The Everett school district is complex. Largely because... it's large. 26 schools spanning 36 square miles with nearly 20,000 students. That means the Everett school district has more students than the entire populations of the cities of Snohomish and Stanwood combined. So comparing Everett to other school districts in the area is not that simple.

Dr. Cohn, the Superintendent of the Everett School District recently asked a few of us local Realtors to come in and discuss the public's perception of Everett schools. He wanted to know what we were hearing on the front lines when talking with people about Everett schools. I appreciated that the schools cared to engage us in such a conversation, and also what I learned about the interesting complexities of the district. From everything I gathered, here are the top 5 things that stood out to me that I learned about the Everett school district*. 

1. Diversity
More than 2400 students in Everett schools speak other languages. That's more than 1 out of 10. How many other languages are are we talking here? 3 languages? 10? Not even close. Nearly 90 different languages! Spanish, Russian, Swahili, Ukranian, Arabic, Chinese, Vietnamese. The list goes on and on. I love that we have so much diversity within Everett schools, but this obviously presents some challenges.

2. Poverty
The poverty rate in Everett schools is 40%. Nearly 1,000 students are homeless. This is about 5% of the total student body. Again, a huge challenge.

3. Graduation Rates
After the first 2 points you'd expect graduation rates to be not so great, right? Wrong. The percentage of students who graduated from Everett schools in 2015 was90%. Whereas Snohomish County and the state of Washington graduation rates were only around 78%. 

4. Advanced Classes
The percentage of students pursuing higher learning is, well, high. More and more students have been enrolling in advanced placement and college level classes each year. In fact, this last year over 2600 high school students enrolled in college level classes. 

5. Test Scores
The state of Washington does frequent testing for math, E.L.A. (English Language Arts), and science. Everett schools out-perform state averages in every single grade and category. On average, Everett test scores beat state averages by over 10%. 

I was impressed to see how well Everett schools are performing amidst their challenges. I understand why Everett schools may not be for everyone, but I think it's important to consider the different complexities that a larger, more diverse district faces as compared to its suburban neighbors. 

It seems Everett schools are a lot like Everett itself- easily misunderstood and full of promising opportunity. 

You can learn more about the Everett School District on their website, or sign up for their bi-weekly newsletter here. If you're considering moving to Everett check out our buyer services. 

-Garret
Everett Advocate + Realtor

*The stats and numbers I shared without links were from the presentation Dr. Cohn shared with us. They were all the most current statistics from the 2015 school year. 

When the co-founder of Live in Everett isn't making coffee for all of us at Live in Everett, Garret can be seen skateboarding around Everett with his iPhone vlogging about life. He also likes selling real estate.