Summary
Stanley Elementary School is a public PK–5 school in Tacoma, Washington, serving 325 students near South 17th Street in the Tacoma School District. The school serves a relatively high-need community: 66.15% of students qualified for free or reduced-price lunch in 2024–2025. Stanley has a favorable student-teacher ratio of 15.1:1 and reported relatively high spending of $23,290 per student, but its current academic results are among the weakest in the area. For 2025–2026, the school ranked 1,068th of 1,138 Washington elementary schools, placing it in the 6th percentile with a 0-star rating.
Only 23.62% of Stanley students were proficient in English language arts, 17.19% in math, and 19.05% in science. These results were well below district averages of 44.33%, 31.16%, and 42.31%, respectively. Stanley was near the bottom of its comparison group, with the third-lowest reported ELA and math results and the second-lowest reported science result. A particularly useful comparison is Delong Elementary School, which has a similar enrollment, student-teacher ratio, and lunch-eligibility rate but substantially higher proficiency: 50.56% in ELA, 43.26% in math, and 56.86% in science. Higher-performing nearby schools include Jefferson Elementary School, Washington Elementary School, and Lowell Elementary School.
The most significant concern is Stanley’s steep decline from earlier years, when it ranked near or above the statewide average. Its ELA proficiency fell from 46.15% in 2022–2023 to 23.62% in 2025–2026, while science dropped from 40.91% to 19.05%. Fourth grade is currently the strongest tested grade, while fifth-grade ELA is especially weak at 16.67%; fifth-grade math is suppressed, so its result is unknown. Parents may want to ask about plans for foundational reading and math, science instruction, attendance and intervention services, and how the school is addressing the recent downward trend.
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