Rainier Beach High School

SEATTLE · WA · Seattle School District No. 1 · Public


📋 At a glance

Programs & features
  • ✅ Gifted & talented program
Academic signals
  • 🎓 AP rigor: Bottom 33% of US high schools
  • 📝 SAT/ACT participation: Bottom 1% by test-taker volume

Composed from federal CRDC offerings, and other public data. Full breakdowns below.

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How Rainier Beach High School compares for families

What families should know about Rainier Beach High School.

  • LocallyWA sits right at the US average on NAEP 8th-grade math — local school quality will set your kid apart.
  • vs Similar SchoolsThe closest comparables nearby: Evergreen High School, Tyee High School, Highline High School and 5 more. See the sidebar to compare side-by-side.

For Parents

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Objective, government-grade data — no school pays us for placement.

SAT / ACT participation

CRDC federal data · 2020-21

Bottom 1% by test-taker volume

50th 90th
SAT/ACT test-takers
1
11th-12th graders who took 1+ college admissions test
Test-taking intensity
0.1
takers per 100 students in grades 9-12
Compared against
18,426
US high schools reporting SAT/ACT participation

Source: federal Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC 2020-21). Volume — not score — is what's reported here. A higher count means more students at this school are entering the college admissions pipeline. Note: 2020-21 was COVID-disrupted; some districts (especially those that stayed remote longer) report unusually low or zero takers.

👩‍🏫 Teacher workforce · federal CRDC

Teacher experience & reliability

% inexperienced teachers (1st-2nd yr)
11.2%
Typical mix. Watch the trend — high turnover can compound.
% chronic teacher absence (≥10 days/yr)
19.5%
Elevated. Teacher absence directly affects classroom continuity and student outcomes.

Source: federal Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC 2017-18 — the most recent vintage that publishes per-school teacher quality fields; the 2020-21 sweep had them suppressed). "Inexperienced" = teachers in their first or second year. "Chronic absence" = teachers absent 10+ days/year.

📊 State assessment · WA Smarter Balanced · grade 10

SBAC grade 10 — met or exceeded standard

School year 2024-25. Levels 3 + 4 combined ("at or above grade level"). Cells suppressed by the state when sample is small.

English Language Arts
32.9%
9.2% exceeded · 57 students tested
Math
14.6%
4.3% exceeded · 27 students tested

Source: WA state DOE Smarter Balanced results. Levels 1–2 = below standard, 3 = met, 4 = exceeded. Headline = level 3 + level 4 combined.

🏛️ Federal Title I context

Title I Schoolwide eligible

≥40% FRPL — qualifies for Title I Schoolwide program

66.9%
FRPL rate — % of students who qualify for the federal Free or Reduced-Price Lunch program. This is the underlying federal income-eligibility signal Title I designations are computed from (ESEA Sec. 1113).
0% (no FRPL) 35% TA · 40% Schoolwide 100% (universal FRPL)

40-74% of students qualify for free/reduced lunch. The district can use Title I funds across the whole school under federal Schoolwide Program rules.

Source: NCES Common Core of Data, free/reduced-price lunch eligibility. The actual Title I designation is a district decision and may differ from eligibility — but the federal eligibility math is what we show here. We don't claim to assert whether the district formally chose to enroll this school in Title I.

🏛️ Your state's public flagship

University of Washington-Seattle Campus

42%
admit rate
$12,973
in-state tuition/yr · $43,209 out-of-state

The in-state tuition gap is the flagship's biggest draw — most in-state families pay far less than the out-of-state sticker. Average net price after aid runs about $14,091/yr. Admission odds depend on your student's GPA and test scores, not which high school they attend.

See the full University of Washington-Seattle Campus profile → Estimate your odds with your scores →

Source: IPEDS admissions, tuition & enrollment + College Scorecard net price. Flagship = the state's primary public research university.

Chronic absenteeism

Share of students absent 15+ days
27.0%
Elevated above the national average (~16%). Worth understanding — chronic absence compounds into dropout risk, transfer-out risk, and revenue loss.
Students absent 15+ days
231
Federal definition: absent (excused or unexcused) for at least 15 of ~180 school days — about 10% of the school year.

Why this matters to enrollment: Chronic absence is the most reliable early indicator that a student will leave a school — either by transferring out, dropping out, or matriculating to a charter or private alternative. At this level, today's absentees become next year's enrollment loss and the year-after's revenue loss.

Source: U.S. Department of Education, Civil Rights Data Collection 2020–2021. Rate = students chronically absent ÷ 2024 total enrollment.

Counselor capacity

Student : Counselor
285:1
Above the ASCA 250:1 target but below the US median (~430:1). Capacity is workable.
Counselor FTE
3.0
Full-time-equivalent school counselors on staff.
Teacher FTE
46
Full-time-equivalent classroom teachers.

Source: U.S. Department of Education, Civil Rights Data Collection 2020-2021. Counselor ratio = the school's most recent total enrollment ÷ counselor FTE. The American School Counselor Association (ASCA) recommends a 250:1 maximum; the US national median across schools with on-staff counselors is roughly 430:1.

Enrollment trend & projection

Grade 12 went from 226 in 2021 to 225 in 2024 — over 3 years.
-0.4%

Total enrollment + grade 12, NCES Common Core of Data (2021–2024).

If the recent trend holds…

At its recent rate of -0.0%/year, projecting from 2024's 854 students:

2025
854
2027
853
2029
853

≈ 1 fewer students by 2029 — a real revenue/relevance risk worth getting ahead of.

An extrapolation of the recent trajectory, not a forecast of the school's plans; ignores one-off shocks.

Revenue at risk

At $24,141 per student in district revenue, the 1 students projected to be lost by 2029 represent ≈ $24,141/year in funding at risk.

District total revenue ÷ enrollment, NCES F-33. Public funding largely follows enrollment, so a shrinking class is a recurring budget hit.

Most similar nearby high schools

The schools most like this one — same type, blended on distance and size — and where their enrollment is heading. These are the schools families here weigh against each other.

SchoolTypeMilesHS enrollmentTrend
Evergreen High School
Seattle
Public 4.1 1,080 +5.5%
Tyee High School
SeaTac
Public 6.2 644 -7.5%
Highline High School
Burien
Public 5.0 1,423 +27.6%
Sammamish Senior High
Bellevue
Public 7.8 1,363 +5.9%
Raisbeck Aviation High School
Tukwila
Public 1.6 400 -0.5%
Garfield High School
SEATTLE
Public 5.8 1,507 -10.0%
West Seattle High School
SEATTLE
Public 6.6 1,479 +20.6%
Bellevue High School
Bellevue
Public 6.3 1,683 +11.2%

For Parents

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