Cascade Parent Partnership Program, Seattle WA

Original Research by School Decision on Cascade Parent Partnership Program

Cascade Parent Partnership Program is an alternative school in Seattle that serves students from kindergarten through twelfth grade. As its name suggests, the school operates on a parent-partnership model, a form of public education where families take an active role in their child’s learning, often with a blend of home-based instruction and on-site classes. This is the central fact of the school: it is designed for families who want a more flexible, customized academic path than a conventional school provides. The school belongs to Seattle Public Schools, the largest district in Washington, which has recently faced enrollment declines and budget pressures that led to scaled-back school closure proposals and a major capital levy for building improvements.

The school is small, with a student body that reflects a mix of racial and economic backgrounds. A substantial share of students qualifies for free or reduced-price lunch. The racial composition includes white students as the largest single group, followed by Black, Hispanic, multiracial, and Asian students, with small numbers of Native American and Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander students. The school population is diverse in a way that mirrors the wider city.

On state assessments, the school’s performance varies by subject and grade. Reading and writing scores are uneven: elementary grades show a mix of lower and higher results, while the middle grades generally show solid proficiency, with one grade level performing particularly well. Overall, across all tested grades, ELA proficiency sits at a level that is reasonably healthy. Math is a weaker area: the elementary grades show moderate proficiency, but the middle grades, especially sixth and eighth, drop below the elementary levels, suggesting that math is a subject families should discuss with the school. Science scores, available for fifth and eighth grades, are strong.

Because the school is an alternative program, these test results should be interpreted with caution. The student population in a parent-partnership model may not be directly comparable to that of a traditional school, and test participation or student composition could differ. The school’s overall proficiency index across all tested subjects and grades places it above the midpoint among the districts in King County, which is a reasonable performance given its model.

No data is available for high school state assessments, so the academic picture for the upper grades is incomplete. No graduation rate is reported, which is not unusual for a school of this type; parent-partnership programs sometimes have non-traditional completion pathways. Chronic absenteeism and discipline data are also absent from the available records.

The school is located in a densely built urban setting. Seattle is a major technology and manufacturing hub, home to Amazon and Boeing, and its housing market is very expensive. The local rental market is similarly high, so families considering this school should factor in a high cost of living. The neighborhood around the school, in the Interbay area west of downtown, is mixed residential and commercial.

For families, the key question is whether the parent-partnership model fits their life. This is a school that expects a significant time commitment from parents and thrives on a collaborative approach to education. It offers a small, supportive environment and does reasonably well on state tests in English and science, though math is a soft spot a family would want to investigate further. Families who want a traditional, full-time classroom experience with a broad array of extracurriculars and services may find this school a different fit. The district’s financial pressures and the city’s high housing costs are additional realities to weigh.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 360%

School 60% · District 67% · ▼ 7 pts below district

▲ 9 pts above state median · even with county median

Grade 462%

School 62% · District 64% · ▼ 2 pts below district

▲ 14 pts above state median · ▲ 2 pts above county median

Grade 563%

School 63% · District 48% · ▲ 15 pts above district

▲ 22 pts above state median · ▲ 8 pts above county median

Grade 633%

School 33% · District 60% · ▼ 26 pts below district

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

Grade 744%

School 44% · District 56% · ▼ 12 pts below district

▲ 6 pts above state median · ▼ 11 pts below county median

Grade 839%

School 39% · District 54% · ▼ 15 pts below district

▲ 5 pts above state median · ▼ 13 pts below county median

English language arts

Grade 346%

School 46% · District 31% · ▲ 15 pts above district

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

Grade 450%

School 50% · District 64% · ▼ 14 pts below district

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

Grade 589%

School 89% · District 24% · ▲ 65 pts above district

▲ 35 pts above state median · ▲ 26 pts above county median

Grade 671%

School 71% · District 67% · ▲ 3 pts above district

▲ 23 pts above state median · ▲ 11 pts above county median

Grade 756%

School 56% · District 38% · ▲ 19 pts above district

▲ 6 pts above state median · ▼ 7 pts below county median

Grade 863%

School 63% · District 66% · ▼ 3 pts below district

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

Science

Grade 567%

School 67% · District 32% · ▲ 35 pts above district

▲ 15 pts above state median · ▲ 6 pts above county median

Grade 883%

School 83% · District 60% · ▲ 23 pts above district

▲ 41 pts above state median · ▲ 23 pts above county median

This schoolSeattle School District No. 1, 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 6Lower-income75%Higher-income69%6 pp gap