Stevens Elementary School vs Hawthorne Elementary School

Stevens Elementary School and Hawthorne Elementary School sit at the very top of Washington state's school rankings, separated by just 0.1 rating points — Stevens at 9.7/10 (#2 of 2225 schools statewide) and Hawthorne at 9.6/10 (#4 of 2225). For Seattle parents, this is not a question of a strong school versus a weak one; it is a choice between two of the best-performing elementary schools in the entire state, 4.7 miles apart.

On academic proficiency, Stevens Elementary School holds a meaningful edge, scoring 9.7/10 versus Hawthorne Elementary School's 9.3/10 — a gap of 0.4 points that reflects real differences in tested achievement levels. The dynamic flips on growth: Hawthorne scores 9.9/10 compared to Stevens's 9.7/10, meaning Hawthorne students are advancing at a slightly faster rate relative to their starting points. Families prioritizing current proficiency benchmarks lean toward Stevens; those weighting year-over-year student progress lean toward Hawthorne.

The two schools differ noticeably in scale and classroom density. Stevens Elementary School enrolls 151 students at a 12.6:1 student-teacher ratio, while Hawthorne Elementary School serves 374 students — more than twice the enrollment — at a 15.0:1 ratio. That two-and-a-half-student difference per teacher compounds across a school day. Stevens also has a higher free-and-reduced-lunch rate (32% vs. Hawthorne's 26%), indicating it serves a modestly broader economic range of families. Neither figure signals a struggling population — both remain low relative to citywide averages.

One structural distinction matters for families with younger children: Hawthorne Elementary School begins at pre-kindergarten, while Stevens Elementary School starts at kindergarten. A family seeking a single-school path from age 4 through 5th grade finds that option only at Hawthorne. Stevens's smaller footprint, by contrast, means the entire K–5 student body is half the size of Hawthorne's enrollment alone, creating a fundamentally different campus feel.