The top reported proficiency rate is 86% in Math. The lowest is 84% in English language arts.
Original Research by School Decision on John Stanford International School
John Stanford International School is an elementary school in the Wallingford neighborhood of Seattle, part of the Seattle School District No. 1. It serves kindergarten through fifth grade, with an enrollment that is moderate for an elementary school in an urban district. The student body is diverse in its composition. A little under half of the students are white, roughly a quarter are Hispanic, about a fifth identify as two or more races, and a smaller share are Asian. The share of students who identify as Black is very small. The school has a low share of students who qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, a common proxy for economic disadvantage.
The school’s academic performance on state assessments is strong. In math, the share of students meeting proficiency standards was high in each tested grade, with the strongest result in fifth grade. In English language arts, the pattern was similar; a strong majority of students met the bar in third and fourth grades, and the share was even higher in fifth grade. Overall proficiency across subjects and grades places the school in the top quartile relative to the other districts in King County. This is a notable position for a neighborhood elementary school within a large urban district. Science assessment results for fifth grade were suppressed and not available for public reporting, so no read is possible on that subject.
Because the school serves only elementary grades, there is no graduation rate to report, nor data on chronic absenteeism. This is typical for a K through five setting. The school is a regular public school, not a charter or magnet entity. No Title I status was reported, which would indicate whether the school receives federal funds based on the concentration of students from low-income households.
The school sits in Seattle, a major city that is a dense urban center of skyscrapers, technology companies, and a major port. Amazon is headquartered in the city, and Microsoft is in the nearby region. Boeing also has a long manufacturing presence. The city’s street life is concentrated downtown and in neighborhood commercial districts. Public transit includes the Link light rail, King County Metro buses, and the Washington State Ferries system. The school’s immediate context is a residential neighborhood in a city that continues to grow, driven by the technology sector.
The Seattle School District, which operates John Stanford International, has been under financial pressure. For the 2024-25 school year, the district projected a significant budget deficit driven by declining enrollment and the expiration of federal pandemic relief funds. Proposals for school closures and staff reductions were met with community opposition, and the district scaled back the closure plans, but the underlying financial restructuring and enrollment trends continue. In 2022, voters approved a capital levy for school construction, renovation, and technology upgrades, which has a lasting impact on school facilities. A family considering this school should be aware that the district is navigating these enrollment and budget dynamics, which could affect programming and school boundaries over time.
For a parent looking at John Stanford International School, the picture is of an elementary school with a strong academic record on the state assessments that are available, set in a diverse and economically mixed urban neighborhood. The school is located in a city that is economically dynamic but expensive, and it operates within a district that is managing enrollment decline and budget constraints. The school itself appears to be a well-regarded neighborhood option for families in its attendance zone.
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