Cascade Elementary, Marysville WA

Original Research by School Decision on Cascade Elementary

Cascade Elementary is a regular public school serving kindergarten through fifth grade in Marysville, Washington, part of the Marysville School District. It is one of many elementary schools in a district that covers a fast-growing suburban city north of Seattle, a city that transformed from a lumber and farming town into a mixed-use hub with aerospace, logistics, and retail sectors. The school sits within a community that is primarily auto-oriented, with a historic downtown and extensive suburban subdivisions.

State testing results from the 2024-25 school year give a picture of academic performance that is uneven across grades and subjects. In math, the portion of students meeting proficiency varied noticeably by grade, with one grade level showing a stronger result and another a weaker one. In English language arts, proficiency rates also differed by grade; fourth grade stood out as a relative bright spot, while third and fifth grades were lower. In fifth-grade science, the proficiency rate was below a third of students. Taken together, the school’s overall proficiency across tested subjects and grades places it below the midpoint relative to other districts in Snohomish County, based on a proficiency index that averages all available results. Only a single year of testing data is available here, so there is no trend to compare.

The student body is about the size typical for an elementary school in this grade band. Demographically, the largest group of students is white, followed by a sizable Hispanic population, and smaller shares of Asian, Black, multiracial, and Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander students. A substantial majority of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, reflecting a school community with significant economic need. Data on students with disabilities and English learners were not available, so a parent may want to ask the school directly about those supports.

The school’s district context matters for any family considering this school. In 2022, voters rejected a pair of school levies, which triggered a financial crisis. The Washington State Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction placed the district under binding conditions in 2023 and declared it financially insolvent in 2024, convening a Financial Oversight Committee. This is the largest district in Washington ever subjected to such state oversight, and the effects may be felt in program funding, class sizes, and operations. Publicly reported accounts note these as ongoing constraints. The city itself has been growing rapidly through annexations and new development, but the district’s budget pressures add a layer of uncertainty.

What Cascade Elementary offers is a neighborhood public school in a suburban setting, with a diverse and economically mixed student population. Its academic results are uneven, with some grade-level strengths in English language arts but overall proficiency that lags county averages. For a parent, the key factors to weigh are the school’s specific classroom environment, which cannot be assessed from state testing alone, and the broader district’s financial recovery, which may shape resources and stability in the years ahead. Missing data on discipline, attendance, staffing ratios, and program offerings mean that many practical questions would need to be answered by visiting or contacting the school directly.

See more original research from School Decision →

Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 337%

School 37% · District 39% · ▼ 1 pts below district

▼ 13 pts below state median · ▼ 19 pts below county median

Grade 447%

School 47% · District 35% · ▲ 12 pts above district

▼ 1 pts below state median · ▼ 7 pts below county median

Grade 518%

School 18% · District 26% · ▼ 8 pts below district

▼ 22 pts below state median · ▼ 25 pts below county median

English language arts

Grade 336%

School 36% · District 37% · ▼ 1 pts below district

▼ 11 pts below state median · ▼ 17 pts below county median

Grade 459%

School 59% · District 37% · ▲ 22 pts above district

▲ 10 pts above state median · ▲ 4 pts above county median

Grade 546%

School 46% · District 40% · ▲ 6 pts above district

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

Science

Grade 530%

School 30% · District 38% · ▼ 7 pts below district

▼ 21 pts below state median · ▼ 27 pts below county median

This schoolMarysville 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-income30%Higher-income45%15 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income57%Higher-income64%8 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income36%Higher-income60%25 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 3Lower-income30%Higher-income48%19 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income43%Higher-income57%14 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income17%Higher-income20%3 pp gap