Best High Schools in Hailey, ID

Hailey, Idaho, is served by two public high schools — Wood River High School and Silver Creek High School — both part of the Blaine County District, offering grades 9–12 in a small mountain town setting. The two schools operate at very different scales: Wood River enrolls 922 students, while Silver Creek serves just 51 students, likely as a smaller, alternative-style program. Because Silver Creek has no published test scores or ranking history, most academic accountability data falls on Wood River.

Wood River High School is Hailey's flagship school, ranking 57th out of 122 Idaho high schools (3 stars) in 2025–26. Its strongest subject is English Language Arts, with 61.9% proficiency on the End-of-Course ISAT, slightly above the state average. Science is also a clear strength at 50.2% proficiency versus the state's 41.2%. However, math is a weak spot — just 30.5% proficient, below the state average of 33.1%. Wood River's graduation rate is 82.5% matching the district and state, and its chronic absenteeism rate is 16.7%, somewhat higher than the state's 13.8%. By contrast, Silver Creek reports no test scores but shows a troubling chronic absenteeism rate of 42.0% — nearly three times the state average — and a higher free/reduced lunch eligibility of 49.02% compared to Wood River's 32.97%. Both schools share the same 82.5% graduation rate, though Silver Creek's small size makes this figure less reliable.

The most urgent issue in Hailey is Silver Creek's 42% chronic absenteeism rate, which far exceeds both Wood River and the district average and poses the biggest barrier to student success. Silver Creek does offer smaller class sizes with a 10.2:1 student-teacher ratio versus Wood River's 14.3:1, yet it spends less per student ($12,952 vs. $15,917 at Wood River, data from 2018–19). Wood River's ranking has also fluctuated sharply, from 3 stars in 2023–24 to 1 star in 2024–25 and back to 3 stars in 2025–26, indicating year-to-year volatility. Parents should weigh Wood River's strengths in ELA and science, its weaker math performance, and Silver Creek's higher-need, lower-profile environment carefully when choosing a school.