Benson Hill Elementary School, Renton WA

Original Research by School Decision on Benson Hill Elementary School

Benson Hill Elementary School serves students from kindergarten through fifth grade in the Renton School District, a regular public school located in the King County suburb southeast of Seattle. The school occupies the Benson Hill neighborhood, a residential area within a city that combines industrial heritage with ongoing redevelopment. Renton is best known as the final assembly site for Boeing commercial aircraft, and the aerospace giant remains the largest employer, alongside major corporate offices for Paccar, Providence Health, Kaiser Permanente, UW Medicine, and Wizards of the Coast. The downtown core has been reshaped over the past two decades with a transit center, multi-family housing, and a weekly farmers’ market at Piazza Park. Outside that core, the city sprawls across more than twenty-five square miles and is oriented around three freeways, making car travel common. Housing values are high, in line with the broader King County market, and rental costs take a large share of income.

The Renton School District is in a period of facility expansion. Voters approved a bond in 2022 that funds construction and renovation projects across the district, including improvements to high schools and several elementary schools, plus a new elementary school in the Fairwood area scheduled to open in fall 2026. The district has also launched a career-themed academy model for its high schools, though that redesign does not affect elementary grades directly.

The student body at Benson Hill reflects the area’s diversity. The largest groups are students of Asian background and Hispanic students, with substantial shares of White, Black, and multiracial students as well. About half of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, a marker of moderate economic need. The school serves a moderate enrollment for its grade band.

State testing results from the 2024-25 school year provide a mixed academic picture. In third grade, just over half of students met the state standard in both math and English language arts. By fourth grade, proficiency rates were lower, and by fifth grade they dropped further, particularly in math, where roughly a quarter of students met the standard. Fifth grade science proficiency was below half as well. Across all tested grades and subjects, the school’s overall proficiency index falls below the midpoint when placed against other school districts in King County. Because only a single year of data was available, no trend can be assessed. A parent may want to ask the school about the trajectory of learning from grade to grade, especially the decline in upper elementary performance.

Data on special education and English learner services was not available in the materials provided. Similarly, information on discipline, attendance, and staffing was absent. No program listings were reported, so course access and extracurricular offerings are not detailed here.

Benson Hill is a regular public school with no magnet or charter designation. Its Title I status was not reported. Families considering the school will need to weigh the academic picture against the broader context of a growing district, new school construction, and a high-cost housing market in Renton.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 355%

School 55% · District 51% · ▲ 4 pts above district

▲ 4 pts above state median · ▼ 5 pts below county median

Grade 448%

School 48% · District 48%

even with state median · ▼ 12 pts below county median

Grade 527%

School 27% · District 46% · ▼ 20 pts below district

▼ 14 pts below state median · ▼ 28 pts below county median

English language arts

Grade 354%

School 54% · District 42% · ▲ 11 pts above district

▲ 6 pts above state median · ▼ 2 pts below county median

Grade 439%

School 39% · District 47% · ▼ 8 pts below district

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

Grade 534%

School 34% · District 49% · ▼ 15 pts below district

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

Science

Grade 537%

School 37% · District 47% · ▼ 10 pts below district

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

This schoolRenton 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-income40%Higher-income71%31 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income19%Higher-income56%38 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income22%Higher-income46%24 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 3Lower-income43%Higher-income71%29 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income30%Higher-income63%33 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income18%Higher-income37%19 pp gap