Ballard High School

1418 Northwest 65th Street

School District

Seattle Public Schools
Grade

9-12
Teacher/Student Ratio

1:23
Type

public

GreatSchools Rating

The school rating calculation is based on four ratings: the Student Progress Rating or Academic Progress Rating, College Readiness Rating, Equity Rating, and Test Score Rating each designed to show different facets of school success. Learn more about GreatSchools Ratings

Reviews

Submitted by parent on February 17, 2025

My son attended this school until halfway through his junior year when he dropped out and got his GED at Shoreline CC and is now attending college courses there. I can't help but point out some negative things regarding this school. He was kicked out of one of their programs his freshmen year for not having "good enough" grades across his classes, the grade in question was a C in algebra, he had Bs and one A in all other classes. We also came from a middle school in West Seattle, so he did not have many friends to start here and experienced bullying from a group of kids in his home room class that were a part of the football team, and the faculty failed to do anything about it his freshmen year. His second year he also experienced bullying from kids on one of the Soccer teams when he made one of the teams throughout the season. We also had a teacher his second year tell my son he would be a "drop out" and "to just quite school." Halfway through his third year his father passed away and that was the last straw, as nothing was done about the bullying or teacher, we decided it would be best he just get his GED and start college early. I would not recommend this school to anyone as we have had nothing but pour experiences all around.
Submitted by parent on January 10, 2025

We have had an excellent experience with our daughter at Ballard HS. They have a great selection of AP courses and multiple clubs, not to mention their outstanding band and athletic program. All teachers I have interacted with have been professional and caring about their student’s achievements.
Submitted by parent on February 07, 2021

I had a pretty good experience here after transferring from another school. The building itself could really use an extra wing, though. Most of the hallways and staircases are so narrow and they get extremely packed when kids get out of class, to the point that I genuinely believe there would be causalities in the event of a fire, for example. The only open spaces where you can stop getting pushed around is 2 of the entrances and a cafeteria. Seriously, as schools get more populated, this place would give me claustrophobia if they tried to accommodate more kids. Also a LOT of the students tried to peer pressure me into buying coke lmao, what a waste of money. Mostly good teachers though.
Submitted by parent on March 29, 2018

This school is one of the strongest in the district and state academically with many AP courses, clubs such as robotics and programs such as biotech, digital film etc recognized nationally. The Jazz band was chosen this year, along with Roosevelt High from Seattle and only one additional high school in WA state, to attend the most competitive Jazz competition in the country 2018 Essentially Ellington competition & fesitval in NY. Only 13 bands are chosen nationwide. The robotics team won the world championship last year out of 25 countries, including groups from China, Canada, Turkey, Israel etc and over 400 teams. Something no NW team has ever done. We have found many excellent teachers, including computer science, math, science & LA teachers, and the counselors are great considering the school is highly over-enrolled until the new school opens. The principal is perhaps the strongest and most effective in the district. He is focused on serving and challenging all the students in the community at the school, including students who are highly capable who could have gone elsewhere. In recent years many highly capable students have chosen Ballard their neighborhood school over Garfield and are happy and doing well.
Submitted by parent on April 03, 2014

My son is a sophomore this year and he's had a great experience at Ballard in 9th and 10th grade. He has enjoyed almost all of his subjects and I have found his teachers to be very responsive to questions. The Maritime program and Mr. Foster are exceptional. The one time I had a question for his school counselor, she was great, too. I have seen no evidence of bullying and lots of school spirit!