Summit Public School: Atlas, Seattle WA

Original Research by School Decision on Summit Public School: Atlas

Summit Public School: Atlas is a charter school in Seattle serving grades six through twelve. It operates as its own local education agency, a regular school with a charter designation. The school is located in the southwest part of the city, and enrollment is moderate in size for a secondary school serving those grade levels.

The student body is diverse. A substantial share of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, indicating a significant portion of families with lower incomes. The largest racial or ethnic group is white students, followed by Black students, then Hispanic students, and a smaller share of students who identify as two or more races. Asian students make up a modest presence. Enrollment is spread fairly evenly across middle and high school grades, with the senior class being the smallest.

State assessment results are available for the most recent school year. In English language arts, about half of students met the proficiency benchmark in sixth and eighth grades, with a slightly lower share in seventh grade. In math, just under half of seventh graders scored proficient, while sixth and eighth graders tested in the mid to high thirty percent range. On the eighth-grade science assessment, about two out of five students were proficient. Measured on an index that combines all tested subjects and grades, the school's overall proficiency falls below the midpoint among districts in King County. This is a soft area; a parent may want to ask the school about the instructional strategies and supports it uses to help students build academic skills across these subjects.

Because this is a charter school and not a traditional district school with assigned boundaries, all families choose to enroll. The school’s academic model draws on a personalized, project-based approach. There were no reported recent changes to the school’s programs or operations that would affect parent decisions.

Seattle itself shapes the context families will experience. It is a major city with a dense urban core of skyscrapers and commercial activity along Elliott Bay, surrounded by hillside residential neighborhoods. Major employers including Amazon and Boeing anchor the regional economy, and the city has seen strong growth driven by the technology sector. Housing values in the school’s ZIP code are well above the national median, though the market has cooled slightly in the most recently measured period. Rents have continued to rise. Families living in the city or commuting from elsewhere will navigate Seattle’s urban transit network and dense street grid.

The combination of a charter school, a broad grade span, and a diverse student body sets this school apart from many traditional middle and high schools in the area. The academic results suggest room for growth in math and science proficiency. For a family weighing options in Seattle’s array of school choices, this school offers a specific approach and a particular community, but the academic metrics warrant a close look at what the school is doing to move those numbers. State testing data for high school grades was not reported here, so a family with a high school student should confirm what results are available for those years.

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Academic performance

How students perform on state tests, by grade, set against the district.

Math

Grade 639%

School 39% · District 39%

▲ 2 pts above state median · ▼ 14 pts below county median

Grade 746%

School 46% · District 46%

▲ 8 pts above state median · ▼ 9 pts below county median

Grade 836%

School 36% · District 36%

▲ 2 pts above state median · ▼ 16 pts below county median

English language arts

Grade 653%

School 53% · District 53%

▲ 5 pts above state median · ▼ 7 pts below county median

Grade 746%

School 46% · District 46%

▼ 5 pts below state median · ▼ 17 pts below county median

Grade 850%

School 50% · District 50%

▲ 1 pts above state median · ▼ 15 pts below county median

Science

Grade 840%

School 40% · District 40%

▼ 2 pts below state median · ▼ 20 pts below county median

This schoolSummit Public School: Atlas, same grade

Graduation rate (ACGR) reflects the federally published Adjusted Cohort Graduation Rate for the most recent year available. We refresh this data annually at the close of each academic year in June. The federal source publishes a banded rate (for example, "90-94%") instead of an exact number for cohorts small enough to risk identifying individual students. The state distribution chart, where shown, plots every school in the state with a published rate or band; schools whose rate is federally suppressed are excluded. Where the federal source publishes a band rather than an exact rate, the school is placed within its band using a stable, ID-derived offset, so its position is consistent across visits.

Proficiency by household income

English language arts

Grade 5Lower-income32%Higher-income62%30 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income45%Higher-income58%13 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income31%Higher-income57%26 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income39%Higher-income63%24 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 6Lower-income26%Higher-income48%22 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income33%Higher-income54%21 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income28%Higher-income46%19 pp gap