About us

Rainier Prep’s mission is to prepare all of our students to excel at four year colleges and to become leaders in their communities. We empower lifelong learners, changemakers, and advocates.  We ensure that academic growth, student agency, and post-secondary success mutually reinforce each other. Advisors, educators, students, families, and partners work closely together to help all students achieve their academic goals while learning what they need to understand their local high school landscape, identify a best-fit school, and confidently navigate the application process.

Our community’s strength and our challenges

Rainier Prep is a 5th-8th grade, open-enrollment, full inclusion, public charter school. Our model was informed by our local community, who demanded an additional college-prep public middle school option in their neighborhood with the flexibility to innovate and meet the needs of their students.

Despite demonstrating their academic excellence, when our students consider college and post-secondary programs they face systemic inequities that make navigating this experience especially difficult. According to the RoadMap Project, we know that 81% of students in South King County say they want to earn a college degree. Yet, despite these aspirations, the reality is that only 30% of these students earn a college degree by their mid-twenties.

Our experience and understanding of structural educational inequities informs Rainier Prep’s mission as we welcome 96% families of color and 82% limited-income families.

Academic growth and student agency

We promote a cross-curricular approach to empower students’ in their identity formation, critical thinking, and literacy across content areas.  We believe in counter narratives and upholding a commitment to counter oppression through our curriculum and pedagogy.

We leverage community partnerships, experts, and assets to bridge the resource gaps our students and families face.  We create enrichment spaces to develop students’ passions and leadership skills through their interests in arts, athletics, STEM, and social justice.We create spaces to learn outside of the physical classroom through hands-on, lived experiences throughout our metro area. 

These critical experiences challenge the status quo and expand student and staff perspectives in classes, in grade level and whole school events, and throughout our programs. 

Post-secondary success programming

Systemic and institutional inequities are maintained and exacerbated when some families have the resources and know-how to navigate, support, supplement, and shape their children’s educational experiences and others do not. No one should be denied equitable opportunity in education simply due to their circumstances.

Rainier Prep’s Post-Secondary Success Program has two primary goals: first, to help families access a school that best fits their needs, and second, to leverage the 8th graders’ transition to high school as an opportunity for students and families to gain the necessary skills for navigating postsecondary and career opportunities in the future.

By introducing students to the application process early on and teaching them strategies to address challenges, the program aims to make future applications easier. Many students are academically ready for success in high school and aspire to attend schools that offer more access to college and family-wage jobs.

GUIDES

Rainier Prep’s GUIDES values support our collective vision of empowering learners, changemakers, and advocates in the pursuit of an enriching, fulfilling, and lifelong educational experience. Our GUIDES values also ground how students, families, staff, and partners work together. They inform the choices we make towards creating a community where all can thrive

G	rowth: We believe in our ability to learn, change, and develop new skills. We grow through practice, collaboration, feedback, challenge, and perseverance.
U	nity:  We act in a way that honors and uplifts humanity in others. We understand that our own success and wellbeing are connected to the success and wellbeing of the entire community.
I	ntegrity: We act in a way that is honest, just, and true to our values. We do the right thing, even when no one is watching.
D	iscovery: We expand our world and open doors by approaching each situation with curiosity. We seek to deeply understand. We use our imagination to dream big and create new possibilities.
E	ngagement: We actively participate in the community and our own education. We make meaningful connections with the classwork, culture, and members of the community. We contribute our own time and ideas to make the community stronger.
S	tewardship: We understand that the actions we make now will impact our future selves and others. We take care of the community’s resources and relationships to support and inspire future generations.

Rainier Prep Receives State Recognition for Outstanding Achievement

In June 2024 Rainier Prep received state recognition for Outstanding Achievement during the 2022-2023 school year in the category of “growth for the whole school and multiple student groups.” The public school recognition program is a partnership of the State Board of Education, the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) and the Educational Opportunity Gap Oversight and Accountability Committee and includes evaluation of K-12 public schools statewide. “We appreciate the continued recognition of Rainier Prep’s work towards educational equity,” said Rainier Prep Executive Director Karen Lobos. “Our teachers and staff are very intentional in preparing our students for both high school and postsecondary success. This recognition of our students’ academic proficiency as well as their growth year after year is a testament to their continued hard work and vision — all of which ensures that all of our students have an exceptional foundation to access the degree and career pathways of their choosing. Every public school that is meeting the needs of students furthest from educational justice is a critical and transformative
part of our public school ecosystem, including charter public schools like Rainier Prep.” Rainier Prep is being recognized for High Growth in ELA and Math Proficiency Rates on annual state assessments from the 2021-2022 school year to the 2022-2023 school year for the following groups of students.

High Growth in ELA and Math Proficiency Rates on annual state assessments from the 2021-2022 school year to the 2022-2023 school year. The change in the ELA and Math proficiency rates is sufficiently large to place the school in the top 10 percent of schools, and the school meets additional participation requirements.
ELA	Math
All Students Multilingual Learner Students	All Students Black/African American Students Hispanic/Latine Students Multilingual Learner Students Low-Income Students

Rainier Prep’s students are also being recognized for having their Student Growth Percentile (SGP) median in the top 10% of schools. SGP describes a student’s growth on annual Math and ELA state assessments compared to other students with similar prior test scores (their academic peers). Each student group listed increased their performance on 22-23 state assessments when compared to students across the state who performed in the same level as they did the previous year.

The student growth percentiles (SGPs) in ELA and Math are sufficiently large to place the school in the top 10 percent of schools, and the school meets additional participation requirements.
ELA	Math
All Students Black/African American Students Hispanic/Latine Students Multilingual Learner Students Low-Income Students	All Students Black/African American Students Hispanic Latine Students Multilingual Learner Students Low-Income Students

OSPI uses the Washington School Improvement Framework (WSIF), which among other metrics includes state assessment proficiency and growth rates, to determine the state’s support for schools to improve outcomes. “All communities should have equitably funded public schools that are held to high standards and have the flexibility to meet their students’ needs.” Lobos said. “Throughout our programs, we focus on rigorous instruction and high levels of support that prepare students for academic success and community leadership in high school, college, and beyond. As we enter our 10th school year, Rainier Prep is proud to demonstrate how our partnership with our students and families is transforming public education today.”