Summary:
Fern-Waters Public Charter School is the only school in the Fern-Waters Public Charter School Inc. district, serving grades K–8 in Idaho with 141 students and a student-teacher ratio of 16.4. This small, single-school district is a clear standout, ranking 8th out of 101 Idaho districts (92nd percentile) with a 5-star rating, and the school itself ranks 58th out of 346 schools statewide (83rd percentile) with a 4-star rating — an improvement from its previous rank of #74.
Fern-Waters outperforms Idaho state averages by wide margins in every core subject. In 2025–2026, math proficiency was 65.6% versus the state’s 43.1% (+22.5 points), ELA was 72.0% versus 54.0% (+18.0 points), and science was 53.3% versus 42.7% (+10.6 points). Year-over-year, math rose from 58.7% to 65.6% and ELA from 68.5% to 72.0%, but science dropped sharply from 71.4% to 53.3% — likely influenced by the school’s small test-taking cohort. Grade-level data show the strongest advantages in 3rd grade ELA (+20.3 points), 5th grade math (+20.3), 5th grade science (+18.5), and 7th grade math (+18.9). The only grade-level subject at parity with the state is 8th grade science (42.9% for both), while 4th grade math shows a modest +2.0 point edge.
For parents, this is a high-performing charter school with a particularly strong elementary program. The K–8 environment delivers excellent results in early grades, and even the weakest relative performance (8th grade science) is at the state average, not below it. The main watch item is the large science decline, which is an area of concern despite the school’s overall top-tier ranking. No free/reduced lunch data were available, so socioeconomic context is limited, and some grade-level combinations (like 6th grade) are unreported. Still, with a 92nd percentile district rating, a rising school rank, and double-digit gains over state averages in math and ELA, Fern-Waters stands out as one of Idaho’s strongest public charter schools.
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