Dearborn Park International School vs Bailey Gatzert Elementary School

Dearborn Park International School and Bailey Gatzert Elementary School sit 3.5 miles apart in Seattle and serve the same PK–05 grade span, but their overall ratings diverge meaningfully: Dearborn Park International School scores 9.5/10 versus Bailey Gatzert Elementary School's 9.1/10. More telling is where each school stands statewide — Dearborn Park International School ranks #7 of 2,225 schools in Washington, placing it in the top 0.3 percent, while Bailey Gatzert Elementary School ranks #48 of 2,225, which is still an exceptional position but a clear 41-spot gap in a large, competitive field.

Academically, the separation is sharper than the overall ratings suggest. Dearborn Park International School posts an academic score of 9.0/10 against Bailey Gatzert Elementary School's 7.2/10 — a 1.8-point difference that reflects meaningfully higher current proficiency levels. That said, both schools are growing students at the same rate: each earns a growth score of 9.9/10, meaning students at Bailey Gatzert Elementary School are making gains comparable to those at one of the state's top-ranked schools. Parents weighing current achievement against trajectory will find Bailey Gatzert's growth performance particularly notable.

On demographics and classroom structure, the two schools diverge in ways that matter for equity-focused families. Bailey Gatzert Elementary School enrolls 361 students compared to Dearborn Park International School's 326, and serves a significantly higher proportion of economically disadvantaged students — 85 percent qualify for free or reduced-price lunch versus 61 percent at Dearborn Park International School. Bailey Gatzert Elementary School also offers a tighter student-teacher ratio of 12.0:1 against Dearborn Park International School's 14.2:1, giving students more individual adult attention in a school that is working with greater concentrations of need.

Both schools share the same grade configuration and operate within Seattle Public Schools, but Dearborn Park carries an international designation that typically signals a language-immersion or globally focused curriculum framework. Bailey Gatzert, while lower on the academic score scale, pairs its exceptional growth trajectory with the smallest class sizes of the two and serves a student body with substantially higher economic need — a combination that points to strong instructional support structures.