Original Research by School Decision on Cedarcrest High School
Cedarcrest High School sits in Duvall, a town in the Snoqualmie Valley that has grown rapidly as a bedroom community for Seattle’s Eastside job centers. The school is the sole comprehensive high school in the Riverview School District, serving grades nine through twelve. For families considering this area, the school’s academic picture, the community’s housing market, and a recently approved district bond all matter.
On state assessments, Cedarcrest’s results are mixed and merit a close look. In English language arts, about eight in ten students met the proficiency bar, a strong showing. Science results were similarly high, with roughly the same share proficient. Math tells a different story: fewer than half of students reached the proficiency threshold. That gap is pronounced and is the kind of thing a parent may want to investigate further with the school, asking about math course offerings, intervention supports, and how the school supports students who arrive below grade level in that subject. These results are from a single year of data, so there is no trend yet to evaluate.
The school’s enrollment is large for a single high school, drawing from across the district. The student body is predominantly white, with a Hispanic population in the double digits and smaller shares of Asian, two-or-more-races, and Black students. A modest share of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, indicating that the school serves a generally higher-income community but not an exclusively affluent one. Data on students with disabilities and English learners was not available, so a parent should ask the school directly about how those populations are served and what supports are in place.
Cedarcrest is a regular public school, not a charter or magnet. No data was provided on course access, dual-credit programs, Advanced Placement offerings, career and technical education pathways, or staffing ratios. For a parent weighing academic fit, this is a notable gap. Many comprehensive high schools in the region offer a range of college-preparatory and career-oriented programs, but without program-level data here, a family would need to visit the school’s website or contact the counseling office to learn what is actually available. The same goes for discipline statistics, chronic absenteeism, and graduation rate — none of those were reported, so it is not possible to speak to school climate or on-time graduation from this data.
Duvall itself is a fast-growing residential town with a small historic downtown along Main Street. The population increased substantially in recent decades as the community shifted into a bedroom suburb for workers in Redmond, Bellevue, and Seattle. Most residents commute out for work, and the average commute is long. The median property value is high, and rents are elevated relative to national benchmarks. The housing market in King County has seen listing prices level off somewhat, but affordability remains a challenge for many incoming families. The town is car-dependent, with most households owning two vehicles and limited transit options. Recreational highlights include the Snoqualmie Valley Trail and McCormick Park, and the town runs seasonal events like Duvall Days and Movies in the Park.
For the district, two recent voter-approved measures have direct implications for families. In 2024, voters passed a capital improvement bond that funds construction of a new elementary school in the Duvall area, safety and security upgrades, and modernization of aging facilities. The new school could open as early as 2027, and the district has already convened a boundary review committee, meaning attendance zones may shift. In 2022, voters renewed a four-year Educational Programs and Operations levy that supports staffing, special education, athletics, and extracurriculars beyond what state funding covers. That levy runs through 2025, so a renewal will be on the ballot before it expires. The district also adopted a new K-5 English Language Arts curriculum that began in the 2023-2024 school year, a change that will affect elementary feeder schools.
For a family looking at Cedarcrest High School, the core tension is between strong ELA and science proficiency on one side and a much weaker math result on the other. The school serves a growing, largely commuter community with high housing costs and a district that has recently invested in facilities and programs. The missing pieces — graduation rate, program offerings, special education data — would tell a fuller story. A parent should treat those as questions to bring to a school visit or a conversation with the principal.
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