Summary:
The Caldwell District in Idaho is home to 10 schools — including five elementary schools, two middle schools, two high schools, and one alternative school — serving about 5,134 students, yet it ranks 98th out of 101 Idaho districts with a 0-star rating. Academic proficiency across the district is far below state averages, with only 19.1% of students proficient in math compared to 43.1% statewide, and 30% proficient in ELA compared to 54% statewide. Chronic absenteeism runs at 29.9%, more than double the state's 13.8%, and nearly every school reports free/reduced lunch rates above 70%.
A few schools stand out even within this challenging context. Van Buren Elementary School has the highest math proficiency in the district at 30%, while Wilson Elementary School posts the strongest 3rd-grade scores in the district, with 44.9% math and 39.1% ELA, but those same students appear to collapse by 4th grade, dropping to 13% math and 16.9% ELA. Syringa Middle School has the best middle school ELA at 35.1% but the lowest math at 15.3%, while Caldwell Senior High School leads the high schools with 45.8% ELA and an 82.5% graduation rate. Lewis And Clark Elementary has the best attendance at 18.5% chronic absenteeism but ranks 345th out of 346 Idaho elementary schools.
The most urgent patterns include a major math crisis across all grade levels, a troubling middle school math collapse, and an extreme attendance problem at Canyon Springs High School, where 81.2% of students are chronically absent despite higher per-student spending. Sacajawea Elementary School ranks last in the state at 346th out of 346 schools. The district's high poverty levels correlate with low performance, though Wilson Elementary School's strong 3rd-grade results show that poverty does not have to determine outcomes.
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