Best Public Elementary Schools on the Eastside
The Eastside is the academic core of public elementary education in Washington. Of the roughly twenty-five elementary schools in the state with both math and ELA proficiency rates above 85 percent on the Smarter Balanced assessment, more than half sit in just three districts — Bellevue, Lake Washington, and Issaquah — and most cluster in a tight geographic ring running from Medina northeast through Sammamish and the Issaquah Highlands. Mercer Island School District anchors the same band on its island. The pattern reflects the unusually high concentration of dual-income technical-professional households in those zip codes, the influence of robust school-foundation funding, and decades of stable district-level capital investment.
Medina Elementary in the Bellevue School District leads the list with 97 percent proficient in math and 95 percent in ELA. Medina is ranked #4 in Washington elementary schools by U.S. News and serves the small lakefront community of Medina, where the school operates as the district's geographic and demographic anchor. Christa McAuliffe Elementary in Sammamish (Lake Washington School District), which led the list last year and offers the district's Highly Capable program, is second at 94 percent. Cascade Ridge in Sammamish (Issaquah SD) is third at 91 percent in both subjects. Jing Mei Elementary, Bellevue's Mandarin dual-language school, and Somerset Elementary in Bellevue complete the cluster of schools at or above 91 percent.
Lake Washington School District is the most heavily represented in the top ten, with three schools (Christa McAuliffe, Explorer Community School, and Horace Mann), and Bellevue matches it with three (Medina, Jing Mei, Cherry Crest). Explorer Community is unusual: it is a Lake Washington choice school with very small enrollment, around 60 students, focused on multi-age and project-based instruction. Issaquah's strength comes from Cascade Ridge, with Endeavour just outside the top ten at twelfth. Sunrise Elementary in Northshore and Lakeridge Elementary on Mercer Island, which posts the high-80s scores typical of MISD's four-elementary system, round out the list.
Every top-ten school posts ELA proficiency within roughly four percentage points of its math proficiency, with no major gaps in either direction. This reflects relatively even instruction across the two domains in these districts, in contrast with some other regions where math proficiency lags or leads ELA by ten points or more.
† OSPI withheld this school's 2025-26 result in one or both subjects under its top/bottom suppression rule; the school's 2024-25 result is used for that subject.
Ranked schools
- 001MEDINA ELEMENTARY SCHOOLBELLEVUE SCHOOL DISTRICT · KING96%
- 002CHRISTA MCAULIFFE ELEMENTARYLAKE WASHINGTON SCHOOL DISTRICT · KING94%†
- 003CASCADE RIDGE ELEMENTARYISSAQUAH SCHOOL DISTRICT · KING91%
- 004JING MEI ELEMENTARY SCHOOLBELLEVUE SCHOOL DISTRICT · KING91%†
- 005SOMERSET ELEMENTARY SCHOOLBELLEVUE SCHOOL DISTRICT · KING91%
- 006EXPLORER COMMUNITY SCHOOLLAKE WASHINGTON SCHOOL DISTRICT · KING91%†
- 007SUNRISE ELEMENTARYNORTHSHORE SCHOOL DISTRICT · KING90%
- 008CHERRY CREST ELEMENTARY SCHOOLBELLEVUE SCHOOL DISTRICT · KING90%
- 009HORACE MANN ELEMENTARYLAKE WASHINGTON SCHOOL DISTRICT · KING90%
- 010LAKERIDGE ELEMENTARY SCHOOLMERCER ISLAND SCHOOL DISTRICT · KING89%
- 011SAMANTHA SMITH ELEMENTARYLAKE WASHINGTON SCHOOL DISTRICT · KING87%
- 012ENDEAVOUR ELEMENTARY SCHOOLISSAQUAH SCHOOL DISTRICT · KING87%
- 013LOUISA MAY ALCOTT ELEMENTARYLAKE WASHINGTON SCHOOL DISTRICT · KING87%
- 014GRAND RIDGE ELEMENTARYISSAQUAH SCHOOL DISTRICT · KING86%
- 015BENJAMIN FRANKLIN ELEMENTARYLAKE WASHINGTON SCHOOL DISTRICT · KING86%
- 016ISLAND PARK ELEMENTARYMERCER ISLAND SCHOOL DISTRICT · KING85%
- 017LAKEVIEW ELEMENTARYLAKE WASHINGTON SCHOOL DISTRICT · KING84%
- 018COUGAR RIDGE ELEMENTARYISSAQUAH SCHOOL DISTRICT · KING84%
- 019DISCOVERY ELEMENTARYISSAQUAH SCHOOL DISTRICT · KING83%
- 020SUNNY HILLS ELEMENTARYISSAQUAH SCHOOL DISTRICT · KING83%
- 021WEST MERCER ELEMENTARYMERCER ISLAND SCHOOL DISTRICT · KING83%
- 022EAST RIDGE ELEMENTARYNORTHSHORE SCHOOL DISTRICT · KING82%
- 023CASCADE VIEW ELEMENTARY SCHOOLSNOQUALMIE VALLEY SCHOOL DISTRICT · KING82%
- 024ROSA PARKS ELEMENTARYLAKE WASHINGTON SCHOOL DISTRICT · KING82%
- 025LAURA INGALLS WILDER ELEMENTARYLAKE WASHINGTON SCHOOL DISTRICT · KING81%
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