Original Research by School Decision on Rooted School Washington
Rooted School Washington sits in a fast-growing corner of Vancouver, east of the city’s historic downtown, and represents something new for the region. It opened in the fall of 2023 as the first charter public high school in Vancouver and in southwest Washington. At the moment it has a single cohort of ninth graders, and the plan is to add one grade each year until it serves the full 9–12 range. That makes it a school in a deliberate, gradual build-out, not a fully formed four-year program yet.
The school’s academic model is distinct from most traditional high schools in Clark County. Its curriculum is built around self-directed learning, project-based experiences, and industry-based internships and credentials. Publicly reported accounts describe a goal that students graduate with both a job offer and a college acceptance letter. That emphasis on career-connected learning, paired with college preparation, sets apart the path a student follows here from what is typical in the district.
Because the school is new and only in its first year of state testing for the 2024–25 school year, the academic performance picture is thin. One year of results is available. In English language arts, half of the tested students met the state proficiency standard. In math, a smaller share did. With only one year of data and a very small cohort, those numbers offer a starting point rather than a trend. A parent considering this school would want to ask how the school plans to improve math performance and what academic supports are in place as the student body grows.
The student body is small and all in ninth grade, bringing together a diverse group. About half of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, which is a meaningful share. The racial and ethnic mix includes a majority white student population and notable shares of Hispanic and multiracial students, along with smaller numbers of Asian, Black, and Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander students. Data on students with disabilities and English learners was not available in the provided records, so a family wanting to understand how those populations are served would need to ask the school directly.
Vancouver itself provides the broader context. It is a mid-sized city that has grown rapidly, with a mix of older downtown neighborhoods, newer suburban subdivisions, and a significant port economy. Major local employers include corporate headquarters such as ZoomInfo and Papa Murphy’s, along with health care and the school district itself. The housing market in the area around the school shows home values and rents that are moderately below the state benchmark but above the national average. That places the school in a community where housing costs are a meaningful factor for many families.
Rooted School Washington operates under its own district, the Rooted School Washington district, which for now is just this single school. The charter status gives it operational independence from the Vancouver School District, although it remains a tuition-free public school. The comparison fact-set would normally place it relative to other districts in Clark County, but because the school is brand new and only has a ninth-grade cohort, the comparison metrics for proficiency, graduation rate, and chronic absenteeism were not applicable. There is no graduation rate to report because no senior class exists yet.
What this adds up to is an early-stage option for families who want a nontraditional high school experience centered on self-direction and real-world work connections. The academic results so far are modest and come from a single year with a very small group of students, so a parent should treat them as preliminary. The model itself is the main draw: a school built around internships, projects, and career pathways rather than a standard lecture-and-test structure. For a ninth grader starting high school, this could mean a very different four years than what the area’s comprehensive high schools offer. The school’s long-term trajectory will depend on how it grows, how its academic outcomes develop, and whether it can deliver on the promise of graduating students who are ready for both college and employment.
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