The top reported proficiency rate is 37% in Science. The lowest is 18% in Math.
Original Research by School Decision on Big Picture School
Big Picture School is an alternative school serving grades six through twelve in the Highline School District, located in Burien, Washington. The school is a small one, with a student body that is notably diverse. Its composition reflects the broader Burien community, where Hispanic or Latino residents make up a substantial portion of the population and dozens of languages are spoken in students’ homes. More than half of the students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, a share that places the school in a mixed-income context.
The school’s core identity is its alternative structure, and it is part of a district that has been expanding its portfolio of choice schools for secondary students. Big Picture sits alongside newer options like Maritime High School and Innovation Heights Academy. For a family considering the school, the alternative label means a nontraditional approach, one that likely emphasizes personalized learning, real-world experiences, and advisory-based instruction, as the network of Big Picture schools nationally is known for. The district has been actively modernizing its facilities, which means that some schools are operating out of interim locations while construction is underway, a factor worth keeping in mind for long-term planning.
The state testing picture for Big Picture School is mixed and shows areas where a parent would want to have a direct conversation with the school. In English language arts, proficiency rates vary across grade levels, with the rate for eighth graders reaching roughly half of students, while the rates for sixth and seventh graders are notably lower. In math, the results are consistently lower across all tested grades, with proficiency levels well below the midpoint of what is typical. In science, tested only in eighth grade, the proficiency rate falls below half of students. When the school’s overall performance across subjects is placed against other districts in King County, it falls in the bottom quartile. It is important to note that as an alternative school serving a specific population of students who may have chosen this setting for its pedagogical model, the test results reflect the particular cohort that enrolls here. The state testing data is a single point of reference, not a measure of the school’s value for every student.
The school’s environment is rooted in Burien, a city that the Puget Sound Regional Council has designated as a regional growth center. Burien is a walkable, diverse town with a compact downtown that includes a Town Square development with a library, city hall, and housing. The city has seen sustained population growth, partly from a major annexation. Housing values in the area are high relative to national norms, and the local job market is anchored by healthcare employers and the school district itself. The community offers a farmers market, art walks, and a performing arts center.
The data does not include information on discipline, course access, staffing ratios, attendance, or the school’s specific programmatic offerings beyond its alternative designation. For a family weighing Big Picture School, the central factors are its small, alternative setting, its demographic diversity, and the academic proficiency levels that are well below the county median, alongside the growth and change happening in both the district and the city of Burien. A prospective parent should tour the school, ask about the specific learning model in practice, and understand how the school supports students who may be behind grade-level benchmarks.
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