Enrollment
305
Elementary
DISTRICT 356 · STATE 380
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·TACOMA SCHOOL DISTRICT·NCES 530870001511
Whittier Elementary School
777 Elm Tree Ln, Tacoma, WA 98466 · (253) 571-7500 · Pierce County
GRADES PK–03ELEMENTARY21-SUBURBTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL305 STUDENTS
Student : Teacher
17.5:1
17 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 17.2:1 · STATE 17.3:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
56%
170 students
DISTRICT 57% · 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Pre-K | 26 | 9% |
| Kindergarten | 72 | 24% |
| Grade 1 | 75 | 25% |
| Grade 2 | 67 | 22% |
| Grade 3 | 65 | 21% |
Student demographics
77%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 78% · 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
Whittier Elementary School→Wainwright Intermediate School
Based on grade levels within Tacoma School District. Attendance zones can vary; confirm enrollment with the district.
Test scores
Smarter Balanced + WCAS 2024-25 . % Met or Exceeded StandardEnglish Language Arts
43.5%
WA avg 58.4% . -18.6pp since 2014
Math
50.7%
WA avg 51.2% . -4.5pp since 2014
What this means: On the Smarter Balanced + WCAS, Washington's statewide test, about 43 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 51 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 19 points since 2014, while math scores are down about 4 points.
Smarter Balanced + WCAS results by year
| School year | English Language Arts | Math |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 43.5% | 50.7% |
| 2023-24 | 51.5% | 56.1% |
| 2022-23 | 41.7% | 54.2% |
| 2021-22 | 54.5% | 42.9% |
| 2018-19 | 40.5% | 42.0% |
| 2017-18 | 58.3% | 42.2% |
| 2016-17 | 56.4% | 52.6% |
| 2015-16 | 66.8% | 55.5% |
| 2014-15 | 62.1% | 55.2% |
% 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
50.5%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
42.8%
based on WA schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
+7.6pp
above demographic expectation
What this means: About 50% of students here test proficient in math and reading, compared with the roughly 43% 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 Whittier Elementary School
Whittier Elementary School's state test result (50.5% proficient) is higher than 5 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Whittier Elementary School this school | 305 | 55.7% | 50.5% |
| Green Gables Elementary School FEDERAL WAY | 281 | 58.0% | 45.3% |
| Franklin Elementary School Tacoma | 260 | 61.2% | 29.7% |
| Oakbrook Elementary School Lakewood | 285 | 61.8% | 41.5% |
| James Baldwin Elementary School SEATTLE | 262 | 53.4% | 49.3% |
| Delong Elementary School Tacoma | 349 | 62.8% | 46.5% |
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 Whittier Elementary School ranks
Among elementary schools| Measure | This school | In Washington | In Pierce County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 50.5% | #422 of 936 | #69 of 142 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 50.7% | #436 of 1,103 ▼ 113 | #60 of 142 ▼ 16 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 43.5% | #664 of 1,102 ▼ 202 | #92 of 142 ▼ 28 |
| 3-year test score change ranked biggest drop first | -1.6pp | #301 of 928 | #51 of 141 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 305 | #939 of 1,268 | #129 of 155 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 17.5:1 | #916 of 1,085 | #114 of 145 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 77.2% | #88 of 1,088 | #36 of 145 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 55.7% | #528 of 1,169 | #63 of 148 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked steepest decline first | -23.9% | #212 of 778 | #19 of 91 |
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
305
-74 (-20%) vs 2020
-46% since 1990-91, when it was 560
Student : Teacher
17.5:1
was 15.8:1
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 | 305 | 17.4 | 17.5:1 | 56% (170) |
| 2023-24 | 320 | 18.4 | 17.4:1 | 60% (192) |
| 2022-23 | 326 | 17.5 | 18.6:1 | 52% (168) |
| 2020-21 | 379 | 24 | 15.8:1 | 50% (188) |
| 2017-18 | 401 | 22.3 | 18.0:1 | 51% (205) |
| 2015-16 | 501 | 25 | 20.0:1 | 47% (233) |
| 2010-11 | 438 | 24 | 18.3:1 | 34% (149) |
| 2000-01 | 448 | 26 | 17.2:1 | N/A |
| 1990-91 | 560 | 30 | 18.7:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Whittier Elementary School.
Since 2017-18: students down 24% (401 to 305); teachers down 22% (22.3 to 17.4).
About Whittier Elementary School
Located in Tacoma, Washington, Whittier Elementary School is a small elementary school. It is open to students in pre-K through 3 and enrolls 305 students.
Tacoma School District runs Whittier Elementary School along with 65 other schools, enrolling 28,900 students in total.
Of every 100 students at Whittier Elementary School, about 34 are White, the largest group. Smaller groups are 23% multiracial, 17% Hispanic, 16% Black, and 6% Asian. For comparison, the population of Pierce County is roughly 64% White. Its diversity index, the chance that two randomly chosen students belong to different racial or ethnic groups, is 77%.
Whittier Elementary School reported 17.4 full-time-equivalent teachers in 2024-25, a ratio of 17.5:1. It is about the same as the 17.3:1 average for elementary schools in Washington. Roughly 56% of students at Whittier Elementary School can receive free or reduced-price lunch.
Whittier Elementary School's average proficiency rate across its state test results of 50.5% is 7.6 points above the 42.8% the model predicts from its lunch-eligibility share.
In Pierce County, where the school is located, the median household earns about $99,564 a year, roughly 31% of adults have a four-year degree or more, and the share of residents below the poverty line is 6%. Public schools in Pierce County number 287, with about 138,462 students.
Wainwright Intermediate School, about 0.9 miles away, is the closest public school. Within five miles of Whittier Elementary School, there are at least 8 other public schools. Whittier Elementary School is 3rd of 7 nearby schools by average proficiency rate.
The federal government classifies Whittier Elementary School's location as Suburb: Large.
The 2020-21-to-2024-25 change in enrollment was a 20% drop, from 379 to 305. The student-to-teacher ratio increased from 15.8:1 in 2020-21 to 17.5:1 in 2024-25.
Parents, students, and staff can share information on pickup and drop-off, after-school programs, and teacher feedback here. 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 Tacoma School District
- Stadium High SchoolHigh · 1,700 students
- Lincoln High SchoolHigh · 1,556 students
- Mount Tahoma High SchoolHigh · 1,410 students
- Dr. Dolores Silas High SchoolHigh · 1,160 students
- Baker Middle SchoolMiddle · 687 students
- Tacoma School of the ArtsHigh · 658 students
Other schools in Tacoma
- Stadium High SchoolHigh · 1,700 students
- Lincoln High SchoolHigh · 1,556 students
- Mount Tahoma High SchoolHigh · 1,410 students
- Dr. Dolores Silas High SchoolHigh · 1,160 students
- Washington High SchoolHigh · 989 students
- Franklin Pierce High SchoolHigh · 977 students
Other Whittier Elementary schools
34 other US public schools in 17 states are named Whittier Elementary. Whittier Elementary School is the 28th largest of the 35.
- Whittier ElementaryEverett, WA · 422 students
- Whittier ElementaryPASCO, WA · 378 students
- Whittier Elementary SchoolSEATTLE, WA · 346 students
- Whittier ElementaryHemet, CA · 816 students
- Whittier ElementaryFrederick, MD · 779 students
Nearby schools
- Wainwright Intermediate School0.9 mi · 368
- Evergreen Primary1.1 mi · 516
- Foss High School1.2 mi · 599
- Oakland High School1.3 mi · 112
- Delong Elementary School1.5 mi · 349
- Narrows View Intermediate1.5 mi · 692
Frequently asked questions
About Whittier Elementary SchoolHow many students attend Whittier Elementary School?
Whittier Elementary School enrolls approximately 305 students in grades PK-03.
What age range does Whittier Elementary School serve?
Whittier Elementary School serves students from grade PK through grade 03.
How many students per teacher at Whittier Elementary School?
Approximately 17.5:1 students per teacher at Whittier Elementary School.
How diverse is Whittier Elementary School?
Whittier Elementary School reports a student body of 34% White, 17% Hispanic, 16% Black, 6% Asian, 23% Two or more.
Is Whittier Elementary School public or private?
Whittier Elementary School is a public K-12 school, overseen by Tacoma School District.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.