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Challenge Elementary

Edmonds School District · Elementary · grades 1-6 · 5409 228th St SW, Mountlake Terrace, WA 98043-3934

Location

5409 228th St SW, Mountlake Terrace, WA 98043-3934

Academic snapshot

Meeting standard — latest year
95.3%
SBAC ELA+Math combined, 2024-25
Meeting standard — 3-year
94.6%
#2 of 558 elementary schools region-wide · #1 of 21 in this district
Exceeding standard — latest year
83.4%
SBAC Level 4, the top score band
Exceeding standard — 3-year
82.4%
#2 of 558 elementary schools region-wide · #1 of 21 in this district
3-year trend

Who attends

Students from low-income homes
13.0%
English language learners
2.7%
Highly Capable program
98.1%
Enrollment
414
Kids per typical block
—
Density band: unknown

Teachers

Teachers (latest)
25
Avg years experience
14.3
MA-degree share
72.0%
3-year experience trend

Avg years and MA-degree share are direct OSPI publications; the 3-year trend is our derivation. From data.wa.gov/yp28-ks6d.

Highly Capable / gifted pathway

Curated from district Highly Capable program pages, with observed-at dates and confidence labels.

Research dossier

Challenge Elementary: The Numbers Are Huge, But So Is The Asterisk

Challenge Elementary is an elementary school in Edmonds School District. The local dataset puts it at grade span 1-6 with enrollment of 414. The headline academic number: 94.6% combined ELA/math meeting standard across the available three-year data, with 95.3% in the latest year.

But this is not a normal neighborhood-school comparison. Local data shows 98.1% Highly Capable enrollment and labels access as Special program eligibility. That makes the school important, but it also makes naive ranking misleading.

The Short Version

  • Local structured data: 94.6% combined ELA/math over available three-year data; 94.6% ELA and 94.7% math.
  • Important caveat: the local data does not show full three-year ELA/math coverage. ELA years are 2022-23;2023-24;2024-25; math years are 2023-24;2024-25.
  • Access is the first filter: Special program eligibility. Program eligibility/application process.
  • Program status is a live issue: Challenge Elementary students feed directly into the Highly Capable Program housed at Brier Terrace Middle School for grades 7 and 8 (Edmonds District HC Placement PDF).
  • There is public evidence of advanced peer depth: The Terrace Park/Challenge 6th Grade team won 1st Place at the 5th Annual Edmonds School District Math Olympiad in April 2026 (My Edmonds News).
  • The surrounding block group is High for kid density, about 4.9 estimated kids per typical block.

Researched 2026-06-09. Citations and claim ledger included in the full dossier.

That is the free excerpt. The full dossier continues with the complete evidence review: academic outcomes in context, advanced-peer depth, program and access analysis, culture signals, logistics, neighborhood context, open questions, and every citation.

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