Sand Point Elementary vs Magnolia Elementary School

Sand Point Elementary and Magnolia Elementary School are both Seattle public elementary schools serving grades PK–05, but their overall ratings tell meaningfully different stories. Magnolia Elementary School ranks #44 of 2,225 Washington schools, placing it in the top 2% statewide. Sand Point Elementary ranks #113 of 2,225 — still top 6%, but 69 positions behind. The summary rating gap is 0.3 points (9.0 vs. 9.3 out of 10), with Magnolia Elementary School the higher-rated school.

The academic and growth data sharpen that gap. Magnolia Elementary School scores 8.4 out of 10 on academics versus Sand Point Elementary's 8.0 — a 0.4-point delta. The growth score difference is larger: Magnolia Elementary School posts a perfect 10.0 out of 10 compared to Sand Point Elementary's 9.3 out of 10. That 0.7-point growth advantage suggests Magnolia students are gaining ground relative to peers at an exceptional rate, not merely starting from a higher baseline.

The two schools serve very different populations. Sand Point Elementary enrolls 213 students, 55% of whom qualify for free or reduced lunch — a high-need population by Seattle norms. Magnolia Elementary School enrolls 338 students, with only 15% qualifying for free or reduced lunch. The trade-off is class size: Sand Point Elementary's student-teacher ratio is 13.3:1, while Magnolia Elementary School's is 16.1:1, meaning Sand Point students get meaningfully more individual teacher access on average. That 2.8-student-per-teacher difference is concrete — roughly two fewer students per classroom.

Both schools cover the same grade span, PK through 5th grade, and sit 6.5 miles apart within Seattle. No specialized magnet programs, language immersion tracks, or differentiated enrollment criteria are reflected in the available data, so the schools compete on the same general-education basis. Families weighing these schools are essentially choosing between Magnolia's superior growth trajectory and statewide rank versus Sand Point's smaller class sizes and higher proportion of students from lower-income households.