The atlas ranks public elementary and middle schools by the average of their SBA math and English language arts proficiency rates, in 12 regions plus a statewide list for each level. The 2025-26 results replaced the 2024-25 rates in all 23 lists in September. Here is what changed.
Seven new number ones
| List | 2024-25 leader | 2025-26 leader |
|---|---|---|
| Best Public Elementary · Seattle + Eastside | Christa McAuliffe Elementary | Medina Elementary |
| Best Public Elementary · Eastside | Christa McAuliffe Elementary | Medina Elementary |
| Best Public Elementary · Tacoma / Pierce | Purdy Elementary | Maple Lawn Elementary |
| Best Public Elementary · Bellingham | Silver Beach Elementary | Columbia Elementary |
| Best Public Elementary · Yakima | Ahtanum Valley Elementary | Cottonwood Elementary |
| Best Public Middle · Spokane | Sacajawea Middle School | Horizon Middle School |
| Best Public Middle · Vancouver | Odyssey Middle School | Skyridge Middle School |
Medina Elementary is the Bellevue district's top-scoring school at 96% combined; Christa McAuliffe in Lake Washington fell to third on the Eastside list.
The statewide elementary list kept its leader. Challenge Elementary in Edmonds, a highly capable program, holds first at 96%, with Medina second at 96% and Christa McAuliffe third at 94%. Northstar Middle School in Lake Washington leads the statewide middle-school list at 92% for a second year, and the statewide middle-school top ten is the same ten schools as last year.
The biggest climbs
| Sunset Primary · Tacoma / Pierce (25th → 5th) | +20 places | |
| Jing Mei Elementary · Washington (20th → 5th) | +15 places | |
| Pleasant Glade Elementary · Olympia (20th → 7th) | +13 places | |
| Capt. Johnston Blakely Elementary · Washington (25th → 13th) | +12 places | |
| West Woodland Elementary · Seattle + Eastside (23rd → 11th) | +12 places | |
| Greenacres Elementary · Spokane (20th → 11th) | +9 places | |
| Mill Pond Elementary · Olympia (21st → 13th) | +8 places | |
| Swift Water Elementary · Tacoma / Pierce (11th → 3rd) | +8 places | |
| Renaissance School of Art and Reasoning · Eastside middle (21st → 14th) | +7 places | |
| Benjamin Franklin Elementary · Eastside (22nd → 15th) | +7 places |
WA K12 Academic Atlas lists.json, before and after the 2025-26 rebuild. Jing Mei and Capt. Johnston Blakely are marked † on their lists: OSPI withheld one of their two 2025-26 subject results, and the 2024-25 result stands in for it.
Sunset Primary in University Place posted the largest one-year gain of any elementary school in Pierce County, from 62% to 72% in math and 58% to 73% in ELA, and jumped twenty places to fifth. Jing Mei Elementary, Bellevue's Mandarin dual-language school, rose to fifth statewide on the strength of one subject: OSPI withheld its other 2025-26 result under a new suppression rule, so its 2024-25 figure stands in. West Woodland in Seattle's Ballard neighborhood rose from 23rd to 11th on the combined Seattle and Eastside list and from 10th to 3rd on the Seattle-only list.
The biggest drops
| Olympic View Elementary · Olympia (7th → 18th) | -11 places | |
| Frantz Coe Elementary · Washington (8th → 18th) | -10 places | |
| Westview Elementary · Spokane (16th → 24th) | -8 places | |
| Madison Elementary · Olympia (17th → 25th) | -8 places | |
| Discovery Elementary · Seattle + Eastside (15th → 23rd) | -8 places | |
| Browns Point Elementary · Tacoma / Pierce (4th → 11th) | -7 places | |
| Northern Heights Elementary · Bellingham (8th → 15th) | -7 places | |
| Bryant Elementary · Seattle (4th → 11th) | -7 places | |
| Purdy Elementary · Tacoma / Pierce (1st → 7th) | -6 places | |
| Bethel Middle School · Tacoma / Pierce (16th → 22nd) | -6 places |
WA K12 Academic Atlas lists.json. Rank declines include schools that were passed by others as well as schools whose own rates fell.
Frantz Coe Elementary on Seattle's Queen Anne hill fell from 8th to 18th statewide, and Bryant Elementary in Seattle's Ravenna neighborhood from 4th to 11th on the Seattle list. Purdy Elementary in Gig Harbor, last year's top school in Pierce County, slipped to 7th at 71% as Maple Lawn, Harbor Heights, and Swift Water moved past it. Four of the ten largest drops are in the Olympia and Tacoma lists, where the gap between 5th and 20th place is a few points and small moves change ranks quickly.
What did not change
The high-school lists, which rank on SAT scores and graduation rates, did not move. OSPI publishes SAT results in October and graduation rates in January, so those lists will update then. The curated tier lists for private schools and for the best schools overall are hand-reviewed and were not affected by the test results.