Summary:
The Mount Vernon area includes 17 schools serving roughly 7,054 students across elementary, middle, high school, and alternative programs, generally covering kindergarten through grade 12. Most are part of the Mount Vernon School District, which performs below Washington’s statewide averages, while nearby schools in Conway, Sedro-Woolley, and Burlington-Edison districts provide important comparison points. Because the schools serve different grades and missions, traditional schools should be compared separately from alternative and special-education programs.
The strongest overall academic results come from Conway School District 317, which exceeds the state in English language arts, math, and science. Within the Mount Vernon district, Centennial Elementary School has the strongest elementary math results and major recent ranking improvement, while Jefferson Elementary leads district elementary schools in science. La Venture Middle School is the stronger middle school by a wide margin and has improved in all three subjects. By contrast, Mount Baker Middle School ranks near the bottom, especially in science. Parents may also note that Mount Vernon High School has a relatively strong 87.7% graduation rate and near-state ELA performance, but math remains a significant weakness.
Across elementary schools, grade 5 math is a recurring concern, with especially low results at Madison Elementary and Washington Elementary School. Science performance also varies greatly from school to school and has declined recently in several buildings. Among alternative programs, Skagit Academy reports the strongest current ELA and science results, but alternative schools have different student populations and goals. Free- and reduced-price lunch rates, spending, and student-teacher ratios vary substantially, so they provide context rather than definitive measures of school quality. Suppressed scores should be treated as unavailable, not as zero.
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