Summary:
Highline School District’s 10 high schools serve approximately 6,310 students in grades 6–12 or 9–12 across the Highline area, offering neighborhood, selective, technical, and alternative programs with very different school sizes and outcomes. The district ranks 198th of 238 Washington districts, but that average hides a wide range of experiences. Parents comparing options should consider both academic results and whether a school’s program structure fits their student.
Raisbeck Aviation High School is the district’s standout academically, ranking fourth statewide and posting 67.96% math and 82.8% science proficiency. CHOICE Academy has the highest reported current ELA and math results, at 82.24% and 69.09%, although both schools are small and specialized. Among traditional comprehensive schools, Mount Rainier High School is the strongest overall choice in the available data. It has a 60.5% ELA proficiency rate, the highest graduation rate among the large comprehensive schools at 87.5%, the lowest dropout rate at 6.9%, and a substantially improving statewide ranking.
Results are more mixed at Evergreen High School, Tyee High School, and Highline High School, where math and science remain important challenges despite some year-over-year improvement, especially at Evergreen and Tyee. Big Picture School offers smaller classes and strong spending per student but mixed test results. Innovation Heights Academy and Highline Open Doors 1418 report lower graduation rates, while Open Doors serves a substantially different alternative-program population. Maritime High School is another specialized option, and several small schools have suppressed data. Overall, the Highline School District provides considerable program variety, but families should compare schools by mission, grade span, and student support needs rather than relying on district averages alone.
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