Best Public Elementary Schools in Vancouver, WA
Clark County's public-elementary landscape is dominated by a single district at the top of the rankings: Camas School District. Camas SD, headquartered in the small lakeside city east of Vancouver, places six of the top ten elementaries on this list — an unusually concentrated district performance, comparable to what the Bellevue or Lake Washington school districts produce on the Eastside. Camas's pattern reflects a combination of newer schools, comparatively affluent dual-income demographics in the Camas / Washougal hills, and what Niche and US News have repeatedly ranked as one of the top public school districts in Southwest Washington.
Grass Valley Elementary in Camas leads the list, with 85 percent proficient in math and 86 percent in ELA — by far the highest scores in the Vancouver metropolitan area and the only Clark County elementary clearing 80 percent in both subjects. Dorothy Fox, Helen Baller, Prune Hill, and Lacamas Lake — all Camas SD — follow within the top ten. Helen Baller is among the older Camas elementaries; Grass Valley and Prune Hill serve the more recently developed Prune Hill / Grass Valley residential communities on the city's west and north sides. Lacamas Lake serves the area around the lake itself.
Vancouver Public Schools places three elementaries in the top ten — Benjamin Franklin, Salmon Creek, and Felida — and Evergreen School District (Clark) places one (Fishers Landing). All four cluster in the northern and western parts of the metro: Felida and Salmon Creek in the wealthier Felida / Salmon Creek bedroom communities north of downtown Vancouver, and Fishers Landing in the master-planned community of the same name in east Vancouver. Union Ridge Elementary in Ridgefield SD is the only district outside the immediate Vancouver / Camas / Evergreen footprint to crack the top ten — Ridgefield has been one of the fastest-growing districts in the state by percentage, and Union Ridge serves the small but rapidly expanding city of Ridgefield north of Vancouver along I-5.
Battle Ground School District, which serves a substantial population in the rural and exurban parts of Clark County, does not place any elementary in the top ten. Hockinson SD and Washougal SD also do not appear, despite each operating multiple elementaries. The geographic concentration of high-scoring elementaries in central Camas and northern Vancouver mirrors the income-and-test-score correlation seen across most Washington metros.
Battle Ground School District, which serves a substantial population in the rural and exurban parts of Clark County, does not place any elementary in the top ten. Camas SD dominates instead — five of the top ten schools sit inside the small lakeside city east of Vancouver, a concentration that reflects both the district's higher household income and its tight geographic footprint.
Ranked schools
- 001GRASS VALLEY ELEMENTARYCAMAS SCHOOL DISTRICT · CLARK86%
- 002DOROTHY FOXCAMAS SCHOOL DISTRICT · CLARK77%
- 003HELEN BALLER ELEMCAMAS SCHOOL DISTRICT · CLARK73%
- 004PRUNE HILL ELEMCAMAS SCHOOL DISTRICT · CLARK72%
- 005BENJAMIN FRANKLIN ELEMENTARYVANCOUVER SCHOOL DISTRICT · CLARK70%
- 006UNION RIDGE ELEMENTARYRIDGEFIELD SCHOOL DISTRICT · CLARK68%
- 007SALMON CREEK ELEMENTARYVANCOUVER SCHOOL DISTRICT · CLARK64%
- 008FISHERS LANDING ELEMENTARY SCHOOLEVERGREEN SCHOOL DISTRICT (CLARK) · CLARK63%
- 009LACAMAS LAKE ELEMENTARYCAMAS SCHOOL DISTRICT · CLARK62%
- 010FELIDA ELEMENTARY SCHOOLVANCOUVER SCHOOL DISTRICT · CLARK62%
- 011CHINOOK ELEMENTARY SCHOOLVANCOUVER SCHOOL DISTRICT · CLARK60%
- 012SOUTH RIDGE ELEMENTARYRIDGEFIELD SCHOOL DISTRICT · CLARK58%
- 013SUNSET RIDGE INTERMEDIATE SCHOOLRIDGEFIELD SCHOOL DISTRICT · CLARK58%
- 014ILLAHEE ELEMENTARY SCHOOLEVERGREEN SCHOOL DISTRICT (CLARK) · CLARK56%
- 015LAKE SHORE ELEMENTARYVANCOUVER SCHOOL DISTRICT · CLARK56%
- 016VANCOUVER INNOVATION TECHNOLOGY AND ARTS ELEMENTARYVANCOUVER SCHOOL DISTRICT · CLARK54%
- 017DWIGHT D EISENHOWER ELEMENTARYVANCOUVER SCHOOL DISTRICT · CLARK52%
- 018HOCKINSON HEIGHTS ELEMENTARY SCHOOLHOCKINSON SCHOOL DISTRICT · CLARK52%
- 019HARMONY ELEMENTARY SCHOOLEVERGREEN SCHOOL DISTRICT (CLARK) · CLARK51%
- 020RIVERVIEW ELEMENTARY SCHOOLEVERGREEN SCHOOL DISTRICT (CLARK) · CLARK46%
- 021EMERALD ELEMENTARY SCHOOLEVERGREEN SCHOOL DISTRICT (CLARK) · CLARK46%
- 022LINCOLN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLVANCOUVER SCHOOL DISTRICT · CLARK45%
- 023GLENWOOD HEIGHTS PRIMARYBATTLE GROUND SCHOOL DISTRICT · CLARK45%
- 024PLEASANT VALLEY PRIMARYBATTLE GROUND SCHOOL DISTRICT · CLARK44%
- 025TUKES VALLEY PRIMARYBATTLE GROUND SCHOOL DISTRICT · CLARK44%
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