Dearborn Park International School vs Rising Star Elementary School

Dearborn Park International School and Rising Star Elementary School sit just 1.6 miles apart in Seattle and rank among Washington's top handful of elementary schools — Dearborn Park at #7 of 2,225 statewide and Rising Star at #11 of 2,225. Their overall ratings are nearly identical, with Dearborn Park International School at 9.5/10 and Rising Star Elementary School at 9.4/10, a gap of just 0.1 points. Both schools are performing at an exceptional tier, which makes the differences between them subtle but meaningful depending on what a family prioritizes.

The clearest academic distinction is in proficiency scores. Dearborn Park International School holds a 9.0/10 academic rating compared to Rising Star Elementary School's 8.3/10 — a 0.7-point gap that reflects meaningfully higher tested proficiency at Dearborn Park. On growth, however, the schools are dead even: both earn a 9.9/10, indicating that students at each school are advancing at similarly outstanding rates regardless of where they start. Dearborn Park's higher academic score likely reflects a stronger incoming baseline, not a difference in instructional momentum.

Both schools enroll exactly 326 students and serve grades PK–05, but their classroom environments differ. Rising Star Elementary School's student-teacher ratio of 10.2:1 is substantially lower than Dearborn Park International School's 14.2:1 — meaning Rising Star averages roughly four fewer students per teacher. Rising Star also serves a higher share of economically disadvantaged students, with 71% qualifying for free or reduced lunch versus 61% at Dearborn Park International School. That 10-percentage-point gap suggests the two schools draw from somewhat different socioeconomic catchments within Seattle, even across a short distance.

Both schools serve the same grade span, PK through 5th grade, but Dearborn Park International School carries an international designation, signaling a curriculum framework oriented around global competency and language exposure. Rising Star Elementary School's standout student-teacher ratio points to smaller class sizes as a structural feature of its program, not an accident of enrollment. Families weighing academic credentials against classroom intimacy will find a genuine trade-off between these two high-performing schools.