Best Public Schools in SEATTLE, WA

The Seattle area school list includes 126 schools serving prekindergarten through grade 12, with 82 elementary schools, 16 middle schools, 24 high schools, and four alternative schools across several districts, including Seattle School District No. 1, Highline, Renton, Tukwila, and charter or specialized programs.

Families will find a particularly strong group of traditional schools at every level. Among high schools, Lincoln High School stands out with a third-place statewide ranking, a 95.8% graduation rate, low dropout rate, and strong test results. Roosevelt High School and West Seattle High School also combine high rankings with graduation rates above 93%. Cleveland High School STEM reports the area’s highest graduation rate at 97.7%, although its math and science proficiency are less consistent. The strongest middle schools include Hamilton International Middle School, Eckstein Middle School, Whitman Middle School, and Robert Eagle Staff Middle School. At the elementary level, West Woodland Elementary School, Frantz Coe Elementary School, Bryant Elementary School, and Greenwood Elementary School rank among the state’s strongest.

The clearest academic weakness is high-school math, which trails English language arts at many schools, including Franklin, Chief Sealth, and Ingraham. However, several schools are improving quickly: Chief Sealth, Rainier Beach, Franklin, West Seattle, and David T. Denny have made substantial ranking gains. Rainier Prep is a notable middle-school performer with strong results and 74% reported free/reduced-price lunch participation. Alternative, virtual, charter, and very small schools should be compared separately because their missions, enrollment sizes, and student populations differ. Also, “—” means a result is suppressed and unknown, not zero; families should consider current scores, multi-year trends, graduation outcomes, school size, and program fit together.