Is Rainier Beach High School a good school?

Rainier Beach High School ranks in the bottom 8.2% of Washington high schools.

How many students attend Rainier Beach High School?

In the 2023-24 school year, 765 students attended Rainier Beach High School.

What is the racial makeup of Rainier Beach High School?

Students at Rainier Beach High School are 41% African American, 27% Asian, 17% Hispanic, 8% Two or more races, 5% White, 2% Pacific Islander.

What schools feed into Rainier Beach High School?

Rainier Beach High School is fed by the following schools: Elementary : Dunlap Elementary School Elementary : Emerson Elementary School Elementary : Graham Hill Elementary School Elementary : Rainier View Elementary School Elementary : Wing Luke Elementary School Middle : Aki Kurose Middle School

Rainier Beach High School

Summary:

Rainier Beach High School is a public high school in Seattle, Washington, serving 818 students in grades 9-12. The school is part of the Seattle School District, which is ranked 48th out of 247 districts in the state.

Rainier Beach High School faces significant academic challenges, consistently ranking in the bottom quartile of Washington high schools. In the 2023-2024 school year, only 42.28% of students were proficient or better in English Language Arts, compared to 66.2% statewide and 67.59% in the Seattle School District. In math, the proficiency rate was just 15.75%, compared to 41.68% statewide and 58.68% in the district. The school's performance on science assessments is also low, with only 25.66% of students proficient or better, compared to 49.73% statewide and 61.65% in the district. Rainier Beach High School's graduation rate has declined from 91.9% in 2019-2020 to 87.8% in 2022-2023, while its dropout rate has increased from 5.1% to 7.6% during the same period.

Rainier Beach High School's challenges are compounded by its high percentage of students from low-socioeconomic backgrounds, with 80.44% of students qualifying for free or reduced-price lunch in 2022-2023. The school's performance is particularly low for African American and multi-racial students, who rank in the bottom 10-15% of high schools in the state. In comparison, nearby schools like Franklin High School, Cleveland High School STEM, and Raisbeck Aviation High School have higher proficiency rates, rankings, and lower percentages of students from low-socioeconomic backgrounds.

Detail:

Public 9-12

8815 Seward Park Av S
Seattle, WA 98118-4743

(206) 252-6350

District: Seattle School District No. 1

SchoolDigger Rank:
401^st of 437 Washington High Schools

Per Pupil Expenditures: $22,570

Feeder schools for Rainier Beach High School:

Elementary:	Dunlap Elementary School
	Emerson Elementary School
	Graham Hill Elementary School
	Rainier View Elementary School
	More...
	Wing Luke Elementary School
Middle:	Aki Kurose Middle School

Student/teacher ratio: 16.6

Number of students: 765

Racial breakdown:

African American:

40.7%

Asian:

27.1%

Hispanic:

16.6%

Free/discounted lunch recipients: 80.3%

See top rated Washington high schools

Compare Rainier Beach High School to nearby high schools!

Performance Trends

Compare Details Rainier Beach High School ranks worse than 91.8% of high schools in Washington. It also ranks 14^th among 15 ranked high schools in the Seattle School District No. 1. (See more...)

Compare Details In 2024 the calculated Average Standard Score was 13.73. (See more...)

The four-year cohort graduation rate measures the percentage of students at Rainier Beach High School who earn a standard high school diploma within four years of starting ninth grade.

The high school dropout rate measures the percentage of students who do not complete their high school education.

Student Body

Compare Details Student population at Rainier Beach High School is diverse. Racial makeup is: African American (40.7%), Asian (27.1%), Hispanic (16.6%). (See more...)

Compare Details 80.3% of students are receiving a free or discounted lunch. (See more...)

Compare Details (See more...)

Teachers

Compare Details The student/teacher ratio at Rainier Beach High School is 16.6, which is the 7^th best among 15 high schools in the Seattle School District No. 1. (See more...)

Compare Rainier Beach High School employs 46 full-time teachers.

Finance

Compare Details The average total spent per student at Rainier Beach High School is $22,570, which is the 6^th highest among 15 high schools in the Seattle School District No. 1.

Schooldigger 2024 Rankings:

Rainier Beach High School:

SchoolDigger ranks Rainier Beach High School 401^st of 437 Washington public high schools. (See Rainier Beach High School in the ranking list.)

High School Test Score Ratings by Student Subgroup:

Low Socio Economic Status students:

Female students:

Male students:

Asian students:

African American students:

Seattle School District No. 1:

SchoolDigger ranks Seattle School District No. 1 48^th of 247 Washington school districts. (See district ranking list.)

Average Rating:

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Rank History for Rainier Beach High School

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Rank History for all students at Rainier Beach High School

Year	Avg Standard Score	Statewide Rank	Total # Ranked High Schools	WA State Percentile
2004	13.22	342^nd	390	12.3%
2005	9.98	353^rd	394	10.4%
2006	16.03	339^th	395	14.2%
2007	29.19	311^th	399	22.1%
2008	33.54	299^th	396	24.5%
2009	18.13	346^th	402	13.9%
2010	19.59	351^st	423	17.0%
2011	6.58	411^th	440	6.6%
2012	13.96	383^rd	450	14.9%
2013	22.10	372^nd	454	18.1%
2015	29.95	256^th	341	24.9%
2016	17.43	274^th	306	10.5%
2017	11.25	275^th	301	8.6%
2018	22.54	266^th	315	15.6%
2019	16.10	370^th	417	11.3%
2021	12.01	428^th	455	5.9%
2022	12.81	399^th	434	8.1%
2023	21.33	354^th	442	19.9%
2024	13.73	401^st	437	8.2%

See the entire list of Washington High School Rankings!

Rank History for Multi-racial students at Rainier Beach High School

Year	Avg Standard Score	Statewide Rank	Total # Ranked High Schools	WA State Percentile	SchoolDigger Rating
2019	22.63	139^th	163	14.7%
2021	3.27	192^nd	195	1.5%

See the entire list of Best Washington High Schools for Multi-racial Students!

Rank History for English Language Learner students at Rainier Beach High School

Year	Avg Standard Score	Statewide Rank	Total # Ranked High Schools	WA State Percentile
2018	43.35	35^th	65	46.2%
2019	32.85	48^th	69	30.4%
2021	33.54	60^th	102	41.2%

See the entire list of Best Washington High Schools for English Language Learner Students!

Rank History for Special Education students at Rainier Beach High School

Year	Avg Standard Score	Statewide Rank	Total # Ranked High Schools	WA State Percentile	SchoolDigger Rating
2018	20.54	124^th	139	10.8%

See the entire list of Best Washington High Schools for Special Education Students!

Rank History for Low Socio Economic Status students at Rainier Beach High School

Year	Avg Standard Score	Statewide Rank	Total # Ranked High Schools	WA State Percentile
2018	20.07	205^th	227	9.7%
2019	25.44	279^th	344	18.9%
2021	18.96	351^st	392	10.5%
2022	13.38	350^th	370	5.4%
2023	36.06	236^th	362	34.8%
2024	18.11	323^rd	356	9.3%

See the entire list of Best Washington High Schools for Low Socio Economic Status Students!

Rank History for Female students at Rainier Beach High School

Year	Avg Standard Score	Statewide Rank	Total # Ranked High Schools	WA State Percentile
2018	25.11	203^rd	243	16.5%
2019	19.73	304^th	358	15.1%
2021	14.33	352^nd	390	9.7%
2022	12.26	343^rd	368	6.8%
2023	17.92	305^th	357	14.6%
2024	11.00	333^rd	347	4.0%

See the entire list of Best Washington High Schools for Female Students!

Rank History for Male students at Rainier Beach High School

Year	Avg Standard Score	Statewide Rank	Total # Ranked High Schools	WA State Percentile
2018	13.91	235^th	254	7.5%
2019	12.59	325^th	355	8.5%
2021	10.00	376^th	395	4.8%
2022	11.36	341^st	363	6.1%
2023	19.94	291^st	358	18.7%
2024	12.34	338^th	362	6.6%

See the entire list of Best Washington High Schools for Male Students!

Rank History for Asian students at Rainier Beach High School

Year	Avg Standard Score	Statewide Rank	Total # Ranked High Schools	WA State Percentile
2018	27.64	69^th	87	20.7%
2019	19.12	103^rd	121	14.9%
2021	16.89	119^th	136	12.5%
2022	14.86	114^th	124	8.1%
2023	24.75	91^st	118	22.9%
2024	17.30	99^th	113	12.4%

See the entire list of Best Washington High Schools for Asian Students!

Rank History for African American students at Rainier Beach High School

Year	Avg Standard Score	Statewide Rank	Total # Ranked High Schools	WA State Percentile
2018	22.76	47^th	54	13.0%
2019	13.90	83^rd	86	3.5%
2021	7.31	111^th	111	0.0%
2022	7.43	88^th	89	1.1%
2023	6.22	78^th	78	0.0%
2024	11.30	69^th	70	1.4%

See the entire list of Best Washington High Schools for African American Students!

Rank History for Hispanic students at Rainier Beach High School

Year	Avg Standard Score	Statewide Rank	Total # Ranked High Schools	WA State Percentile
2018	31.65	119^th	156	23.7%
2019	13.07	229^th	241	5.0%
2021	22.10	241^st	278	13.3%
2022	34.18	173^rd	261	33.7%
2023	44.71	129^th	249	48.2%

See the entire list of Best Washington High Schools for Hispanic Students!

Rank History for White students at Rainier Beach High School

Year	Avg Standard Score	Statewide Rank	Total # Ranked High Schools	WA State Percentile	SchoolDigger Rating
2021	17.69	367^th	413	11.1%

See the entire list of Best Washington High Schools for White Students!

Data source: test scores: Washington Office of Superindentent of Public Instruction, rankings: SchoolDigger.com

As you review the school rankings data, please be aware that some of the information from certain demographics is missing. The reason for this omission is that the data has been redacted from the source data itself due to low population samples in these specific demographic groups.

Redacting data from low population samples is a necessary step to ensure the reliability and accuracy of the results, as small sample sizes may not be representative of the broader population. Additionally, this measure helps protect the privacy of individuals belonging to these demographic groups.

Data source: Washington State Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction

Review counts

All ratings (Avg rating: 3.7)

67%

33%

Reviews:

by a citizen
Thursday, April 21, 2022

Education is very poor, they spend to much of their finances on sports. Close Quote

by a student
Sunday, September 17, 2017

Great school! Close Quote

by a student
Monday, May 19, 2014

Rainier Beach is a Great School
Im a Freshman there right now and the teachers really care about you and wants the best for you. The education system is really great its called IB program. Its a higher class better than Franklin or Cleveland high school education system. People think the school is ghetto, but it ain't that was from the past. Right now there are nice people there and there not even one shooting i ever heard from this school the first day of school no shooting or killing. If you haven't been there don't talk shit about it. Close Quote

Enrollment information for Rainier Beach High School

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Year	White	African American	Asian	Hispanic	American Indian	Pacific Islander	Two or More Races	Not Specified	Total
1988	323	341	316	69	5	n/a	n/a	0	1054
1989	245	320	318	70	10	n/a	n/a	0	963
1990	174	217	306	45	4	n/a	n/a	0	746
1991	198	202	275	38	1	n/a	n/a	0	714
1992	235	214	263	42	2	n/a	n/a	0	756
1993	225	201	291	38	4	n/a	n/a	0	759
1994	199	290	326	41	4	n/a	n/a	0	860
1995	161	349	345	53	4	n/a	n/a	0	912
1996	161	349	345	53	4	n/a	n/a	0	912
1997	129	366	313	44	6	n/a	n/a	0	858
1998	100	378	316	41	6	n/a	n/a	0	841
1999	97	379	279	51	7	n/a	n/a	0	813
2000	64	417	258	41	8	n/a	n/a	0	788
2001	53	356	208	55	11	n/a	n/a	0	683
2002	47	425	179	48	11	n/a	n/a	0	710
2003	47	425	179	48	11	n/a	n/a	0	710
2004	46	361	152	33	10	n/a	n/a	0	602
2005	43	308	120	39	11	n/a	n/a	0	521
2006	35	321	131	36	6	n/a	n/a	0	529
2007	23	284	116	28	4	n/a	n/a	0	455
2008	18	214	88	34	5	n/a	n/a	0	359
2009	25	244	107	54	11	n/a	n/a	0	441
2010	47	284	91	65	11	n/a	n/a	0	498
2011	31	252	67	53	4	17	1	0	425
2012	18	204	71	43	2	21	7	0	366
2013	19	210	80	57	4	18	16	0	404
2014	12	233	128	60	3	18	14	0	468
2015	18	309	149	77	5	16	24	0	598
2016	26	326	179	91	4	15	30	0	671
2017	21	346	190	94	2	9	28	0	690
2018	24	365	192	104	3	17	41	0	746
2019	20	346	203	105	3	15	69	0	761
2020	23	332	201	121	5	17	55	1	755
2021	34	335	208	132	7	15	50	0	781
2022	44	351	203	157	4	19	57	1	836
2023	39	345	197	148	5	14	67	3	818
2024	36	311	207	127	3	15	63	3	765

Data source: National Center for Education Statistics, U.S. Dept of Education.

About Enrollment/Ethnicity

For more information about how the Department of Education defines ethnicity, see Defining Race and Ethnicity Data, National Center for Education Statistics

Students eligible for free or discounted lunch at Rainier Beach High School

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Year	# Students	Full-time Teachers	Student/Teacher ratio	% Free/Discounted Lunch
1988	1054	47.0	22.4	0
1989	963	45.0	21.4	n/a
1990	746	44.2	16.8	0
1991	714	40.6	17.5	n/a
1992	756	36.0	21.0	n/a
1993	759	35.0	21.7	n/a
1994	860	36.3	23.7	n/a
1995	912	45.0	20.3	n/a
1996	912	45.0	20.3	n/a
1997	858	42.7	20.1	n/a
1998	841	41.9	20.1	n/a
1999	813	40.5	20.1	n/a
2000	788	44.2	17.8	n/a
2001	683	41.8	16.3	n/a
2002	710	37.1	19.1	57.5
2003	710	37.1	19.1	57.5
2004	602	34.0	17.7	58
2005	521	33.6	15.5	67.8
2006	529	24.6	21.5	61.2
2007	455	24.0	19.0	60.2
2008	359	26.0	13.8	63.8
2009	441	26.0	17.0	68.9
2010	498	30.7	16.2	66.5
2011	425	30.1	14.1	69.4
2012	366	23.3	15.7	80.9
2013	404	24.5	16.4	77.2
2014	468	n/a	n/a	80.1
2015	598	35.0	17.0	71.7
2016	671	42.0	15.9	69.7
2017	690	39.8	17.2	80.7
2018	746	42.6	17.5	77.6
2019	761	46.6	16.3	74.6
2020	755	44.5	16.9	70.7
2021	781	47.0	16.6	72.6
2022	836	44.7	18.6	72.6
2023	818	45.8	17.8	80.4
2024	765	46.0	16.6	80.3

Data source: National Center for Education Statistics, U.S. Dept of Education.

About Students eligible for discounted/free lunch:

The National School Lunch Program (NSLP) provides low-cost or free meals to students in U.S. public and nonprofit private schools based on household income. Those with incomes below 130% of the poverty line receive free lunch, while those between 130% and 185% qualify for reduced-price lunch. The percentage of students receiving free or reduced-price lunch serves as a marker for poverty, as it reflects the socioeconomic status of families in a given school or district. A higher FRPL rate typically indicates a higher concentration of low-income families, suggesting that the school or district may face additional challenges in providing adequate resources and support for student success.

Student/Teacher Ratio Rainier Beach High School

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Year	# Students	Full-time Teachers	Student/Teacher ratio	% Free/Discounted Lunch
1988	1054	47.0	22.4	0
1989	963	45.0	21.4	n/a
1990	746	44.2	16.8	0
1991	714	40.6	17.5	n/a
1992	756	36.0	21.0	n/a
1993	759	35.0	21.7	n/a
1994	860	36.3	23.7	n/a
1995	912	45.0	20.3	n/a
1996	912	45.0	20.3	n/a
1997	858	42.7	20.1	n/a
1998	841	41.9	20.1	n/a
1999	813	40.5	20.1	n/a
2000	788	44.2	17.8	n/a
2001	683	41.8	16.3	n/a
2002	710	37.1	19.1	57.5
2003	710	37.1	19.1	57.5
2004	602	34.0	17.7	58
2005	521	33.6	15.5	67.8
2006	529	24.6	21.5	61.2
2007	455	24.0	19.0	60.2
2008	359	26.0	13.8	63.8
2009	441	26.0	17.0	68.9
2010	498	30.7	16.2	66.5
2011	425	30.1	14.1	69.4
2012	366	23.3	15.7	80.9
2013	404	24.5	16.4	77.2
2014	468	n/a	n/a	80.1
2015	598	35.0	17.0	71.7
2016	671	42.0	15.9	69.7
2017	690	39.8	17.2	80.7
2018	746	42.6	17.5	77.6
2019	761	46.6	16.3	74.6
2020	755	44.5	16.9	70.7
2021	781	47.0	16.6	72.6
2022	836	44.7	18.6	72.6
2023	818	45.8	17.8	80.4
2024	765	46.0	16.6	80.3

Data source: National Center for Education Statistics, U.S. Dept of Education.

About Student-Teacher Ratio

Student/teacher ratio is calculated by dividing the total number of students by the total number of full-time equivalent teachers. Please note that a smaller student/teacher ratio does not necessarily translate to smaller class size. In some instances, schools hire teachers part time, and some teachers are hired for specialized instruction with very small class sizes. These and other factors contribute to the student/teacher ratio. Note: For private schools, Student/teacher ratio may not include Pre-Kindergarten.

Immunization Rates