Best Public Schools in Zip Code 99217

ZIP code 99217 has four schools serving students from prekindergarten through grade 12: three elementary schools and one grade-12 program, with no middle or alternative schools listed. Together, they enroll 896 students. The schools include two similarly sized Spokane district elementary schools, a much smaller elementary school in the Orchard Prairie district, and a small specialized high school program.

Orchard Prairie Elementary is the strongest academic performer based on available 2025–2026 results. It reported 51.02% proficiency in English language arts and 52.00% in math, including math performance above the Washington average. Its ranking also improved substantially, reaching the 72nd percentile in 2024–2025. However, its enrollment is only 79 students, and many results are suppressed, so year-to-year comparisons may be less stable. Among the larger schools, Cooper Elementary performed better than Arlington Elementary in ELA, math, and science. Cooper’s math result was relatively close to the Spokane School District average, while Arlington trailed district and state averages in every reported subject.

Arlington’s most significant weakness was upper-grade math: proficiency was 18.46% in fourth grade and 15.69% in fifth grade. Its overall ranking improved slightly but remained low. Cooper’s main recent concern was a 10.66-point decline in science, from 50.98% to 40.32%. The three elementary schools had very similar student-teacher ratios, around 12 students per teacher, so staffing ratios alone do not explain their performance differences. SCCP Images serves 53 twelfth-graders and has the lowest ratio, 8.8, along with the highest reported per-student spending; its test results were not available, so it cannot be compared academically with the elementary schools. Overall, elementary math—especially at Arlington—is the clearest area needing attention, while Orchard Prairie provides the strongest available academic results.