Maple Elementary School vs Hawthorne Elementary School

Maple Elementary School and Hawthorne Elementary School sit 1.7 miles apart in Seattle, Washington, but their statewide standings differ sharply. Hawthorne Elementary School ranks #4 of 2,225 Washington schools — a top-0.2% placement — while Maple Elementary School ranks #50 of 2,225, itself a strong top-2.3% finish. That gap translates to a 0.5-point overall rating difference: Hawthorne at 9.6/10 versus Maple at 9.1/10. Both are high-performing schools, but Hawthorne's position is genuinely elite within the state.

On academic proficiency, the two schools are identical: both Maple Elementary School and Hawthorne Elementary School score 9.3/10, meaning their students demonstrate comparable mastery of grade-level content. The separation opens up on growth — Hawthorne Elementary School scores 9.9/10 on growth compared to Maple Elementary School's 9.0/10, a 0.9-point gap. Growth measures how much students improve relative to academic peers, so Hawthorne is driving meaningfully faster academic progress year over year, regardless of where students start.

The schools differ most on demographics. Maple Elementary School enrolls 408 students with 60% qualifying for free or reduced-price lunch, indicating a significantly higher share of lower-income families. Hawthorne Elementary School enrolls 374 students with 26% on free or reduced-price lunch. The student-teacher ratio at Maple is 15.7:1 versus 15.0:1 at Hawthorne — a modest difference, but Hawthorne's slightly smaller class sizes compound alongside its higher growth score. These demographic contrasts are relevant context for parents evaluating school community and peer mix alongside test outcomes.

One structural distinction: Hawthorne Elementary School serves grades PK–05, offering a pre-kindergarten entry point, while Maple Elementary School begins at kindergarten (KG–05). For families with a four-year-old, Hawthorne provides a direct school pathway a year earlier. Both schools cap at fifth grade, so the upper-elementary experience mirrors each other in scope, and the 1.7-mile proximity makes either a realistic option for families in overlapping Seattle neighborhoods.