Bemiss Elementary vs Browne Elementary

Browne Elementary holds a clear overall advantage in MySchoolScout's composite rating, scoring 9.3/10 against Bemiss Elementary's 8.4/10 — a 0.9-point gap that translates into a dramatic difference in state standing. Browne Elementary ranks #48 of 2,225 Washington elementary schools, placing it in the top 2.2% statewide. Bemiss Elementary ranks #274 of 2,225, which is still a strong top-15% finish but trails Browne by 226 positions. For parents who weight statewide context heavily, that gap is meaningful even though both schools sit well above the state median.

The academic and growth scores pull in opposite directions. Bemiss Elementary leads on academic proficiency with a 9.7/10 — 1.2 points above Browne Elementary's 8.5/10 — suggesting its current students are testing at higher proficiency levels. Browne Elementary, however, dominates on growth, posting a 9.7/10 growth score against Bemiss Elementary's 7.9/10, an 18-point gap. Growth scores measure how much students advance relative to peers with similar starting points, so Browne is accelerating student progress at a notably faster rate regardless of where kids begin.

Demographically, the two schools serve meaningfully different populations across 4.3 miles of Spokane. Bemiss Elementary enrolls 371 students with 85% qualifying for free or reduced lunch; Browne Elementary enrolls 325 students with 67% on FRL — an 18-percentage-point difference indicating Bemiss serves a higher-need economic base. Bemiss also offers a slightly lower student-teacher ratio of 12.0:1 versus Browne Elementary's 13.5:1, giving Bemiss families marginally more per-pupil adult attention in the classroom despite its larger enrollment.

Both schools run prekindergarten through fifth grade, so grade structure is identical and neither offers a programmatic edge on range alone. The key structural distinction is how each school's scores align: Bemiss Elementary's high academic proficiency paired with a lower growth score suggests a population arriving with stronger baseline skills, while Browne Elementary's top-tier growth score signals an environment that actively accelerates students — a distinction that matters most when evaluating what the school itself is contributing to outcomes.