Tacoma, WA schools
Tacoma’s public schools score well below Washington’s averages: 53% of students are proficient in reading against 61% statewide, and 80% of high schoolers graduate on time against 83%. Kids attend one of 34 elementary schools through grade 5, then one of 9 schools and Remann Hall Juvenile Detention Center or Tacoma Pierce County Education Center.
Grades, test scores, graduation, spending and every school, from U.S. Department of Education data.
Tacoma’s School Grade: C+
The public schools Tacoma’s kids attend, from kindergarten through graduation, trail 62% of Washington’s districts on state tests and graduation. Among towns with similar incomes, they rank near the bottom.
How the School Grade works
- Results, not inputs. Math and reading proficiency on Washington’s state tests, each against the state average, plus the four-year graduation rate. Spending and class size are shown below but don’t count toward the grade. Tests: 2018–19; graduation: class of 2020.
- The whole path. A town’s grade follows its kids: every district that serves it, weighted by the number of students tested in each. Tests count 60% and graduation 40%.
- Graded within the state. Each state writes its own tests, so districts are lined up against the rest of Washington only. A+ top 5%A next 10%A- next 10%B B+ to B−, next 30%C C+ to C−, next 30%D D and D−, bottom 15%
- Individual schools are graded the same way on their own test results, against every public school in Washington with 25+ students. Private schools aren’t graded: they don’t take the state tests.
- What a grade can’t tell you. Test results track family income closely, so a high grade partly reflects who lives in a town. That’s why we also compare towns with similar incomes. Visit, ask other parents, and read neighbor reviews. It’s our own summary of U.S. Department of Education data, not an official rating.
Where Tacoma kids go to school
Based on district boundaries from the U.S. Department of Education. Check with the district before you enroll.
Well below the state in reading
80% graduate on time
The share of students who started ninth grade together and earned a regular diploma within four years. #193 of 254 WA towns →
The district serving Tacoma
Each district’s own page has its spending, test scores, enrollment and every school.
All 84 schools in Tacoma
School data from the U.S. Department of Education (NCES). Ratings are from neighbors on TownTapestry.