Original Research by School Decision on Ellensburg High School
Ellensburg High School sits in a college town that is also the county seat of Kittitas County, set in an agricultural valley best known for producing timothy hay. The city is home to Central Washington University, a major employer and a defining presence in the community. The historic downtown, with its brick buildings and a National Historic District designation, hosts a farmers market, busker festivals, and a jazz festival, and the core is walkable in a way the broader residential areas and university campus are not. The city is growing, with population increases underway and a large new distribution center under construction. Public schools, that single high school, one middle school, and four elementary schools, operate under the Ellensburg School District.
The high school itself enrolls roughly a thousand students in grades nine through twelve, making it a reasonably sized high school for a town of this kind. Just under half the student body qualifies for free or reduced-price meals, a figure that gives a sense of the economic mix among families. The student population is predominantly white, with a substantial Hispanic minority and small shares of students who identify as two or more races, Asian, American Indian or Alaska Native, and Black.
On state assessments, the school shows a clear split. In English language arts, a sizable majority of students scored at the proficient level, a result that places the school in a solid position among Washington high schools. Science proficiency is also strong, with a clear majority of students meeting the bar. Math tells a different story. Fewer than half of students reached proficiency, a soft spot that a family considering this school would want to understand better. The district does not provide a multi-year comparison for these results; the data offers only a single snapshot, so there is no way to tell from the information whether this is a stable pattern or a recent shift.
A few important pieces of information are absent. There is no graduation rate for Ellensburg High School in the provided data, and no chronic absenteeism rate. For a regular public high school, these are common metrics; their absence means a parent or resident cannot assess how many students complete high school on time or how widespread chronic absence is. The data also does not include information on discipline, course access, staffing ratios, or the share of students who receive special education services or are English learners. Any of these could be factors in a family’s decision, and they simply are not available here.
The district context includes a few recent events worth knowing. A capital bond measure that would have paid for safety upgrades, roof replacements, and HVAC improvements across district schools failed to reach the required supermajority in early 2024. The school board has discussed the possibility of a revised bond in a future election. Families moving into the area may want to keep an eye on what comes next, since aging infrastructure at the high school or other buildings may become a ballot question again. On a more settled note, voters approved a replacement Educational Programs and Operations levy in early 2022, which runs through 2026 and funds staffing, curriculum, and student support beyond what the state covers. And the district opened a new elementary school in fall 2022, adjusting attendance boundaries at the same time; that shift matters for families with younger children but does not directly affect the high school.
Housing in Ellensburg is priced lower than the state average, though buying still requires a substantial income relative to the national norm. Rents are more moderate. The local unemployment rate is close to the national figure. These conditions matter to a family considering a move, but none of them alter the picture of what the school itself offers academically.
Ellensburg High School presents as a place where a student with strong literacy skills is likely to be in good company, where science instruction appears effective, and where the math results invite a closer conversation with the school about curriculum, support, and how students are prepared for the quantitative demands of college or career. The gaps in the available data, the missing graduation rate especially, mean that some of the usual markers of school quality a parent would rely on are simply not on the table.
See more original research from School Decision →