Stevens Elementary School

1242 18th Avenue East

School District

Seattle Public Schools
Grade

K-5
Teacher/Student Ratio

1:13
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 January 24, 2025

Stevens has been amazing for our kid and our family. We love the community, we love the teachers, and we love the school setup. The principal knows all the kids well enough to notice if they need support. The teachers are all kind and committed to the community, and I've been amazed at how quickly the kids learn -- and they have fun doing it. We appreciate the diversity and welcoming attitudes in this small community too. The fact that Kids' Club, THE best after-care program, is also on site is an incredible perk.
Submitted by parent on April 26, 2023

Really nice, diverse engaged community, great teachers and admin, beautiful school. Wonderful aftercare program right on site. Covered sports area, cafeteria, and playground. The community around Stevens really values the school there and likes the school, a lot of people in the neighborhood went to Stevens or sent their grown children there, and they care about the school. A community hub!
Submitted by parent on April 04, 2023

We have a 4th grader and 1st grader at Stevens, so we were there before, during, and after the pandemic. We love our little school! The teachers form an excellent core and foster a community that is welcoming to all. The school's location on Capitol Hill helps insulate it from the de facto segregation that bedevils most of the schools in the district--its attendance area spans the historic "red line" and it draws from a good mix of housing types and household incomes, which means decent (not perfect, but better than most) diversity, both socioeconomic and racial. The school culture is welcoming to all, and faculty and staff teach the kids to fully embrace and celebrate their differences, be they in gender identity, race, national origin, or whatever. The teachers and staff are engaged and creative in delivering varied and fun educational opportunities. We're back to having a lot of field trips for all grades, plus outdoor gardening education, Green Team Climate Committee, Global Reading Challenge, afterschool enrichment in all sorts of topics (chess, music, pottery, D&D, parkour, etc.)--all with costs fully and discreetly covered by PTA for those who can't pay. The library is awesome, as is the librarian. Our wonderful PE teacher focuses on lifelong activity and play. Our music and art specialists draw from traditions all over the world and come up with some really cool stuff. Stevens also hosts a number of events for the community, such as the pancake breakfast, fall social, holiday tree sale, Lunar New Year, spring carnival, and so on. Stevens also runs Tutu's Pantry, a small food bank that gives food aid to families who need the help. I read the terrible reviews for the school in years past, but however valid those concerns were at the time (and I agreed with many!), they have been addressed and are not current problems. With a complete overhaul of administration and some adjustments to discipline philosophy, the school is a different place than it was pre-pandemic. The teachers are top-shelf, the PTA is strong, and the school is firing on all cylinders.
Submitted by parent on April 02, 2023

This school has been a fabulous experience for our family in every way. We are a new KG family and our daughter has absolutely adored her time there. Great teacher, incredible staff, fantastic facilities. After school enrichment of art, chess, LEGO stem. After school program (Kids Club) onsite is seamless. Just finished a great Native American assembly followed up on Black History month activities. Truly feel lucky to have our child at this school. The tenure of the teachers makes this a special place - from the KG teacher, to the PE teacher, to the library.
Submitted by parent on March 22, 2023

Our daughter is in Kindergarten and is having an amazing experience at Stevens. Her teachers are nurturing and stimulating. Her learning curve is remarkable. She is excited to come to school everyday. And the community is very strong and cohesive. Very strong recommendation for Stevens Elementary.
Submitted by parent on March 22, 2023

Stevens has a supportive and actively engaged community. They bring in a wide range of events and field trips for the students and have one of the best elementary school libraries and art rooms- inspiring kids!
Submitted by other on July 12, 2019

What can I say? Good and bad. Strong community, great staff, but parents who get together and try to bully their agenda into the runnng of the school.
Submitted by parent on April 19, 2019

Awful. We feel trapped here bc it’s our community and our child’s best friends are here and it would be devastating for her if she were transferred. We have been told by other parents that if you can get through kindergarten it gets a lot better, but it makes me sick to see what happens in kindie, the lack of leadership and the lack of caring for these poor little kids. Parents have no voice, it seems. My warning to you is if you have a kid who is going to kindergarten next year, DONT RISK IT. Find another school for kindie. If you do risk it and get the burned out teacher, please please listen to your kids, and believe them. It is that bad, and probably worse than they are able to convey. The psychological damage to our families and others in this class is going to take a long time to fix. The trust in our school leadership will never be fixed. We shouldn’t have had to see the worst of Seattle Public Schools our first year in, but at least now we know what we are dealing with. On the bright side, the Kid’s Club is awesome and a great antidote to the hell of the school day.
Submitted by parent on December 30, 2018

Good. Students will get what they need academically but not necessarily be stretched. The parent community is wonderful and many of them are very generous with their time and resources. The larger Capitol Hill neighborhood is very supportive of Stevens.
Submitted by parent on July 03, 2018

Absolutely terrible. Heartbreaking. Disappointing. Shocking. Saddening. I am so glad my child has transferred out.
Submitted by parent on February 13, 2018

This school has been a blessing for our family. After trying a private school in kindergarten that didn't work, we decided to try our home school and have been thrilled with our experience. The teachers are very experienced and work with students of all needs and abilities. We have appreciated their flexibility and understanding as well as the inclusion of arts curriculum into the instruction. The school atmosphere is very caring, and the staff makes it a point to get to know the families. After going the private school route, we have found one of the greatest pleasures to be in getting to know our neighbors and having local play dates as opposed to setting things up across town. The PTA is very active and involved while at the same time does not pressure families to exceed their financial or time abilities. This has been a great fit for our family!
Submitted by parent on July 08, 2017

We have had wonderful experiences with this school. The school has a good mix of students of different backgrounds. The PTA is very active and is a positive resource for the school. The school is quite popular and has heavy demand for transfer from families outside the catchment area. We purposefully bought our home within the Steven's catchment area.The program is strong academically and in social skills, with the teachers and staff working very hard to make every child feel a part of the class, and to help students accept each other's differences. The teachers have worked out an integrated program for the various grades. Our family is very focused on education are very pleased with the strong academic standards at Stevens and have been pleased with all of our student's teachers. And our student has loved them all.
Submitted by parent on September 17, 2014

The leadership is really lacking at Stevens and it shows in how the teachers treat students and their families. The teachers are pretty good but the level of professionalism is lacking much of the time and I can't say they treat parents as equal partners in teaching the child. As a result well-behaved kids are ignored and learning differences aren't addressed. The class sizes are very large and there is a lot of seat work with tons of worksheets starting in kindergarten. The PTA and parent community are very generous with their time and money so Stevens should be a rock star of Seattle Schools but instead it is just okay and many families move their students to the APP program as soon as they qualify.
Submitted by other on January 06, 2014

I mentor a kid attending Stevens Elementary. Despite going to class every day, the kid cannot read or write and yet gets passed on to the next grade. Trying to engage the teachers and principal gets a stiff rejection. Not surprisingly, the kid lacks a supportive parent, but the school is failing the kid just as much as the single parent. There is no excuse for this kid to not even learn the basics of reading and writing, and to be passed on year after year until the kid drops out and the school district no longer has to worry about it (but the rest of society does!). I am so glad that my children will not be attending this school. With the positive reviews, I suppose it's fair to say that kids with supportive and active parents do well here, but that's likely the case in any school, isn't it? In Seattle this reality leaves a lot of kids to fail, and they do.