Best Public Schools in Kooskia, ID

Kooskia, Idaho, is served by two public schools—Clearwater Valley Junior/Senior High (grades 7–12) and Clearwater Valley Elementary (PK–6)—within the Mountain View School District, together educating about 286 students in a small, rural community. The two schools serve different grade spans and have notably different profiles. The junior/senior high school enrolls 169 students in grades 7–12, spends $15,874 per student, and has a favorable student-teacher ratio of 12.1:1. The elementary school enrolls 117 students in PK–6, spends $10,390 per student, and has a higher student-teacher ratio of 15.3:1. Poverty rates are high at both schools, but the elementary school stands out with 68.4% of students qualifying for free/reduced lunch, compared to 58.6% at the secondary level.

Academically, both schools struggle to reach state averages in most subjects, though there are bright spots. In 2025–2026, the elementary school’s math proficiency was 38.0% (above the district’s 37.4% but below the state’s 43.1%), while its English language arts proficiency reached 50.7%, close to the state’s 54.0%. The junior/senior high school posted all-grades math proficiency of 37.1% and science proficiency of 34.0%, both below state averages. However, its 8th-grade math proficiency of 43.5% actually exceeded both the district (40%) and state (41.2%). The high school also graduates 82.5% of its seniors, matching the district and state rates exactly. Weaknesses are most apparent in end-of-course ELA, where the high school’s 51.9% proficiency lags the state’s 61.3% by nearly 10 points, and in science, where the gap is about 8.7 points.

Several larger patterns matter for parents. The high school spends about 53% more per student than the elementary school and has smaller classes, yet its overall math proficiency is slightly lower—a mismatch worth investigating. Chronic absenteeism is a serious concern at the secondary level, with 22.1% of students chronically absent versus 13.8% statewide; the elementary school’s last reported rate (20.7% in 2020–2021) was also high. The district’s overall ranking (45th percentile, 2 stars) masks weaker school-level performance: the high school recently ranked only in the 27th percentile (1 star), and the elementary school has not been ranked since 2016–2017, when it fell in the 36th percentile. In short, these schools serve a high-poverty community with some bright spots—strong 8th-grade math, a solid graduation rate, and near-state-average elementary ELA—but chronic absenteeism and below-average proficiency in several subjects remain the biggest obstacles.