Best Public Schools in Zip Code 98942

ZIP code 98942, serving the Selah area in central Washington, has nine schools in the Selah School District, offering early learning, elementary, middle, high school, online, and alternative programs for about 3,784 students. The largest schools are Selah High School with 1,159 students, Selah Middle School with 871, and Selah Intermediate School with 806. Smaller options include primary and early-learning schools, online programs, an alternative high school, and an auxiliary program.

For academic performance, Selah Intermediate School has the strongest overall profile among schools with comparable testing data. Its math proficiency was 39.64% and science proficiency was 43.22%, both above district averages, and its ranking improved to the 32nd percentile. Selah Middle School also performed above the district in science at 40.99% and improved its ranking to the 29th percentile. Results at Selah High School were weaker, especially in math at 18.70% and science at 26.09%, although its ELA and math scores improved from the prior year. All three schools remain below statewide proficiency levels, particularly in secondary math and science.

Selah High School has an important strength that test scores do not show: its 97.7% graduation rate and 1.1% dropout rate are substantially better than district and state figures. John Campbell Primary School reports the lowest student-teacher ratio at 12.6, while Robert Lince Early Learning Center reports the highest spending per student, likely reflecting specialized early-learning services. The online and alternative programs are much smaller and should not be compared directly with traditional schools; testing data for some is suppressed and should be treated as unavailable rather than as zero. Overall, the district combines strong high school completion outcomes with continuing academic improvement needs, especially in high school math and science.