Summary
Manitou Park Elementary School is a public PK–5 school in Tacoma, Washington, serving 429 students in a community with relatively high economic need; about 75.99% of students qualified for free or reduced-price lunch in 2024–2025. The school is part of the Tacoma School District, which ranks around the 37th percentile statewide, but the school itself ranked at the 8th percentile among Washington elementary schools in 2025–2026. It is located near schools in Tacoma, Clover Park, and University Place districts, offering several useful local comparisons.
Academic results are currently well below both district and state averages. In 2025–2026, proficiency was 25.45% in English language arts, 17.18% in math, and 27.12% in science. Math is the clearest schoolwide weakness, and fourth grade is especially concerning, with only 12.50% proficient in ELA and 10.71% in math. Results declined from the previous year in all three subjects, particularly science. Nearby Edison Elementary School is a particularly relevant comparison because it has a similar enrollment and serves the same grade span, yet its latest proficiency rates were 40.50% in ELA, 34.50% in math, and 44.44% in science. Mann Elementary School also performs substantially better, while Evergreen Primary is a much stronger but less comparable benchmark.
The school’s student-teacher ratio rose to 19.2, higher than most nearby comparison schools, including Edison’s 16.0. Per-student spending was $21,532 in 2023–2024, so the data do not suggest that spending alone explains the weaker outcomes. One encouraging finding is that English Language Learner performance reached the 82nd percentile statewide in 2023–2024, suggesting that some supports for those students may be working well. For families evaluating the school, the most important questions concern plans for fourth-grade instruction, math and science improvement, support for economically disadvantaged students, and how the school is addressing its relatively high student-teacher ratio.
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