Skyline Elementary School, Ferndale WA

Original Research by School Decision on Skyline Elementary School

Skyline Elementary School serves kindergarten through fifth grade in the Ferndale School District, a regular public school near the northern edge of Whatcom County. The school occupies a single campus and draws its enrollment from the surrounding residential areas of Ferndale, a city whose housing market has seen steady appreciation, with home values broadly in line with the state’s typical range. Renters face a notable share of income going to housing, a pattern that reflects broader regional cost pressures.

State testing results from the 2024–25 school year give a picture of moderate academic performance. In English language arts, proficiency rates across grades three through five hovered near the low to mid forties, with one grade slightly below that band. In math, the rates clustered in the low forties across the same grades, consistent across all three tested levels. Fifth-grade science proficiency was a bit higher, landing near half of students meeting the standard. When the school’s overall proficiency across subjects and grades is compared with other elementary-level schools in Whatcom County districts, Skyline sits above the midpoint of the six reporting districts. This suggests that while the school is not at the top of the county, it is performing stronger than several of its peers. Because only one year of testing data is available, there is no trend to show whether performance is improving or declining.

The student body is large for an elementary school. Economically, a substantial share of families qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, placing the school in a context of notable income diversity. Racially, the student population is majority white, with a significant Hispanic presence and notable representation of American Indian or Alaska Native students, along with smaller shares of Asian students, students of two or more races, and very small numbers of Black and Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander students. This composition gives the school a multiethnic peer environment, though the largest group remains white. Data on students with disabilities and English learners was not reported in the available record, so a family wanting to understand those support structures would need to investigate directly with the school.

The school is not a charter or magnet, and its Title I status was not provided. Program offerings, staffing details, discipline rates, and chronic absenteeism data were all absent from the profile. Because Skyline serves only elementary grades, there is no graduation rate, nor is there a high school program to evaluate. A parent considering this school should note that several common measures of school environment and student support are missing from public data, which may complicate comparisons.

Ferndale itself is a growing city in the northwest corner of Washington, and the school’s location on Thornton Road places it in a settled residential part of town. The district’s recent history of bond measures and property tax levies was noted in a search, but the content of those measures was not available in the profile, so any changes in funding, facilities, or curriculum could not be included here.

For families weighing Skyline Elementary, the academic profile is respectable within the county but not exceptional. The school serves a student body that is both economically and racially diverse, and the housing market in the area is moderately priced compared to the state median but still demanding for renters. A parent may want to ask the school directly about special education and English learner services, as well as any enrichment or support programs, since those details were not captured in the available data. The lack of multi-year testing data means that any trajectory for the school remains unknown, and the single snapshot from 2024–25 should be taken as a starting point for further inquiry.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 341%

School 41% · District 37% · ▲ 4 pts above district

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

Grade 440%

School 40% · District 43% · ▼ 2 pts below district

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

Grade 541%

School 41% · District 35% · ▲ 6 pts above district

▲ 1 pts above state median · ▲ 1 pts above county median

English language arts

Grade 336%

School 36% · District 34% · ▲ 3 pts above district

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

Grade 446%

School 46% · District 43% · ▲ 3 pts above district

▼ 3 pts below state median · even with county median

Grade 543%

School 43% · District 43% · ▲ 1 pts above district

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

Science

Grade 547%

School 47% · District 47% · ▲ 1 pts above district

▼ 4 pts below state median · ▼ 1 pts below county median

This schoolFerndale 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-income33%Higher-income42%9 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income34%Higher-income65%31 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income29%Higher-income65%36 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 3Lower-income33%Higher-income55%22 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income36%Higher-income47%11 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income31%Higher-income55%24 pp gap