ISAT top 10s: These were the best performers among districts, charters, online schools

UPDATE: This article was updated at 12:00pm Thursday to correct rankings of charter schools, which previously excluded charters authorized by school districts, and to add rankings of top-performing traditional schools. 

Public charter schools again held most top spots in rankings of standardized test scores from last school year, and smaller districts tended to outpace larger ones in proficiency ratings. 

On Tuesday, the Idaho Department of Education released 2024-25 results from the Idaho Standards Achievement Test (ISAT). Each spring, public school students — in third through eighth grade and once in high school — take assessments measuring proficiency in English language arts (ELA), math and science. 

Statewide, scores were stagnant compared to previous school years: 53.2% of test-takers were proficient in ELA and 42.3% were proficient in math, the two more important subjects areas assessed during the standardized tests. 

Click here to see a list of ELA proficiency scores from each school district and charter school. Click here for math scores.

But many individual charter schools and districts far exceeded the statewide numbers. Charter schools held most top spots among all local education agencies, while smaller districts dominated rankings of traditional school districts. Virtual schools, meanwhile, fell behind top-ranked brick-and-mortar schools. 

Here are the top performers, broken out by categories:

Students at North Idaho STEM Charter Academy, a charter school in Rathdrum, had the best proficiency ratings in the state, in both English language arts and math assessments.

All districts/charter schools

These are the 10 best ratings among all local education agencies, including school districts and charter schools

All districts/charters — ELA proficiency

District/charter % proficient or higher # test-takers
1. North Idaho STEM Charter 95.6 295
2. Coeur d’Alene Charter 93.9 391
3. Syringa Mountain 91.1 79
4. North Star Charter 85.0 634
5. Victory Charter 84.2 196
6. Liberty Charter 83.7 203
7. Compass Public Charter 81.2 734
8. Legacy Public Charter 78.9 218
9. Thomas Jefferson Charter 78.7 183
10. McCall-Donnelly 78.3 686

All districts/charters — Math proficiency

District/charter % proficient or higher # test-takers
1. North Idaho STEM Charter 91.9 297
2. Coeur d’Alene Charter 89.0 390
3. Syringa Mountain 81.0 79
4. Liberty Charter 79.7 202
5. Victory Charter 78.8 198
6. Troy  75.5 163
7. Legacy Public Charter 74.9 219
8. North Star Charter 72.2 633
9. Compass Public Charter 71.6 735
10. Cottonwood 71.0 238

Traditional school districts

These are the 10 best ratings among traditional school districts, which excludes charter schools.

Traditional school districts — ELA proficiency

District % proficient or higher # test-takers
1. McCall-Donnelly 78.3 686
2. Troy 75.6 164
3. West Side (tie) 71.0 404
Moscow (tie) 71.0 1,165
5. Cottonwood 70.6 238
6. West Ada  70.0 19,745
7. Rockland 67.7 93
8. North Gem 66.2 71
9. Coeur d’Alene 65.8 4,865
10. Kootenai 65.3 95

Traditional school districts — Math proficiency

District % proficient or higher # test-takers
1. Troy 75.5 163
2. Cottonwood 71.0 238
3. McCall-Donnelly  62.8 693
4. Moscow  61.3 1,163
5. Rockland 58.1 93
6. West Ada  58.0 19,785
7. Murtaugh 57.9 197
8. West Side 56.7 404
9. Dietrich 56.0 91
10. Lewiston  53.2 2,340

Charter schools

These are the 10 best ratings among charter schools, including charters authorized by traditional school districts.

Charter schools — ELA proficiency

Charter school % proficient or higher # test-takers
1. North Idaho STEM Charter 95.6 295
2. Coeur d’Alene Charter 93.9 391
3. Syringa Mountain 91.1 79
4. Meridian Technical Charter >86 44
5. North Star Charter 85.0 634
6. Victory Charter 84.2 196
7. Liberty Charter 83.7 203
8. Compass Public Charter 81.2 734
9. Meridian Medical Arts Charter >81 33
10. Legacy Public Charter 78.9 218

Charter schools — Math proficiency

Charter school % proficient or higher # test-takers
1. North Idaho STEM Charter 91.9 297
2. Coeur d’Alene Charter 89.0 390
3. Syringa Mountain 81.0 79
4. Liberty Charter 79.7 202
5. Victory Charter 78.8 198
6. Meridian Technical Charter 77.3 44
7. Meridian Medical Arts Charter 75.8 33
8. Legacy Public Charter 74.9 219
9. North Star Charter 72.2 633
10. Compass Public Charter 71.6 735

Traditional schools

These are the top-performing traditional schools, including magnet schools but excluding charters.

Traditional schools — ELA

School (district) % proficient or higher # test-takers
1. Praxium Mastery Academy (Bonneville)  96.1 129
2. Renaissance High School (West Ada)  >96 162
3. Idaho Fine Arts Academy (West Ada) 89.4 142
4. McCall-Donnelly High School (McCall-Donnelly) 86.9 107
5. Galileo STEM Academy (West Ada) 86.1 503
6. Eagle Hills Elementary (West Ada) 84.0 206
7. Owyhee High School (West Ada) 83.8 431
8. (tie) Grangeville High School (Mountain View) 82.9 41
(tie) Parma High School (Parma) 82.9 70
10. Paramount Elementary School (West Ada) 82.0 245

Traditional schools — Math

School (district) % proficient or higher # test-takers
1. Renaissance High School (West Ada)  90.7 162
2. Praxium Mastery Academy (Bonneville)  90.6 127
3. Edahow Elementary School (Pocatello-Chubbuck) 83.5 133
4. Troy Elementary School (Troy) 82.7 98
5. Paramount Elementary School (West Ada) 81.0 247
6. Prairie Elementary School (Cottonwood) 80.3 132
7. Washington Elementary School (Boise)  79.9 154
8. Hayden Meadows Elementary School (Coeur d’Alene) 77.9 267
9. Sorensen Magnet (Coeur d’Alene)  77.5 169
10. Adams Elementary School (Boise) 76.8 125

Large school districts

These are the rankings of the 10 largest school districts, each with more than 3,000 test-takers.

10 traditional school districts with most test-takers — ELA proficiency

District % proficient or higher # test-takers
1. West Ada 70.0 19,745
2. Coeur d’Alene 65.8 4,865
3. Pocatello-Chubbuck 56.5 5,876
4. Jefferson County 56.2 3,343
5. Boise 54.4 10,788
6. Bonneville 53.7 6,896
7. Vallivue 52.7 5,255
8. Idaho Falls 51.1 4,987
9. Twin Falls 48.4 4,484
10. Nampa 42.2 6,249

10 traditional school districts with most test-takers — Math proficiency

District % proficient or higher # test-takers
1. West Ada 58.0 19,785
2. Coeur d’Alene 52.0 4,866
3. Jefferson County 48.4 3,342
4. Boise 46.9 10,854
5. Pocatello 46.1 5,879
6. Bonneville 41.0 6,894
7. Idaho Falls 38.9 4,978
8. Twin Falls 37.6 4,488
9. Vallivue 35.8 5,289
10. Nampa 29.2 6,298

Small school districts

These are the 10 best ratings for small school districts, which excludes charter schools and traditional districts with more than 500 test-takers.

Small school districts (500 test-takers or fewer) — ELA proficiency

District % proficient or higher # test-takers
1. Troy 75.6 164
2. West Side 71.0 404
3. Cottonwood  70.6 238
4. Rockland 67.7 93
5. North Gem 66.2 71
6. Kootenai 65.3 95
7. Dietrich 64.4 90
8. Grace 62.3 273
9. Nezperce  62.1 95
10. Genessee (tie) 61.9 147
New Plymouth (tie) 61.9 457

Small school districts (500 test-takers or fewer) — Math proficiency

District % proficient or higher # test-takers
1. Troy 75.5 163
2. Cottonwood 71.0 238
3. Rockland 58.1 93
4. Murtaugh 57.9 197
5. West Side 56.7 404
6. Dietrich 56.0 91
7. Kootenai 52.6 95
8. Whitepine 52.2 115
9. Genessee 52.0 148
10. Wallace 51.6 252

Virtual schools

These are the rankings of virtual schools with more than 100 test-takers and complete data.

Virtual schools (100 or more test-takers) — ELA proficiency

School % proficient or higher # test-takers
1. Gem Prep: Online 77.0 200
2. Inspire Virtual Charter School 43.6 560
3. Idaho Virtual Academy 43.2 803
4. Snake River Online 42.9 1,091
5. Idaho Home Learning Academy (Oneida) 41.6 4,368
6. Bonneville Online Elementary 40.8 228
7. Bear Lake Online Learning 40.6 133
8. Sugar-Salem Online 35.1 339

Virtual schools (100 or more test-takers) — Math proficiency

School % proficient or higher # test-takers
1. Gem Prep: Online 65.0 200
2. Snake River Online 30.3 1,088
3. Idaho Virtual Academy 28.3 803
4. Bear Lake Online Learning 26.6 133
5. Idaho Home Learning Academy (Oneida) 25.3 4,372
6. Bonneville Online Elementary 25.0 228
7. Inspire Virtual Academy 20.0 561
8. Sugar-Salem Online 18.5 341

EdNews data analyst Randy Schrader contributed to this report.

Ryan Suppe

Ryan Suppe

Senior reporter Ryan Suppe covers education policy, focusing on K-12 schools. He previously reported on state politics, local government and business for newspapers in the Treasure Valley and Eastern Idaho. A Nevada native, Ryan enjoys golf, skiing and movies. Follow him on @ryansuppe.bsky.social. Contact him at ryan@idahoednews.org

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