Top Public High Schools on the Eastside by Graduation Rate
Graduation rate is the bluntest measure of a high school's basic compact with its students — does the building consistently deliver them across the diploma line in four years — and on King County's Eastside, that compact is met more reliably than almost anywhere else in Washington. The schools at the top of this list combine extraordinary household resources, mature counseling and credit-recovery infrastructure, and stable feeder patterns; the result is a band of districts where the single-digit non-completion rate is the norm rather than the goal.
Issaquah School District's Skyline High School, on the Sammamish Plateau, leads with 97.9 percent — and pairs that completion rate with an International Baccalaureate Diploma and Career-related Programme, more than 100 extracurricular offerings, and a 1285 SAT mean. It edges out Nikola Tesla STEM High School, the lottery-admitted Lake Washington choice school in Redmond whose 1402 SAT and near-100-percent AP participation rate make it the highest-scoring public school in the state. Eastlake, also Lake Washington, completes a tight three-school cluster within the Sammamish-Redmond corridor, all clearing 96 percent. Northshore School District then contributes three of the next five entries — Woodinville, Bothell, and Inglemoor — a notable pattern given Northshore's geography stretches from Bothell into south Snohomish County.
Mercer Island High School, the sole public high school on its island, posts a 96.2 percent rate alongside the highest SAT mean in this top ten (1323) and a 95 percent on-time graduation rate that closely mirrors the figure here. Newport Senior High School, one of three Bellevue School District comprehensive high schools represented across this batch's Eastside listicles, posts the highest AP pass rate of any school in this top ten at 90.2 percent. Issaquah High School itself, with nearly 2,500 students, follows. Cedarcrest in Duvall — the only school on this list outside the major Eastside districts, in the small Riverview district that straddles the Snoqualmie Valley — rounds out the top ten and is a useful reminder that the rural eastern fringe of King County participates in the Eastside pattern as well.
Eastside public 9-12 completion rates cluster tightly in the high 90s, reflecting the demographic stability of the BSD / LWSD / ISD attendance areas. The lower end of the table — Liberty, Sammamish HS, Eastside Catholic-adjacent comprehensive options — still posts rates well above the state median. The Eastside completion picture mirrors but slightly compresses the SAT-mean distribution.
Ranked schools
- 001SKYLINE HIGH SCHOOLISSAQUAH SCHOOL DISTRICT · KING98%
- 002NIKOLA TESLA STEM HIGH SCHOOLLAKE WASHINGTON SCHOOL DISTRICT · KING98%
- 003EASTLAKE HIGH SCHOOLLAKE WASHINGTON SCHOOL DISTRICT · KING97%
- 004WOODINVILLE HSNORTHSHORE SCHOOL DISTRICT · KING97%
- 005BOTHELL HIGH SCHOOLNORTHSHORE SCHOOL DISTRICT · KING96%
- 006MERCER ISLAND HIGH SCHOOLMERCER ISLAND SCHOOL DISTRICT · KING96%
- 007NEWPORT SENIOR HIGH SCHOOLBELLEVUE SCHOOL DISTRICT · KING96%
- 008INGLEMOOR HSNORTHSHORE SCHOOL DISTRICT · KING95%
- 009ISSAQUAH HIGH SCHOOLISSAQUAH SCHOOL DISTRICT · KING95%
- 010CEDARCREST HIGH SCHOOLRIVERVIEW SCHOOL DISTRICT · KING95%
- 011REDMOND HIGH SCHOOLLAKE WASHINGTON SCHOOL DISTRICT · KING94%
- 012LAKE WASHINGTON HIGH SCHOOLLAKE WASHINGTON SCHOOL DISTRICT · KING93%
- 013JUANITA HIGH SCHOOLLAKE WASHINGTON SCHOOL DISTRICT · KING92%
- 014BELLEVUE HIGH SCHOOLBELLEVUE SCHOOL DISTRICT · KING89%
- 015BELLEVUE BIG PICTURE SCHOOLBELLEVUE SCHOOL DISTRICT · KING89%
- 016HAZEN SENIOR HIGH SCHOOLRENTON SCHOOL DISTRICT · KING87%
- 017SAMMAMISH SENIOR HIGHBELLEVUE SCHOOL DISTRICT · KING86%
- 018INTERLAKE SENIOR HIGH SCHOOLBELLEVUE SCHOOL DISTRICT · KING80%
- 019CLIPRIVERVIEW SCHOOL DISTRICT · KING79%
- 020NORTHSHORE LEARNING OPTIONSNORTHSHORE SCHOOL DISTRICT · KING75%
- 021EMERSON HIGH SCHOOLLAKE WASHINGTON SCHOOL DISTRICT · KING65%
- 022BELLEVUE DIGITAL DISCOVERYBELLEVUE SCHOOL DISTRICT · KING64%
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