Emerald Heights Elementary, Silverdale WA

Original Research by School Decision on Emerald Heights Elementary

Emerald Heights Elementary, a regular public school in the Central Kitsap School District, serves students from pre-kindergarten through fifth grade. Because it is an elementary school, it has no graduation rate to report, and state testing data, which is available for grades three through five, provides the primary measure of academic performance here. The school’s overall proficiency across tested subjects and grades places it in the top quartile relative to other districts in Kitsap County, which signals strong academic standing among its immediate neighbors.

The state assessment results, however, reveal a pattern that is worth a closer look. In math, proficiency rates drop noticeably as students move up in grade. Third graders posted a very high proficiency rate, while fourth graders hit a lower mark and fifth graders fell further still. English language arts results follow a similar trajectory: third graders performed at a high level, but fourth grade saw a substantial dip, though fifth graders recovered to a solid rate. Science, tested only in fifth grade, produced a result that is consistent with that grade’s other subjects but well below the school’s third-grade peaks. The overall numbers are respectable, but the grade-to-grade slide in math, in particular, is a soft spot a parent may want to look into further with the school to understand whether it reflects a curricular gap, cohort differences, or something else.

The school’s enrollment is moderate for an elementary school serving these grades. A notable share of students come from low-income households, as indicated by eligibility for free or reduced-price meals. The student body is predominantly white, with the largest minority groups being students who identify as two or more races, followed by Hispanic and Asian students. This is not a deeply diverse school by national standards, but it has a meaningful mix of backgrounds that reflects the broader Silverdale area. Data on students with disabilities and English learners was not available, so it is not possible to assess the school’s support for those populations from this data.

The school is part of the Central Kitsap School District, which recently passed a significant capital bond to modernize its high school and middle school facilities, with construction underway and expected completion by the end of the decade. The district also adopted a new elementary literacy curriculum aligned with the science of reading approach in recent years, which may influence how reading is taught at Emerald Heights. These are district-wide shifts that affect the school’s programming and facilities planning.

Silverdale is an unincorporated commercial hub on the Kitsap Peninsula, not a traditional town with a walkable downtown. It is a car-dependent suburban environment anchored by big-box retail, restaurants, and the St. Michael Medical Center. The presence of Naval Base Kitsap to the north is a major economic force in the region. Housing in the school’s zip code is expensive, with home values that are above the national median, and rents are similarly high, making the area a costly place to live. The housing market has seen modest appreciation recently, and the rent-to-income ratio suggests that renting is a notable burden relative to typical local incomes. Families moving here should anticipate a high cost of housing in exchange for access to a strong-performing elementary school within a district that is investing in its secondary facilities.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 392%

School 92% · District 53% · ▲ 39 pts above district

▲ 42 pts above state median · ▲ 35 pts above county median

Grade 465%

School 65% · District 49% · ▲ 16 pts above district

▲ 17 pts above state median · ▲ 16 pts above county median

Grade 559%

School 59% · District 41% · ▲ 18 pts above district

▲ 19 pts above state median · ▲ 22 pts above county median

English language arts

Grade 387%

School 87% · District 53% · ▲ 34 pts above district

▲ 40 pts above state median · ▲ 34 pts above county median

Grade 465%

School 65% · District 57% · ▲ 9 pts above district

▲ 16 pts above state median · ▲ 9 pts above county median

Grade 575%

School 75% · District 27% · ▲ 47 pts above district

▲ 21 pts above state median · ▲ 15 pts above county median

Science

Grade 568%

School 68% · District 27% · ▲ 41 pts above district

▲ 16 pts above state median · ▲ 14 pts above county median

This schoolCentral Kitsap School District, 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 3Lower-income72%Higher-income94%21 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income44%Higher-income73%29 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income60%Higher-income81%21 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income67%Higher-income85%19 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 3Lower-income86%Higher-income95%9 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income44%Higher-income73%29 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income42%Higher-income66%24 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income63%Higher-income78%15 pp gap