Best Schools: How Sumner-Bonney Lake Ranked In 2022 Niche List

BONNEY LAKE, WA — The latest school rankings released by the data analysis company Niche offer a look at how K-12 schools in Sumner and Bonney Lake compare with each other.

Niche, which released its eighth annual version of the rankings Monday, looks at a variety of criteria in determining a grade for both public and private K-12 schools in Bonney Lake and Sumner, including academics, teachers and diversity.

Overall, the Sumner-Bonney Lake School District scored better than average, with Niche giving the district an overall B grade. The district scored well in some aspects, earning an B+ for academics and quality teachers, but was held back somewhat by middling health & safety scores.

Niche found that Sumner-Bonney Lake School District had a student-teacher ratio of 20-1, and that at least 64 percent of its students were proficient in math, and 73 percent in reading. Niche ultimately ranked the school the 6th best district in Pierce County, and the 54th best district in Washington (of 252 districts).

Looking at individual schools within the Sumner-Bonney Lake School District, all received respectable scores, with the lowest ranking being a flat B, given to Daffodil Valley Elementary, and Bonney Lake High School. The best-scoring school was Tehaleh Heights Elementary, which netted an A ranking. All remaining schools got either A- or B+ scores.

Niche said its 2022 best schools rankings offer a more “personal” view of schools than its rankings in recent years. Significantly less importance was placed on SAT and ACT scores this year, Niche said. Any factor in its methodology that is related to test scores was reduced by one third.

The company combined ratings from students, alumni and parents with quantitative data from the U.S. Department of Education and other sources to evaluate teachers, resources, facility, extracurricular activity opportunities and other factors. Read more about the methodology here.

Across the country, Niche ranked 94,491 public schools, 2,489 private schools and 11,846 school districts to come up with its lists and rankings.

Top 5 Public High Schools:

1. The Davidson Academy in Reno, Nevada
2. The North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics
3. Massachusetts Academy for Math & Science School
4. Maggie Walker Governor’s School in Virginia
5. Thomas Jefferson High School for Science & Technology in Virginia

Top 5 Private High Schools:

1. Phillips Academy in Massachusetts
2. The Hotchkiss School in Connecticut
3. Choate Rosemary Hall in Connecticut
4. The College Preparatory School in California
5. Groton School in Massachusetts

Top 5 School Districts:

1. Adlai E. Stevenson High School District in Illinois
2. Glenbrook High School District in Illinois
3. Great Neck Public Schools in New York
4. Community High School District 128 in Illinois
5. Jericho Union Free School District in New York

>> See the full Niche rankings here