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What's the most underrated thing about West Mercer Elementary that outsiders don't know?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
431
Elementary
DISTRICT 399 · STATE 380
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·MERCER ISLAND SCHOOL DISTRICT·NCES 530498000765
West Mercer Elementary
4141 81st Ave SE, Mercer Island, WA 98040 · (206) 236-3430 · King County
GRADES KG–05ELEMENTARY21-SUBURBREGULAR SCHOOL431 STUDENTS
A
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 92% of Washington public elementary schools
- A+Test 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.
- CThree-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
16.5:1
26 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 15.9:1 · STATE 17.3:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
8%
34 students
DISTRICT 6% · 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 | 69 | 16% |
| Grade 1 | 66 | 15% |
| Grade 2 | 75 | 17% |
| Grade 3 | 81 | 19% |
| Grade 4 | 66 | 15% |
| Grade 5 | 74 | 17% |
This year's kindergarten class (69) is 7% smaller than its 5th grade class (74).
Student demographics
69%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 66% · 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 Mercer Island School District. Attendance zones can vary; confirm enrollment with the district.
Test scores
Smarter Balanced + WCAS 2024-25 . % Met or Exceeded StandardEnglish Language Arts
84.1%
WA avg 58.4% . +0.2pp since 2014
Math
81.9%
WA avg 51.2% . +2.8pp since 2014
What this means: On the Smarter Balanced + WCAS, Washington's statewide test, about 84 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 82 of 100 do math at grade level. Across all Washington schools, those numbers are about 58 and 51. Reading and writing scores have held steady since 2014, while math scores are up about 3 points.
Smarter Balanced + WCAS results by year
| School year | English Language Arts | Math |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 84.1% | 81.9% |
| 2023-24 | 84.0% | 83.0% |
| 2022-23 | 85.8% | 83.6% |
| 2021-22 | 86.3% | 82.4% |
| 2018-19 | 88.1% | 79.5% |
| 2017-18 | 84.6% | 82.2% |
| 2016-17 | 86.1% | 83.8% |
| 2015-16 | 82.7% | 79.3% |
| 2014-15 | 83.8% | 79.1% |
% 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
84.5%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
74.9%
based on WA schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
+9.6pp
above demographic expectation
What this means: About 84% of students here test proficient in math and reading, compared with the roughly 75% 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 West Mercer Elementary
West Mercer Elementary's state test result (84.5% proficient) is higher than 4 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| West Mercer Elementary this school | 431 | 7.9% | 84.5% |
| Northwood Elementary School Mercer Island | 398 | 10.3% | 79.0% |
| Lakeridge Elementary School Mercer Island | 401 | 3.5% | 87.3% |
| John J. Audubon Elementary Redmond | 431 | 7.9% | 81.5% |
| Lakeview Elementary Kirkland | 602 | 12.1% | 80.0% |
| Shelton View Elementary Bothell | 513 | 16.6% | 74.5% |
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 West Mercer Elementary ranks
Among elementary schools| Measure | This school | In Washington | In King County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 84.5% | #24 of 936 | #21 of 280 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 81.9% | #32 of 1,103 ▼ 2 | #26 of 281 ▼ 1 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 84.1% | #28 of 1,102 ▼ 2 | #23 of 280 ▼ 2 |
| 3-year test score change ranked biggest drop first | -1.3pp | #311 of 928 | #100 of 274 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 431 | #514 of 1,268 | #141 of 299 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 16.5:1 | #700 of 1,085 | #180 of 280 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 69.0% | #310 of 1,088 | #159 of 281 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 7.9% | #1,139 of 1,169 | #265 of 292 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked steepest decline first | -14.8% | #441 of 778 | #140 of 220 |
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
431
+3 (+1%) vs 2020
-15% since 1990-91, when it was 505
Student : Teacher
16.5:1
was 15.3:1
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 | 431 | 26.1 | 16.5:1 | 8% (34) |
| 2023-24 | 410 | 25.5 | 16.1:1 | 9% (37) |
| 2022-23 | 422 | 23.4 | 18.1:1 | 7% (28) |
| 2020-21 | 428 | 28 | 15.3:1 | 3% (11) |
| 2017-18 | 506 | 28.5 | 17.7:1 | 3% (17) |
| 2015-16 | 703 | 35 | 20.1:1 | 4% (26) |
| 2010-11 | 704 | 32 | 22.0:1 | 5% (32) |
| 2000-01 | 633 | 31 | 20.4:1 | N/A |
| 1990-91 | 505 | 21 | 24.1:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for West Mercer Elementary.
Since 2017-18: students down 15% (506 to 431); teachers down 8% (28.5 to 26.1).
About West Mercer Elementary
West Mercer Elementary is a mid-sized elementary school in Mercer Island, Washington, under Mercer Island School District. It reports enrollment of 431 students in kindergarten through 5.
The 6 schools in Mercer Island School District enroll 3,993 students altogether, West Mercer Elementary among them.
At West Mercer Elementary, White students make up the biggest share, 42%. Enrollment also includes 32% Asian, 14% multiracial, 8% Hispanic, and 3% Black. Among people living in King County, the White share is about 55%. Its diversity index, the chance that two randomly chosen students belong to different racial or ethnic groups, is 69%.
Its ratio of 16.5:1 is based on 26.1 full-time-equivalent teachers. Elementary schools in Washington have an average ratio of 17.3:1. In all, 8% of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. Public schools in King County average 38%.
On the allk12 Grade, West Mercer Elementary lands at A, ahead of 92% of Washington public elementary schools.
West Mercer Elementary sits between the top and bottom 10% of Washington schools on BeatsExpectations, with an actual average proficiency rate across its state test results of 84.5% and a predicted 74.9%.
American Community Survey estimates for King County show that the median household earns about $124,746 a year, the share of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher is 57%, and about 5% of people live in poverty. King County has 544 public schools with about 278,492 students, including West Mercer Elementary.
About 0.4 miles separate West Mercer Elementary from the closest public school, Northwood Elementary School. Other public schools within five miles: at least 8. Ranked by average proficiency, West Mercer Elementary places 2nd out of 8 schools in its immediate area.
NCES assigns West Mercer Elementary the locale Suburb: Large, meaning in a suburban area outside a principal city, within an urbanized area with a population of 250,000 or more.
There was little change in enrollment from 2020-21 (428) to 2024-25 (431). Federal data show the ratio rising from 15.3:1 to 16.5:1.
This page is set up for the West Mercer Elementary community to discuss homework, tutoring, and testing dates. Members of the school community can share what they know.
King County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
2,287,171
Census ACS
Median income
$124,746
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
57%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
5%
Below federal line
Schools in county
544
278,492 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in Mercer Island School District
- Mercer Island High SchoolHigh · 1,439 students
- Islander Middle SchoolMiddle · 960 students
- Lakeridge Elementary SchoolElementary · 401 students
- Northwood Elementary SchoolElementary · 398 students
- Island Park ElementaryElementary · 364 students
Other schools in Mercer Island
- Mercer Island High SchoolHigh · 1,439 students
- Islander Middle SchoolMiddle · 960 students
- Lakeridge Elementary SchoolElementary · 401 students
- Northwood Elementary SchoolElementary · 398 students
- Island Park ElementaryElementary · 364 students
Nearby schools
- Northwood Elementary School0.4 mi · 398
- Mercer Island High School0.6 mi · 1,439
- Island Park Elementary1.3 mi · 364
- Enatai Elementary School2.0 mi · 518
- Islander Middle School2.4 mi · 960
- Orca K-8 School2.4 mi · 278
Frequently asked questions
About West Mercer ElementaryWhat is the total enrollment at West Mercer Elementary?
West Mercer Elementary enrolls approximately 431 students in grades KG-05.
What age range does West Mercer Elementary serve?
West Mercer Elementary serves students from grade KG through grade 05.
What is the student-teacher ratio at West Mercer Elementary?
The student-to-teacher ratio at West Mercer Elementary is approximately 16.5:1 (26 FTE teachers).
What is the student diversity at West Mercer Elementary?
Student demographics at West Mercer Elementary are roughly 42% White, 8% Hispanic, 3% Black, 32% Asian, 14% Two or more.
Is West Mercer Elementary public or private?
West Mercer Elementary is a public K-12 school, overseen by Mercer Island School District.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.