%.
The model predicts 38.4% for a school in Washington with Sumas Elementary's free or reduced-price lunch share. Sumas Elementary posts 42.6%.
Looking at the county, Whatcom County, median household income comes to about $81,784, about 39% of adults have at least a bachelor's degree, and roughly 7% of residents are in poverty. The county has 78 public schools and about 27,779 students.
Sumas Elementary is about 3.0 miles from Nooksack Valley High School, its nearest public school. Sumas Elementary has 3 other public schools within five miles. Sumas Elementary's average proficiency of 42.6% compares with 43.7% for its nearest scored neighbors.
Sumas Elementary is coded as Rural: Distant in federal locale data.
Since 2020-21, enrollment has grown 4%, from 284 to 295. From 2020-21 to 2024-25, the ratio increased from 13.5:1 to 15.2:1.
Anyone can start a thread about athletics, class schedules, and weather closures at Sumas Elementary. Teachers and staff are welcome to share updates too.
Whatcom County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
230,503
Census ACS
Median income
$81,784
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
39%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
7%
Below federal line
Schools in county
78
27,779 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in Nooksack Valley School District
- Nooksack Valley High SchoolHigh · 520 students
- Nooksack Valley Middle SchoolMiddle · 469 students
- Nooksack ElementaryElementary · 412 students
- Everson ElementaryElementary · 288 students
- Nooksack Valley Special ServicesElementary · 34 students
- Nooksack ReengagementHigh · 15 students
Nearby schools
- Nooksack Valley High School3.0 mi · 520
- Nooksack Valley Special Services3.0 mi · 34
- Nooksack Reengagement3.0 mi · 15
- Nooksack Elementary5.2 mi · 412
- Nooksack Valley Middle School5.9 mi · 469
- Everson Elementary7.4 mi · 288
Frequently asked questions
About Sumas ElementaryHow large is Sumas Elementary?
Sumas Elementary enrolls approximately 295 students in grades PK-05.
What age range does Sumas Elementary serve?
Sumas Elementary serves students from grade PK through grade 05.
How many students per teacher at Sumas Elementary?
Approximately 15.2:1 students per teacher at Sumas Elementary.
What is the student diversity at Sumas Elementary?
Student demographics at Sumas Elementary are roughly 61% White, 32% Hispanic, 1% Black, 1% Asian, 3% Two or more.
What district is Sumas Elementary in?
Sumas Elementary is part of Nooksack Valley School District.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.