District Spotlight
Seattle's Graduation Rate Rose 10.5 Points, Then Fell for Two Years
Seattle's four-year graduation rate rose from 77.5% in 2016 to 88.0% in 2023, then fell to 86.1% in 2025.
Washington
Education News & Data
Local education reporting from every corner of Washington, grounded in Washington Department of Education data.
Troy Whittle Chose Colfax for His First Superintendency
After seven years as an assistant superintendent in Clarkston, he wanted a smaller district with strong schools and a community that shows up for them. He is starting with a listening tour and a goal of turning steady enrollment into growth.
Castle Rock's Turnaround: From 42% Chronically Absent to 19% in Three Years
Castle Rock School District cut its chronic absenteeism rate from 42.1% in 2022 to 19.3% in 2025, with improvements across five major reported student groups.
Bellevue's 2024-25 Graduation Rate Fell to 87.7%
Bellevue School District's four-year graduation rate fell to 87.7% in 2024-25, down nearly seven points from its 2020-21 peak. Students experiencing homelessness fell furthest among the published subgroups.
All 14 Comparable Tacoma Subgroups Improved Since 2016
Tacoma's four-year graduation rate rose from 85.0% to 91.4% between 2016 and 2025, and all 14 subgroups with data in both years improved.
More Coverage
Equity
Native American Graduation Gains Lead Washington's Racial Groups, but the Gap Persists
Native American students posted the largest graduation rate gain of any racial or ethnic group in Washington since 2016. Much of the 10.3-point jump came during COVID.
Covid Recovery
Fifty-Seven Washington Districts Cut Chronic Absence Every Year Since the 2022 Peak
Washington's chronic absenteeism rate fell one tenth of a point in 2025, but 57 districts enrolling 500 or more students cut their rate in each of the past three years.
Personnel
Doug Dearden Returns to Trout Lake, Seven Years After Retiring From the Same Job
Doug Dearden returns to lead Trout Lake, watching high school enrollment as students weigh Running Start, online school and work-based programs.
Special Populations
3,510 Washington English Learners Didn't Graduate on Time in 2024-25
Washington's English-learner four-year graduation rate fell 3.2 points from its 2022-23 peak to 2024-25 as the LEP cohort grew 134.2% from 2015-16.
Equity
Washington's Hispanic Graduation Gap Reverses Course
After narrowing for most of a decade, the white-Hispanic graduation gap widened 3.7 points in three years. A growing cohort makes the stall costlier.
Graduation Rate
A Fifth Year Added 2,084 Washington Graduates to the Class of 2024
Washington's Class of 2024 graduation rate rose from 82.8% after four years to 85.1% after five, with larger gains for students with disabilities, foster students, and English learners.
Equity
Washington's Foster-Care Graduation Gap Was 31.4 Points in 2025
Washington's foster-care four-year graduation rate was 51.3% in 2025, 31.4 percentage points below the all-student rate.
Absence
16 Washington Districts Moved From at Least 40% Chronic Absence to Below 30%
Sixteen Washington school districts with at least 500 students moved from chronic-absence rates of at least 40% in 2022 to below 30% in 2025.
Graduation Rate
74,636 Graduates, and It Still Wasn't Enough
Washington produced record graduates in 2025, but the rate fell for the second straight year as the cohort grew faster than the diploma count.
Equity
The Poverty-Attendance Gap Widened by 4 Points in Washington
In 2024-25, 35.4% of Washington's low-income students were chronically absent vs. 19.2% of their peers, a 16.2-point gap that has grown by a third since before the pandemic.
