The top reported proficiency rate is 54% in English language arts. The lowest is 44% in Math.
Original Research by School Decision on Samish Elementary School
Samish Elementary School serves kindergarten through sixth grade in Sedro-Woolley, a small city in Skagit County that has shifted from its logging and coal-mining roots toward aerospace engineering, robotics, and light industry. The town has a compact downtown with Hammer Heritage Square and Riverfront Park along the Skagit River, while newer industrial development has emerged north of town and on the former Northern State Hospital campus. Residential neighborhoods are largely auto-oriented outside the core, and the area has been growing, with a relatively young population. Major local employers include Janicki Industries, PeaceHealth United General Medical Center, and the school district itself.
The school is one of seven elementary schools in the Sedro-Woolley School District. The district recently approved a capital bond that funds construction of a new elementary school expected to relieve overcrowding, along with security upgrades and athletic facility improvements at the high school. A replacement Educational Programs and Operations levy was also approved in 2024, continuing funding for special education, transportation, athletics, and extracurricular activities. The district has adopted a new K-6 literacy curriculum aligned with the science of reading, implemented starting in the 2023-2024 school year, which represents a district-wide shift in how reading is taught.
Samish Elementary has a relatively small enrollment for its grade band. The student body is predominantly white, with a modest Hispanic population and smaller shares of Asian and multiracial students. About half of the students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, a figure that gives a sense of the economic mix families will find.
State testing results from the most recent school year show a mixed picture. In English language arts, proficiency rates rise across the grades, with the third-grade rate below half and the fifth-grade rate above that threshold. The school’s overall ELA proficiency sits near the midpoint among tested elementary grades, meaning a majority of students are meeting the state bar in the upper grades while a notable share in the earlier grades are not. In math, proficiency rates are lower across all tested grades, with no grade reaching half of students at standard. Science results, available for fifth grade only, show about half of students proficient. Compared to other elementary schools in Skagit County districts, the school’s overall proficiency across subjects and grades lands above the midpoint of the county distribution. That is a meaningful signal: the school is performing in the middle-to-upper tier of its county peers, not at the top but also not in the bottom range.
Only one year of data was available for this school, so there is no trend to examine. A parent who wants a sense of momentum or decline may need to check back after another testing cycle or ask the school directly about year-over-year progress.
Because Samish Elementary only serves kindergarten through sixth grade, there is no graduation rate to report. The school is a regular public school, not a charter or magnet, and no special program offerings were listed in the available data. Discipline data, staffing ratios, and chronic absenteeism rates were also not available. A family choosing this school may want to inquire about class sizes, special education and English learner support services, and the school’s approach to math instruction, given the proficiency gap between math and English language arts.
For a family looking at Sedro-Woolley, the housing market shows home values near the national median, with rents that require a meaningful share of a typical household income. The town offers a mix of older homes and newer development, with good highway access to Interstate 5 and Mount Vernon. Samish Elementary sits in a community that is growing and investing in its school facilities, and its testing profile suggests a school that is solidly middle-of-the-pack within the county, with room for improvement particularly in math. The new literacy curriculum may strengthen ELA outcomes in coming years. A parent considering this school will want to weigh the modest academic results against the school’s small size and the district’s recent investments in facilities and curriculum.
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