Bethel High School
Spanaway, WA 98387
Phone: (253) 800-7000
District: Bethel School District
GreatSchools Rating
public • Grades 9,10,11,12 • 1761 students
Bethel High School, a public school located in Spanaway, WA, serves grades 9-12 in the Bethel School District.It has received a GreatSchools Rating of 6 out of 10, based on a variety of school quality measures.
Bethel High School is a public school located in Spanaway, WA. 1761 students attend Bethel High School.
School Ratings
| Category | Rating | Details |
|---|---|---|
| Test Scores | 5/10 | The Test Score Rating examines how students at this school performed on standardized tests compared with other schools in the state. The Test Rating was created using 2025 Smarter Balanced Assessment data from Washington Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction, and using 2025 Washington Comprehensive Assessment of Science data from Washington Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction. |
| College Readiness | 7/10 | The College Readiness Rating uses this high school's graduation rates, college entrance exam participation and performance, or AP, IB, or Dual Enrollment participation to determine how well schools are preparing students for success in college and beyond. The College Readiness Rating was created using 2017 Average SAT score data from Washington Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction, using the following data from the 2021 Civil Rights Data Collection: percentage of students enrolled in IB, AP or Dual Enrollment classes in grades 9-12, using 2025 4-year high school graduation rate data from Washington Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction, and using 2026 demographic data from Washington Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction. |
Posted: June 1, 2022
Bethel High school is a great school overall. Only had 1 major problem with a teacher that plays favorites with the students and makes it very known who his favorites are, which was taken care of very fast with the Asst principal. Overall the school is great, and the whole staff cares about the students. Some teachers love the help from the teachers with their students, a few will not give you the time of day and tell you that its 100% on your student which makes it hard to help the student.. The school does have afterschool tutoring that dose help.
Posted: June 1, 2022
Posted: June 1, 2022
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Posted: June 1, 2022
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Posted: June 1, 2022
Posted: June 1, 2022
Posted: March 22, 2022
Horrible school, violent, uncomfortable, bad teachers, bad safety protocol. Generally a bad experience. Prepares kids for nothing. Everybody hates the school.
Posted: March 22, 2022
Posted: March 22, 2022
Posted: March 22, 2022
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Posted: March 22, 2022
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Posted: March 22, 2022
Posted: February 16, 2022
Don't b let your kid go here. They let people assault children and suspend the victim. Sickening. The administration isn't responsible enough to manage a McDonald's let alone a high school
Posted: February 16, 2022
Posted: January 3, 2022
MY student attends this school and they come home almost daily with new cuts and bruises from the other punk students at this school. They have 0 funding and according to my child the school is basically falling apart.
Posted: January 3, 2022
Posted: January 3, 2022
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Posted: October 13, 2021
School is horrible with communication! A student tested positive for Covid 19 in my daughter's class and we were not even notified until 6 days later! She had been attending school the whole time with no symptoms or anything and now she is required to quarantine. I understand her having to quarantine but not notifying parents or taking responsibility for the lack of timely notifications and just saying they are understaffed. All of the children exposed would go to other classes and possibly expose other children for days before anything was done.
There are fights all of the time! Students doing sexual acts to each other during class! Constant vandalism to the school with no repercussions except to close the bathrooms where vandalism took place leaving limited amount of bathrooms for all of the students to use. Oppression of freedom of speech. Inconsistent with which rules and guidelines are followed depending on the student and staff member. The list goes on and on....
Posted: October 13, 2021
Posted: October 13, 2021
Posted: October 13, 2021
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Posted: October 13, 2021
Posted: June 5, 2019
Some teachers do and others don't and over 60% of the students do not care about or support it
Posted: June 5, 2019
This school is terrible student come to school high drung bring knifes drugs and all sorts of stuff and the bullying rate especially for special education students is very high and it's not right or fair to those students
Posted: June 5, 2019
Alot of teachers doesn't even check up on homework
Posted: June 5, 2019
Some teachers care and others don't care enough
Posted: June 5, 2019
Some of the students at this school is way out of control and they are not good people they are rude and very disrespectful
Posted: June 5, 2019
Nobody knows how to take leadership if they did it wouldn't be out of control
Posted: November 6, 2017
Posted: November 6, 2017
Posted: November 6, 2017
Posted: November 6, 2017
Posted: November 6, 2017
Posted: November 6, 2017
Posted: November 6, 2017
It's okay. Teachers act like children but they get the job done
Posted: November 22, 2015
Like anywhere else there are teachers who are amazing, and some who shouldn't teach. Some classes my children learn nothing, and some classes they are learning a lot.
Posted: November 22, 2015
Posted: November 22, 2015
Posted: November 22, 2015
This school is OK. You have some teachers who care, go above and beyond. You also have some teachers who only want their paycheck. They have conferences at the end of the school year, which does no good! There isn't much communication between teachers and parents. I have had a teacher flat out and lie to me. She told me to not worry about my kid's low grade, that he's smart, focused, and hardworking, he'll make it up. A week later she tells me he doesn't put in effort. Well, which one is it? The school district is horrible, but this school is average.
Posted: October 16, 2014
Unfortunately, after we moved from another state, we enrolled our son in the Bethel High School Freshman Football team program. We moved over the summer and our son has been unofficially practicing with the team since July 2014. The games are in mid season now and the coaches refused to play my son (along with quite of few others on the team) except for about five total plays. My son has been playing football since pee-wee and is a decent player if given the chance, as others on the team! The Bethel Freshman coaches unfortunately has their favorites despite their capabilities! Never the less, they get to stay on the field and at many times play ironman football. Also, we were asked by Bethel to donate for Bethel Football and went out of our way to solicit these donations (this boiled the water). Bottom line, if your child wants to start freshman football here coming from somewhere else, be careful as well as the parents! Also, the current coaches should pay attention to their entire arsenal on their team before they make judgements!
Posted: October 12, 2014
My sons and there daughters attended a daddy daughter dance at Bethel High school put on by Bethel High School. They told me it was the best night out with there girls and can't wait for next year. The staff and students did a great job at making this a night to remember for all of them. My thank you as a mother/grandmother to giving them a memory they will never forget. Job well Done Bethel
Posted: April 10, 2014
I just moved here and I looked at 2 schools, bethel and graham. While Graham's registrars and counselor a were uppity and rude, bethel had amazing counselor and helped me a lot. The teachers here are all really nice, I haven't come across any mean ones but at the same time there is some stuff I didn't like. For instance the class time. I'm used to a max 15 student per class while here it's 30+ students. Also the actual kids that go hear are rude and mean and haven't made me feel the least bit welcomed. I have been here for days now and the other students are rude. This is a good place to go if your independent and like being left out.
Posted: October 29, 2013
This school sets a low academic standard and lowers the bar for those who can't achieve it. It offers little career or college preparation and very few teachers encourage students to reach beyond mediocrity. The atmosphere is authoritarian and during my time there the administration focused on enforcing their narrow definition of respect much more than encouraging academic interest and achievement. A few teachers and staff members were helpful, engaged and committed, and I wish I could say that the information and support they gave me was the school's standard. This school limits student choice; your clothing, food, manner of speech, courses and even location within the building are all strictly limited, while your economic, academic and career future are inadvertently limited by Bethel High School's inability to understand and work toward student success.
Posted: June 7, 2013
Bethel Highschool This school has some positive and a lot of negatives for noncaucasian students. The atmosphere was unwelcoming, I could feel the negativity just walking through the front doors. Bethel Highschool needs to work on diversity training for staff and teach it to their predominantly caucasian studentbody. I will not ever dare let another one of my children attende this school.
Posted: May 15, 2013
This school focuses on achieving the lowest possible standards for seniors so they can graduate and yet the graduation rate this June will be so low that much smaller schools have larger graduating classes. I was told this week by an advisory teacher this week that they keep the standards low on purpose. One of my other kids attends another school and her school requires all seniors to make their presentation before the entire student body and faculty. BHS endeavours to rescue their shoddy, substandard, failing efforts to teach kids and get them out the door by dropping standards through the floor. I'm embarrassed that I've had two children go through this school. I'm proud my third one attends a school in another district. Bail on Bethel schools. They do not produce students ready to be productive American citizens.... It makes me so sad.
Posted: March 23, 2013
As a former student, I am greatly disappointed in the reviews I am reading for Bethel High School. Each review is either five stars, or 1 star. So if you want a genuine review for Bethel High School, here it is. It is a crowded school in need of more funding (as are all schools in these days) with varying degrees of skilled teachers. The A.P. classes I attended were great and are the reason I am attending college to this day. The language classes were disappointing and sub-par (Spanish). I felt 100% safe at the school and safety was the highest priority of the staff. All I want to say is that anybody wanting to review a school on this site needs to take a deep breath and, if they are giving five stars or one, needs to not make the review. It is wrong and dishonest. Bethel High School is a perfectly adequate school, and anyone willing to put in the effort will be able to achieve any goal they want to.
Posted: August 14, 2012
I ADORE THIS SCHOOL! Coming from the student aspect, I wouldn't choose to attend ANY other school in the district. There's no discrimination, there's no tension, leadership students try their hardest to make sure everyone feels welcome and finds friends. At Bethel High School, the staff genuinely cares about your success; granted if you're going to disrespect them and goof off, they're not going to take you seriously; you get what you give. And if you're an avid 'Grade Checker', you have full access to grades online, as well as a list of e-mails to get in contact with teachers; all whom are willing to be in constant contact with any concerned parents. There's no safer, more family oriented school in the district like Bethel High School. I strongly suggest this school!
Reviews provided by GreatSchools™
| # | Name | Type | City | State | Overall Rating | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Silver Creek | Neighborhood/Subdivision | Puyallup | WA | 3.8 mi | |
| 2 | Lost Creek | Neighborhood/Subdivision | Graham | WA | 4.6 mi | |
| 3 | Gem Heights | Neighborhood/Subdivision | Puyallup | WA | 4.6 mi | |
| 4 | Hawaiian Village | Apartment Complex | Lakewood | WA | 11.8 mi | |
| 5 | Clocktower | Neighborhood/Subdivision | DuPont | WA | 12.8 mi | |
| 6 | Tahoma Meadows | Neighborhood/Subdivision | Yelm | WA | 13.9 mi | |
| 7 | Stadium District | Neighborhood/Subdivision | Tacoma | WA | 14.9 mi | |
| 8 | westridge apartments | Apartment Complex | Tacoma | WA | 15.2 mi | |
| 9 | North End | Neighborhood/Subdivision | Tacoma | WA | 15.5 mi | |
| 10 | Avonlea | Neighborhood/Subdivision | Lacey | WA | 21.5 mi | |
| 11 | Woodsmuir | Neighborhood/Subdivision | Olympia | WA | 22.1 mi | |
| 12 | The Carriages at Fairwood Downs | Apartment Complex | Renton | WA | 29 mi | |
| 13 | McCormick Woods | Neighborhood/Subdivision | Port Orchard | WA | 34.1 mi | |
| 14 | The Ridge at McCormick Woods | Neighborhood/Subdivision | Port Orchard | WA | 34.5 mi | |
| 15 | Manette | Neighborhood/Subdivision | Bremerton | WA | 37.2 mi | |
| 16 | Kitsap Lake | Neighborhood/Subdivision | Bremerton | WA | 38.7 mi | |
| 17 | Fairway Lane | Apartment Complex | Bremerton | WA | 40.3 mi | |
| 18 | Blueberry Meadows | Neighborhood/Subdivision | Bremerton | WA | 40.6 mi |
| # | Name | City | State | Overall Rating | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Stonegate | Olympia | WA | 21.4 mi | |
| 2 | Black Diamond | Black Diamond | WA | 24.8 mi | |
| 3 | Maple Valley | Maple Valley | WA | 26.4 mi | |
| 4 | Port Orchard | Port Orchard | WA | 35.6 mi | |
| 5 | Downtown Seattle | Seattle | WA | 37.9 mi | |
| 6 | Bainbridge Island | Bainbridge Island | WA | 40 mi | |
| 7 | East Bremerton | Bremerton | WA | 41.5 mi |
| Base | Distance |
|---|---|
| McChord AFB | 7.2 mi. |
| Fort Lewis | 8.9 mi. |
| Coast Guard Seattle | 37 mi. |
| Naval Base Kitsap - Bremerton | 37.2 mi. |
| Naval Base Kitsap Bangor | 48.3 mi. |
