High Schools in Butte County Joint District

Butte County Joint District, located in the rural Arco, Idaho area, is served by a single high school—Butte County Middle/High School—which enrolls 186 students across grades 7 through 12. Because this combined school is the only one in the district, its school-level and district-level results are identical for most measures, making it the sole focus of any comparison. The school stands out most clearly in English Language Arts: 71.7% of students are proficient, well above the state average of 54.0%. Seventh graders are especially strong, with 80% ELA proficiency and 72% math proficiency, both far exceeding state norms. These are genuine bright spots for a small rural school.

However, performance is uneven by subject and grade. Overall math proficiency is 46.7% (above the state’s 43.1%), but that success is driven by the excellent 7th grade results; 8th grade math drops to 37.5%, below the state rate. Science shows the widest gap: overall proficiency is 40.3%, below the state’s 42.7%, and End-of-Course science is just 28.6% versus 41.2% statewide. In contrast, 8th grade science is strong at 53.1%. Year-over-year, the school improved meaningfully in math (from 38.1% to 46.7%) and ELA (from 65.5% to 71.7%), while science dipped slightly. The graduation rate sits at exactly the state average of 82.5%, but chronic absenteeism is a concern at 18.8%—5 points higher than the state rate.

With only 186 students across seven grade levels, cohort effects can dramatically shift percentages. The stark difference between 7th grade math (72%) and 8th grade math (37.5%) likely reflects a single small group of students rather than a school-wide trend. Similarly, the district’s 3-star ranking (65th percentile) is higher than the school’s 2-star high-school ranking (46th percentile), a discrepancy that may stem from different ranking methodologies. For parents, the key takeaway is that this is a mid-tier Idaho school with clear strengths in literacy and notable recent improvement in core subjects, but it faces challenges in high-school-level science and attendance. Given the small enrollment, individual teacher and cohort changes can have an outsized impact on year-to-year results.