Summary:
ZIP code 98424 has one public elementary school, Fife Elementary School, serving kindergarten through fifth grade in the Fife School District; the school enrolls 866 students and is located at 5804 20th Street E in Tacoma, Washington. Because it is the only elementary school listed in the ZIP code, parents cannot compare nearby schools within the ZIP directly, so the most useful comparisons are with the Fife School District and Washington state.
Fife Elementary School shows its strongest results in science and its greatest need for improvement in English Language Arts. In 2025–2026, 56.0% of students were proficient in science, compared with 44.0% districtwide and 51.0% statewide. Math proficiency was 36.1%, slightly above the district’s 34.1% but below the state’s 43.1%. ELA proficiency was 37.7%, below both the district’s 46.0% and the state’s 52.8%. The school’s 60.3% free- or reduced-price lunch rate and 16.6 student-teacher ratio provide useful context for families evaluating the school, though these figures do not explain individual student outcomes.
Performance generally improved by fifth grade. Fifth-grade ELA proficiency reached 50.7%, compared with 28.3% in third grade, while fifth-grade math reached 41.8%, exceeding the district average and coming close to the state rate. Science also improved substantially year over year, rising 11.1 percentage points to 56.0%. However, overall ELA and math declined from the previous year, and the school’s ranking fell to the 33rd percentile in 2025–2026. For parents, the main questions are how the school supports early reading and math, particularly in third and fourth grades, and how it is sustaining the notable science gains.
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