Puget Sound School Districts Among WA’s Best In New Rankings

WASHINGTON — Three Eastside school districts led the pack in newly released rankings from the education platform Niche. Last week, Niche highlighted the best high schools in the Evergreen State, where Lake Washington and Bellevue schools claimed the top five spots.

In the district-level rankings, the Mercer Island School District ranked first among Washington's 257 districts, followed by Lake Washington and Bellevue. Mercer Island also landed in the top 200 nationally, out of more than 11,000 districts across the United States.

Niche gave the Mercer Island School District an overall letter grade of A+. Grades in specific categories were:

Academics: A+
Teachers: A+
Clubs and activities: A-
Sports: A
Resources and facilities: B+
Diversity: B-
College prep: A+
Administration: B
Food: A+

The school district, which has just 4,192 students across six schools, received high marks from students, parents and teachers. Bellevue School District, with more than 20,000 students in 31 schools, earned second, followed by the Lake Washington School District — the state's second-largest — in third.

The top 15 school districts in Washington and the letter grades assigned by Niche include:

1. Mercer Island School District, A+
2. Bellevue School District, A+
3. Lake Washington School District, A+
4. Bainbridge Island School District, A+
5. Northshore School District, A+
6. Issaquah School District, A+
7. University Place School District, A
8. Pullman Public Schools, A
9. Shoreline School District, A
10. Camas School District, A
11. Olympia School District, A
12. Oakesdale School District, A
13. Tahoma School District, A
14. Seattle Public Schools, A-
15. Vashon Island School District, A-

Niche also ranked 92,743 public schools and 30,112 private schools in the 2023 report. The platform said its rankings were created to provide families with valuable information — both quantitative and qualitative — on schools in their area or in a neighborhood they’re not familiar with yet.

Related: Washington's Best High Schools: New Rankings Released

The rankings differ from others that rely almost exclusively on test scores and academic performance in that it also includes input from students, alumni and parents, as well as quantitative data from sources such as the U.S. Department of Education to evaluate teachers, resources and facilities.