While Idaho’s average math and ELA ISAT scores did not meet state goals, certain schools and districts have far surpassed those benchmarks. 

Top 10 lists allow those schools and districts a moment in the spotlight to celebrate their successes. 

But schools, districts, and charters are so different that comparisons are often unfair. For example, certain charter schools and magnets might be able to attract a primarily college-bound clientele who are especially self-motivated to achieve academic success. Essentially, some of those become de-facto advanced or honors schools, so comparing them to a traditional public school isn’t necessarily equitable. 

Other factors also play into what are apples-to-oranges analogies. Take a school’s enrollment numbers. In smaller schools and districts, it can be easier to achieve high proficiency rates than in large schools/districts because data more easily skews high or low based on the performance of a relative few. 

And then there are demographics. A student body’s affluence, English proficiency, and other such factors can affect a school’s test results. An analysis of this year’s ISAT results shows a large achievement gap between certain student groups – students with disabilities, limited English proficiency, or who are migrant, in foster care, experiencing homelessness, and/or are African American fared the worst on the exam. 

On top of that, the State Board of Education’s data management council sets rules to redact certain test results or other student information for a number of reasons.  Therefore, some schools’, districts’, and/or charters’ data has been redacted or masked to protect student privacy. That means some won’t be represented on these lists.

When parsing through recently-released ISAT data, EdNews first released a top 10 list that grouped together traditional school districts and charters – together called local education agencies (LEAs). 

This group of lists is another way to consider ISAT results, and takes a look at top performers as sorted by traditional public schools; nontraditional public schools; traditional public districts; and nontraditional public LEAs. 

It’s still an imperfect way to compare schools – the lists don’t take into account factors such as enrollment, grades served, or demographics. But it gives the public a glimpse at some of the state’s high performers. 

To see a complete list of ISAT math results for schools in alphabetical order, click here. To see a complete list of ISAT ELA results for schools in alphabetical order, click here. 

ELA scores by district and LEA are available here. Math scores by district and LEA are available here.

Top Ten Traditional Public Schools

Top Ten Charter/Magnet/Nontraditional Public Schools

Top Ten Public Traditional School Districts

TOP TEN PUBLIC NONTRADITIONAL LOCAL EDUCATION AGENCIES

Data analyst Randy Schrader contributed to this report.