Kendrick Joint District

The Kendrick Joint District is a small rural Idaho district with two schools — Juliaetta Elementary School (grades PK–6, 134 students) and Kendrick Junior/Senior High School (grades 7–12, 133 students) — serving about 267 students total. The district overall is rated 3 stars and ranks 43rd out of 101 Idaho districts, yet the two schools occupy very different places in their respective state rankings, with the elementary school at the 40th percentile and the high school near the bottom at the 9th percentile.

The elementary school is the clear science standout, posting 61.1% proficiency compared to 42.6% statewide, and its 5th-grade math results (54.5%) also beat the state (42.2%). Despite serving a higher percentage of low-income students (44.78% free/reduced lunch), Juliaetta Elementary School has lower chronic absenteeism (11.0%) than the high school (12.2%). Meanwhile, Kendrick Junior/Senior High School excels in math, with End-of-Course proficiency at 60.0% versus just 33.1% statewide, and its ELA proficiency (56.1%) edges out the state (54.0%). However, the high school's science proficiency is only 33.3%, and its ranking fell dramatically from the 55th percentile to the 9th percentile in a single year — a volatility often seen in very small schools where one cohort can shift results significantly.

The widest gap within this district is in science, a 27.8 percentage-point difference between the two schools, suggesting a possible curricular discontinuity as students transition from elementary to secondary level. The high school actually spends more per student ($14,456 vs. $13,113) and has a better student-teacher ratio (11.9 vs. 14.1), yet those additional resources don't translate into uniformly stronger outcomes. The graduation rate of 82.5% matches the state average exactly. For parents, the key takeaway is that the district's overall rating masks significant internal variation, but each school has genuine strengths — the elementary school in science and the high school in math — that make both viable options depending on a child's needs.