Marsh Valley Joint District

Marsh Valley Joint District is an above-average Idaho district in southeastern Idaho serving 1,064 students across 6 schools: 4 elementary schools, 1 middle school, and 1 high school. The district ranks 25th out of 101 Idaho districts with a 4-star rating, but that overall rating masks significant variation between schools.

Three of the four elementary schools perform at or above state averages. Inkom Elementary School is the district's brightest spot, ranking 89th out of 346 Idaho elementary schools with 4 stars, and boasts the highest current math (67.6%) and ELA (64.2%) proficiency among schools with recent data, along with the lowest chronic absenteeism rate (8.6%). Lava Elementary School, despite being the smallest school (42 students) and having a 52.4% free/reduced lunch rate, produces the highest test scores in the district (72.4% math, 75.9% ELA). Mountain View Elementary School also performs well at the 74th percentile. Downey Elementary School is the exception among elementary schools — despite high spending and the lowest student-teacher ratio (12.5), it has the lowest math proficiency at 19.2%, though its ELA scores improved dramatically from 25.7% to 53.8%.

The secondary schools are the district's biggest concern. Marsh Valley Middle School ranks in the 27th percentile with a 1-star rating, showing a dramatic drop from 7th to 8th grade — 8th-grade math proficiency is just 24.7% versus the state's 41.4%. Marsh Valley High School also struggles, with a 41st percentile ranking. Science is a district-wide weakness, with every school below state benchmarks. Chronic absenteeism exceeds the state average (13.8%) at most schools, with the high school at 19.3% — notably, the top-performing school, Inkom, has the best attendance at 8.6%. While spending varies from $6,150 to $8,519 per student, higher spending and smaller class sizes don't clearly translate to better results.