Baker Valley Unified

Baker Valley Unified serves 125 students across three schools, from kindergarten through grade 12: Baker Elementary (K–5), Baker Junior High (grades 6–8) and Baker High (grades 9–12). The main concern is that every available 2025–2026 grade-specific test result fell below its state comparison: grade 5 at Elementary was 37 points below in ELA and math, while Junior High’s grade 7 gaps were 14 points in ELA and 19 in math; its grade 8 gaps were 11 and 36 points, respectively. The especially large grade 5 and grade 8 math gaps merit attention.

Among current all-grades results, Junior High stands out in ELA at 37% proficient, compared with 10% at Elementary—a 27-point difference—while Elementary leads Junior High in math, 10% to 7%, a 3-point difference. Junior High’s science result was 8%, just above Elementary’s 6%. These are not grade-matched comparisons. In 2024–2025, High had the highest reported all-grades results in all three subjects: 27% in ELA and 18% each in math and science; its 2025–2026 school test results are unavailable. High also had a 92% graduation rate, 4 points above the state, but chronic absenteeism was 27%, versus 18% statewide and 13% at Junior High.

Results changed unevenly from 2024–2025 to 2025–2026: Junior High’s all-grades ELA rose 28 points to 37%, and math rose 4 points to 7%; Elementary’s ELA and math each fell 3 points to 10%. SchoolDigger rankings also differ: Junior High reached the 17th percentile and 1 star in 2025–2026, up from the 1st percentile and 0 stars the year before, while High’s ranking fell from the 74th percentile in 2022–2023 to the 31st in 2024–2025. As context, 2024–2025 free/reduced lunch eligible figures were 76% at Elementary, 69% at Junior High and 55% at High; student–teacher ratios were 19.6, 13.3 and 7.0, respectively. These schools serve different grade spans, so their all-grades test results are not a like-for-like ranking.