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What's the most underrated thing about University Place Primary that outsiders don't know?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
522
Elementary
DISTRICT 520 · STATE 380
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·UNIVERSITY PLACE SCHOOL DISTRICT·NCES 530918001553
University Place Primary
2708 W GRANDVIEW DR, UNIVERSITY PLA, WA 98466 · (253) 566-5620 · Pierce County
GRADES PK–04ELEMENTARY21-SUBURBTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL522 STUDENTS
A
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 94% of Washington public elementary schools
- ATest scores Share of students meeting the state standard in reading, math, and other tested subjects, 2023-24 and 2024-25.
- A+Beats expectations How far test scores land above or below what the share of low-income students predicts for a school in this state.
- C+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
16.3:1
32 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 16.0:1 · STATE 17.3:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
41%
214 students
DISTRICT 40% · 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 | 2 | 0% |
| Kindergarten | 103 | 20% |
| Grade 1 | 96 | 18% |
| Grade 2 | 94 | 18% |
| Grade 3 | 130 | 25% |
| Grade 4 | 97 | 19% |
This year's kindergarten class (103) is 6% larger than its 4th grade class (97).
Student demographics
69%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 73% · 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
69.4%
WA avg 58.4% . +7.4pp since 2014
Math
72.6%
WA avg 51.2% . +0.9pp since 2014
What this means: On the Smarter Balanced + WCAS, Washington's statewide test, about 69 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 73 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 7 points since 2014, while math scores have held steady.
Smarter Balanced + WCAS results by year
| School year | English Language Arts | Math |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 69.4% | 72.6% |
| 2023-24 | 75.9% | 73.8% |
| 2022-23 | 66.5% | 71.7% |
| 2021-22 | 73.8% | 69.0% |
| 2018-19 | 72.5% | 78.5% |
| 2017-18 | 71.9% | 74.9% |
| 2016-17 | 67.5% | 73.1% |
| 2015-16 | 67.2% | 73.3% |
| 2014-15 | 62.0% | 71.7% |
% 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
72.8%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
52.7%
based on WA schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
+20.1pp
above demographic expectation
What this means: About 73% of students here test proficient in math and reading, well above the roughly 53% 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 20 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 University Place Primary
University Place Primary's state test result (72.8% proficient) is higher than 5 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| University Place Primary this school | 522 | 41.0% | 72.8% |
| Frank Brouillet Elem Puyallup | 541 | 42.3% | 59.5% |
| Geiger Montessori School Tacoma | 521 | 39.7% | 56.3% |
| Chambers Elementary UNIVERSITY PLA | 493 | 40.0% | 69.1% |
| Sunset Primary UNIVERSITY PLACE | 548 | 37.8% | 59.9% |
| Evergreen Primary UNIVERSITY PLACE | 516 | 38.8% | 56.8% |
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 University Place Primary ranks
Among elementary schools| Measure | This school | In Washington | In Pierce County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 72.8% | #109 of 936 | #8 of 142 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 72.6% | #108 of 1,103 ▼ 12 | #9 of 142 ▼ 4 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 69.4% | #166 of 1,102 ▼ 71 | #21 of 142 ▼ 16 |
| 3-year test score change ranked biggest drop first | -0.4pp | #364 of 928 | #65 of 141 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 522 | #238 of 1,268 | #39 of 155 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 16.3:1 | #659 of 1,085 | #79 of 145 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 69.4% | #302 of 1,088 | #77 of 145 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 41.0% | #788 of 1,169 | #105 of 148 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked fastest growth first | +1.2% | #238 of 257 | #41 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
522
+3 (+1%) vs 2020
-18% since 1990-91, when it was 637
Student : Teacher
16.3:1
was 14.4:1
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 | 522 | 32.1 | 16.3:1 | 41% (214) |
| 2023-24 | 520 | 33 | 15.8:1 | 45% (234) |
| 2022-23 | 501 | 34 | 14.7:1 | 43% (213) |
| 2020-21 | 519 | 36 | 14.4:1 | 39% (202) |
| 2017-18 | 516 | 31.1 | 16.6:1 | 44% (225) |
| 2015-16 | 507 | 33 | 15.4:1 | 45% (228) |
| 2010-11 | 553 | 33 | 16.8:1 | 44% (243) |
| 2000-01 | 489 | 24 | 20.4:1 | N/A |
| 1990-91 | 637 | 30 | 21.2:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for University Place Primary.
Since 2017-18: students up 1% (516 to 522); teachers up 3% (31.1 to 32.1).
About University Place Primary
University Place Primary is a public elementary school run by University Place School District in UNIVERSITY PLA, Washington. It enrolls 522 students in 2024-25. The grades offered are pre-K through 4. That puts enrollment 37% bigger than the 380-student average for elementary schools in Washington.
The 8 schools in University Place School District enroll 5,635 students altogether, University Place Primary among them.
The largest group at University Place Primary is White students, at 49%. The remaining students are 17% multiracial, 17% Hispanic, 9% Black, and 7% Asian. Census figures show Pierce County is about 64% White. On the diversity index, which measures the chance that two random students are from different groups, University Place Primary scores 69%.
The school lists 32.1 full-time-equivalent teachers and a student-to-teacher ratio of 16.3:1. The average for elementary schools in Washington, 17.3:1, is higher. A total of 214 students, or 41%, are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch. By comparison, the figure for public schools in Pierce County is 50%.
University Place Primary holds an A allk12 Grade, placing it above 94% of Washington public elementary schools.
Compared with Washington schools that have similar shares of low-income students, University Place Primary does better than predicted by 20.1 points. Its average proficiency rate across its state test results is 72.8%; the prediction is 52.7%.
For the population of Pierce County, the median household earns about $99,564 a year, a bachelor's degree or higher is held by about 31% of adults, and the share of residents below the poverty line is 6%. University Place Primary shares Pierce County with 286 other public schools.
Curtis Junior High is about 0.7 miles away, making it the nearest public school. Within five miles of University Place Primary, there are at least 8 other public schools. On average proficiency, University Place Primary is 1st of 9 nearby schools with test data.
Its NCES locale code is Suburb: Large: the school is in a suburban area outside a principal city, within an urbanized area with a population of 250,000 or more.
Enrollment has been fairly stable: 519 in 2020-21 and 522 in 2024-25. From 2020-21 to 2024-25, the ratio increased from 14.4:1 to 16.3:1.
People can post here about special education services, counseling, and support programs and other school topics. Members of the school community can share what they know.
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 University Place School District
- Curtis Senior HighHigh · 1,321 students
- Curtis Junior HighHigh · 904 students
- Narrows View IntermediateMiddle · 692 students
- Drum IntermediateMiddle · 639 students
- Sunset PrimaryElementary · 548 students
- Evergreen PrimaryElementary · 516 students
Other schools in UNIVERSITY PLA
- Narrows View IntermediateMiddle · 692 students
- Drum IntermediateMiddle · 639 students
- Chambers ElementaryElementary · 493 students
Nearby schools
- Curtis Junior High0.7 mi · 904
- Curtis Senior High0.9 mi · 1,321
- Narrows View Intermediate1.2 mi · 692
- Evergreen Primary1.4 mi · 516
- Sunset Primary1.4 mi · 548
- Geiger Montessori School1.6 mi · 521
Frequently asked questions
About University Place PrimaryHow large is University Place Primary?
University Place Primary enrolls approximately 522 students in grades PK-04.
What age range does University Place Primary serve?
University Place Primary serves students from grade PK through grade 04.
How many students per teacher at University Place Primary?
Approximately 16.3:1 students per teacher at University Place Primary.
How diverse is University Place Primary?
University Place Primary reports a student body of 49% White, 17% Hispanic, 9% Black, 7% Asian, 17% Two or more.
Who oversees University Place Primary?
University Place Primary is overseen by University Place School District in Pierce County.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.