Summary:
ZIP code 98563 has two elementary schools — Beacon Avenue Elementary School serving grades PK–2 and Simpson Avenue Elementary serving grades 3–6 — both part of the Montesano School District, which is ranked 29th of 238 districts in Washington (88th percentile, 4 stars). Together the two schools enroll 735 students: 333 at Beacon and 402 at Simpson.
Simpson is the academic standout, and because it serves the state-tested grades, it is the school with comparable results. In 2025–2026 its proficiency rates were 60.15% in ELA, 59.29% in math, and 63.92% in science, beating the state in all three subjects — most notably math, by more than 16 percentage points. Its all-grade ELA rate was slightly below the district average, and science slipped about 5.85 points from the prior year. Grade-level math ranged widely, from a strong 68.89% in 3rd grade and 67.01% in 5th grade down to 43.02% in 6th grade math, still above the state but the school's weakest result. Simpson's rank improved from 335th in 2023–2024 to 258th in 2025–2026, moving from the 71st to the 77th percentile.
Beacon stands out on resources rather than test scores. It spends $18,262 per student versus Simpson's $15,164 — roughly 20.4% more — and has a lower student-teacher ratio of 16.4 versus 17.7, while serving a slightly higher free/reduced-lunch share (46.55% vs. 41.29%). Beacon has no current test results in this data because, as a PK–2 school, it falls below the grades those exams cover; that gap is structural, not a sign of weak performance. Families comparing the two should weigh Simpson's recent academics against Beacon's smaller classes and higher spending.
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