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River Ridge Elementary

Public Grades PK, KG-5
1144th
SchoolDigger Rank ?
of 1,160 Washington Elementary Schools
Better than 1% of Washington elementary schools
Summary

River Ridge Elementary is a large public elementary school (PK-5) serving 697 students in SeaTac, Washington, as part of the Kent School District, but it faces significant academic challenges, consistently ranking in the bottom 1% of all Washington elementary schools.

The school's academic proficiency rates are critically low, with only about 16% of students meeting standards in English and Math, which is far below both district and state averages. This underperformance is consistent across all student groups and has shown little improvement over recent years. While the school serves a population with significant economic need, the data reveals a striking finding: other nearby schools with very similar student demographics achieve dramatically better results. For instance, Neely O'Brien Elementary (also in the Kent district) and Star Lake Elementary (in the Federal Way School District) serve comparable populations but have proficiency rates that are two to three times higher, indicating that student challenges alone do not predetermine outcomes.

River Ridge operates with a higher student-teacher ratio and lower per-student spending than several of these higher-performing neighboring schools, such as Des Moines Elementary and Madrona Elementary in the Highline School District. This suggests that the school's struggles may be related to specific school-level factors like leadership, teaching quality, or curriculum implementation, rather than just resources or location. The proximity of more successful schools shows that improvement is possible, but it would likely require targeted changes and strong district support.

697
Students ?
16.6
Student/teacher ratio ?
$19,556
Per pupil spending ?
72.7%
Free/discounted lunch ?
 22420 Military Rd S
       SeaTac, WA  98198-5140

(253) 373-7320

District: Kent School District

Racial breakdown:

Asian:
25.3%
Hispanic:
25.1%
African American:
21.5%
more
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 Compare River Ridge Elementary to nearby elementary schools!
At a glance
Ranking trend: Holding steady — 1st percentile in 2023 → 1st in 2025
Worth a look
!Test scores below the Washington average (17% vs 48% meeting standards)
!In the lower quartile statewide (1st percentile)
!English Language Arts scores 38 pts below the Washington average
Students meeting standards (2024-2025) ?
This school17%
District avg40%
Washington avg48%
1,144th of 1,160
Washington public elementary schools ?
Bottom 1%▬ steady since 2023
See the entire ranking list of Washington Elementary Schools →
SchoolDigger rating ?
27th of 29Elementary Schools in the Kent School District
159th of 247Kent School District among Washington districts
Statewide rank percentile over time (100 = the top-ranked school in the state; click a legend item to add a student group)
Show full rank history (all student groups)

All Students

YearAvg scoreStatewide rankWashington percentileRating
20254.31144 of 11601.4%☆☆☆☆☆
20243.81157 of 11680.9%☆☆☆☆☆
20233.71158 of 11690.9%☆☆☆☆☆

African American

YearAvg scoreStatewide rankWashington percentileRating
202517.670 of 756.7%☆☆☆☆☆

Asian

YearAvg scoreStatewide rankWashington percentileRating
20252.6187 of 1891.1%☆☆☆☆☆
20242.8161 of 1631.2%☆☆☆☆☆
20236.1166 of 1702.4%☆☆☆☆☆

English Language Learner

YearAvg scoreStatewide rankWashington percentileRating
20259.3298 of 3031.7%☆☆☆☆☆
202412.1306 of 3204.4%☆☆☆☆☆

Female

YearAvg scoreStatewide rankWashington percentileRating
20255.21080 of 10921.1%☆☆☆☆☆
20244.31083 of 10930.9%☆☆☆☆☆
20233.31090 of 10940.4%☆☆☆☆☆

Hispanic

YearAvg scoreStatewide rankWashington percentileRating
202511.2632 of 6594.1%☆☆☆☆☆
202413.3610 of 6516.3%☆☆☆☆☆
202313.0599 of 6335.4%☆☆☆☆☆

Low Socio Economic Status

YearAvg scoreStatewide rankWashington percentileRating
20254.21008 of 10130.5%☆☆☆☆☆
20244.01021 of 10240.3%☆☆☆☆☆
20233.31009 of 10130.4%☆☆☆☆☆

Male

YearAvg scoreStatewide rankWashington percentileRating
20253.41094 of 10980.4%☆☆☆☆☆
20243.91090 of 10990.8%☆☆☆☆☆
20236.31080 of 10991.7%☆☆☆☆☆
How student groups rank statewide ? (each group's percentile vs the same group at other schools — higher is better; the +/- beside each compares the group with this school's overall percentile)
African American (2025)7th percentile+5 vs school
Hispanic (2025)4th percentile+3 vs school
English Language Learner (2025)2nd percentile~ school
Female (2025)1st percentile~ school
Asian (2025)1st percentile~ school
Low Socio Economic Status (2025)<1st percentile~ school
Male (2025)<1st percentile~ school
By subject vs Washington (2024-2025) ?
Science20%-30 vs state
Math16%-26 vs state
English Language Arts15%-38 vs state

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What people are saying
by a parent
Wednesday, May 22, 2024

Open Quote IT IS A TERRIBLE SITUATION BECAUSE We were new to the area had just moved over here and had to find an Elementary School for our daughter to enroll in soon,We thought we were So lucky because we find out just 4.5 minutes away from our new place is River Ridge Elementary, Naturally we were exited because at the time we weren't aware of this is literally one of the worst ranked schools for the kids school district some of the worst teachers worst scores worst reviews safety issues works overall rankings in comparison to All the other K-6 K-12 Elementary Schools in Kent , Federal Way, SeaTac ect. and unfortunately we learned first hand why,no wonder they were having to run through so many different principles and teachers,we didn't know it at the beginning but unfortunately our daughters teacher ended up being the same Terrible Agenda Pushing False Narrative Creating Tyrant that we were warned about from the very beginning as her Kindergarten Teacher,The same teacher that my daughter cried about because she felt Empowered and Compelled to take it upon herself to Unbraid my daughter's couple braids because the teacher thought it looked "Much Better that way" Like what kind of "Teacher" with our children's lives and education in their hands for hours a day would even feel comfortable or think it's appropriate to touch and Undo another parent's Child's head,Guess she was ,"Curious" how Our Type of Hair Feels smh,You can imagine how we reacted!! Understand this was Not the First Racially Offensive Action or Comment that she tried to Explain away as a Genuine Misunderstanding but and for some reason we both weren't following are first instincts about her early on, even though after talking to other parents in our new area is finding out from them why they took their kids out of River ridge and have them going across can't just to go to a different Elementary School still wanted to give River ridge the benefit of the doubt after our daughter coming home tears on her face and continuously complaining about the same girls bullying her and ask continuously bringing it up to the teacher and principle at that time's attention it was always just brushed off or made to feel like her feelings or invalid eventually had to talk to the other girls parents and they said they would make sure it stops but some of the stories I've heard and even online information and reviews we didn't want to believe always prefer to give people the benefit of the doubt but as far as your child's success safety and not being discriminated against we're having a fair chance stay away from the school there is a reason that they are in the Very Bottom Overall Ranking standing at Being Behind 99.1 of all other Similar Elementary and K-12 Kent District Schools just Google SchoolDigger yourself and look up River ridge Elementary Schools Statistics hey we're so many terrible experiences and instances at that school wish we knew half the information we did when we first started with as your parents and people in general we live and we learn from our mistakes and to not be so trusting of people just because they work inside of school our young children are too vulnerable and fragile and being around the wrong type of people whether it's teachers or counselors or principles that have been unsavory situations in every aspect it doesn't matter where they work now when everything to delve into their past or why she would let someone that's not even a teacher or an employee at the school watch my kids want to see chooses to leave early so some things are not divulged or learned until after the fact so learned to just research everything ourselves ahead of time and find out as much important information as we can before committing to something so important Close Quote





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Frequently Asked Questions about River Ridge Elementary

Students at River Ridge Elementary are 25% Asian, 25% Hispanic, 22% African American, 14% White, 8% Pacific Islander, 7% Two or more races.

River Ridge Elementary ranks in the bottom 1.4% of Washington elementary schools.

In the 2024-25 school year, 697 students attended River Ridge Elementary.


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SchoolDigger data sources: National Center for Education Statistics, U.S. Department of Education, the U.S. Census Bureau, the Washington State Department of Health and the Washington Office of Superindentent of Public Instruction.

IMPORTANT DISCLAIMERS: Not all boundaries are included. We make every effort to ensure that boundaries are up-to-date. But it's important to note that these are approximations and are for general informational purposes only. To verify legal descriptions of boundaries or school locations, contact your local tax assessor's office and/or school district.





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