Seahurst Elementary School, Burien WA

Original Research by School Decision on Seahurst Elementary School

Seahurst Elementary School is a regular public school serving students in pre-kindergarten through fifth grade in Burien, within the Highline School District. The school is located in a residential section of Burien, a city that city officials describe as having a mix of starter homes and high-end properties, condominiums, and apartments, with a compact commercial downtown. Burien’s population is notably diverse. Nearly a quarter of residents identify as Latino or Hispanic, and the Highline School District reports that more than 50 languages are spoken in the homes of its students. That diversity is reflected within Seahurst Elementary itself. The school’s enrollment draws heavily from families who qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, a substantial share of the student body. The student population is majority Hispanic, with smaller but significant shares of white, Black, Asian, and multiracial students. A smaller number of Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander and American Indian or Alaska Native students also attend.

Academically, state testing results for the most recent year show that proficiency rates in math, English language arts, and science were all below the midpoint among tested schools in the district. In each grade tested, math proficiency hovered near the quarter mark, with a slight dip in the upper grades. English language arts results followed a similar pattern, with the highest grade tested posting the lowest proficiency rate. Science, assessed at the fifth-grade level only, also showed roughly a quarter of students meeting the bar. When compared against other districts in King County—an area that contains many high-performing suburban schools—Seahurst Elementary’s combined proficiency across subjects and grades fell into the bottom quartile. A parent looking at these outcomes will want to investigate what academic support programs the school offers and how the school addresses skill gaps.

The school is one of many within Highline Public Schools, a district that is in the midst of a long-term modernization program. The district has been rebuilding and relocating several schools, including Pacific Middle School, which currently operates from an interim site. The district brief notes that some elementary schools have been moved to interim locations or have scheduled relocations, though the brief did not specify whether Seahurst Elementary itself is slated for a rebuild or move. The district also operates a growing portfolio of choice schools, including Innovation Heights Academy, Maritime High School, and Big Picture, which could become options for Seahurst families as their children reach middle and high school. Beyond the district changes, Burien as a whole has experienced sustained growth, with hundreds of new residents arriving each year and a major downtown redevelopment that added housing, retail, and a library. The Puget Sound Regional Council has designated Burien a Regional Growth Center, meaning continued development pressure.

For a family considering Seahurst Elementary, the school sits in a community that is walkable, increasingly dense, and culturally rich, served by a district that is actively modernizing its facilities and expanding school choices. The school’s academic profile, however, is a soft spot in the picture. A parent should plan to ask detailed questions about the school’s approach to instruction, intervention, and how it works with families whose children are not yet meeting grade-level benchmarks. The composition of the school is a plain characteristic, not a judgment: it serves a predominantly low-income, multilingual student body, and that context is central to understanding how the school operates and what resources it may need. No information was available on disciplinary rates, chronic absenteeism, or staffing ratios, all of which a parent may want to discuss directly with the school.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 330%

School 30% · District 37% · ▼ 8 pts below district

▼ 21 pts below state median · ▼ 31 pts below county median

Grade 423%

School 23% · District 28% · ▼ 5 pts below district

▼ 24 pts below state median · ▼ 36 pts below county median

Grade 522%

School 22% · District 50% · ▼ 28 pts below district

▼ 18 pts below state median · ▼ 32 pts below county median

English language arts

Grade 325%

School 25% · District 33% · ▼ 8 pts below district

▼ 22 pts below state median · ▼ 30 pts below county median

Grade 429%

School 29% · District 29%

▼ 20 pts below state median · ▼ 29 pts below county median

Grade 521%

School 21% · District 34% · ▼ 14 pts below district

▼ 33 pts below state median · ▼ 43 pts below county median

Science

Grade 528%

School 28% · District 34% · ▼ 6 pts below district

▼ 23 pts below state median · ▼ 33 pts below county median

This schoolHighline 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-income18%Higher-income47%29 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income17%Higher-income50%33 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income13%Higher-income40%28 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income36%Higher-income64%28 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 3Lower-income21%Higher-income53%32 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income12%Higher-income46%34 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income7%Higher-income57%51 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income11%Higher-income43%32 pp gap