Mountain View Elementary, Lacey WA

Original Research by School Decision on Mountain View Elementary

Mountain View Elementary is a regular public school in the North Thurston Public Schools district, serving students from pre-kindergarten through fifth grade. It sits in Lacey, a suburban residential community in Thurston County that grew up as a bedroom town for Olympia, Fort Lewis, and Tacoma. Lacey lacks a traditional walkable downtown; its civic and retail core is clustered around the South Sound Center mall and a civic campus that includes City Hall and the library. The city's population has been rising steadily, and its economy mixes state government employment with large distribution centers, including a Target facility and an Amazon presence. The housing market here sits above the national benchmark for home values, and rents have been climbing recently. For a family looking at this area, the school is part of a growing suburb with a car-dependent layout and a mix of public-sector and warehouse-sector jobs.

The student body is diverse. About two-thirds of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, a substantial share that signals a high level of economic need in the community. The largest racial or ethnic group is white students, making up a little over a third of enrollment, followed by Hispanic students at about a third, and students who identify as two or more races at roughly a seventh. Smaller shares of Black, Asian, Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander, and American Indian or Alaska Native students round out the enrollment. Data on students with disabilities and English learners was not available for this profile, which is an important gap for any parent wanting a full picture of the school's support structure. The enrollment total is in the larger range for an elementary school, and the grade-by-grade counts show a full pre-kindergarten through fifth-grade program.

On state assessments, Mountain View Elementary's proficiency rates fall below the middle range when compared with other districts in Thurston County. In the 2024-25 school year, third graders posted the highest proficiency in both math and English language arts among the tested grades, with rates that were a bit under half of students meeting the bar. Fourth-grade proficiency was lower, and fifth-grade proficiency was lower still. Fifth-grade science results were roughly comparable to the third-grade English and math rates. The school's overall proficiency index across all tested subjects and grades placed it in the bottom quartile of districts in Thurston County. This is a soft spot a parent would want to explore further with the school, particularly to understand what academic support and intervention systems are in place. Only a single year of assessment data was available, so no trend could be assessed.

Because the school serves only elementary grades, there is no graduation rate or chronic absenteeism data to report. That is not a weakness of the school but a feature of its grade band. Similarly, the school environment and access section contained no discipline, staffing, or attendance data, so those dimensions could not be described. The school is not a charter or magnet, and its Title I status was not listed in the available records.

For a family considering Mountain View Elementary, the picture is of a large, diverse, high-needs elementary school in a growing suburban district. Academic performance on state tests is on the lower end relative to the county, especially by fifth grade, where proficiency rates drop noticeably. The school does not have a publicly available record of course access, program offerings, or staffing ratios, so a parent should follow up with the school directly to learn about class sizes, enrichment programs, and how the school addresses the academic gaps the state tests show. The community context offers steady population growth, a housing market that is expensive relative to national norms, and a local economy anchored by government and distribution work. Families who value a mixed-income, racially diverse elementary setting in a community-oriented suburb may find this school a fit, but they will want to press for details on the school's academic supports and curriculum beyond what the public data reveals.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 343%

School 43% · District 37% · ▲ 7 pts above district

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

Grade 435%

School 35% · District 47% · ▼ 11 pts below district

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

Grade 523%

School 23% · District 38% · ▼ 16 pts below district

▼ 18 pts below state median · ▼ 14 pts below county median

English language arts

Grade 344%

School 44% · District 37% · ▲ 7 pts above district

▼ 3 pts below state median · ▼ 6 pts below county median

Grade 438%

School 38% · District 49% · ▼ 11 pts below district

▼ 11 pts below state median · ▼ 14 pts below county median

Grade 532%

School 32% · District 53% · ▼ 21 pts below district

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

Science

Grade 544%

School 44% · District 52% · ▼ 7 pts below district

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

This schoolNorth Thurston Public Schools, 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-income36%Higher-income62%26 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income24%Higher-income74%50 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income16%Higher-income64%48 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income47%Higher-income78%31 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 3Lower-income38%Higher-income55%17 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income29%Higher-income52%23 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income13%Higher-income43%30 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income28%Higher-income66%38 pp gap