Pioneer Union

Pioneer Union has three schools serving kindergarten through grade 8: two elementary schools for grades K–5 and one middle school for grades 6–8. In 2025–2026, Mountain Creek Middle and Pioneer Elementary were below the state in ELA, while math results ranged from close to the state at Mountain Creek to below it at Pioneer. The clearest difference—and the most important finding—is in science: Mountain Creek scored 41%, about 5 points above the state, while Pioneer scored 19%, about 17 points below.

Mountain Creek led Pioneer in all three latest-year subjects, with scores of 37% in ELA, 38% in math, and 41% in science, compared with Pioneer’s 34%, 32%, and 19%. The schools were 3 points apart in ELA, 7 in math, and 22 in science. Mountain Creek’s math was essentially level with the state, while Pioneer was 7 points below; in ELA, Mountain Creek was 12 points below the state and Pioneer was 16 points below. Pioneer’s all-grade results also hide a grade-level bright spot: its grade 3 ELA and math were 9 and 10 points above state results, while its grade 4 and 5 results trailed. SchoolDigger ranks Mountain Creek at the 53rd percentile with 3 stars and Pioneer at the 35th percentile with 2 stars.

From 2024–2025 to 2025–2026, Pioneer improved 4 points in ELA and 8 in math, but declined 8 in science; Mountain Creek fell 8 points in ELA and science, while rising 7 in math. Across those two schools, the average moved down 2 points in ELA, up 7 in math, and down 8 in science. SchoolDigger’s percentile ranking rose for Pioneer, from 26 to 35, and fell for Mountain Creek, from 61 to 53. The elementary schools also differ in size and reported income measure: in 2024–2025, free/reduced lunch eligible was 46% at Pioneer and 65% at Walt Tyler Elementary; their student-teacher ratios were 36 and 8.8, respectively. Walt Tyler’s 2025–2026 test-score values are suppressed, so latest-year comparisons and two-school trends exclude it.