It is located in the Rainier Beach area, in the southeastern part of the city of Seattle, Washington, United States.

[2] In 2008–09, Rainier Beach began the year with 453 students and ended with about 295, giving an average monthly enrollment of 374.

[4][5] Rainier Beach High School is a member of the Metro League, part of Sea-King District 2 and the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association.

In 2002, Rainier Beach's men's basketball team was ranked number 1 in the entire country[17] for a brief time.

5 RBHS is in a troubled section of the city, and many incidents occurring in the area are automatically assumed to be caused by gang-affiliated young men,[20][21] including Rainier Beach and South Lake Alternative High School students.

Little used for years, the hall, now called the Paul Robeson Performing Arts Center, began hosting community theater productions in 2007.

They staged weekly demonstrations against principal Marta Cano-Hinz, who had led the school since 1993, demanding that the district fire her and turn Rainier Beach around.

In early 2006, before the 10th grade WASL test, nearly half of Rainier Beach's sophomores were reclassified as freshmen.

One of the major points for the opposition was TAF's ability to hire and fire teachers as they saw fit under the terms of the proposal.

In addition, teachers and students felt like the proposal was a push to make Rainier Beach into a charter school.

Alumni from past decades recalled Rainier Beach's prior success in preparing students for college, and demanded that the district restore the school academically instead of closing it.

Rainier Beach High School's WASL reading test pass rates declined from 70.0% in 2007 to 61.5% in 2009.

[2] On January 13, 2011, Washington State designated Rainier Beach High School as persistently low achieving.

Superintendent Goodloe-Johnson has announced that she will reassign the current co-principals and appoint a new principal at Rainier Beach.