Hawthorne Elementary School

Hawthorne Elementary School is a Pre-K through 6th grade school in Boise, ID, serving 264 students in the Boise Independent District, and it has become one of the more encouraging stories in the area: despite nearly 98% of students qualifying for free/reduced-price lunch, Hawthorne ranks 75th out of 346 Idaho elementary schools (78th percentile) with a 4-star rating.

What makes Hawthorne stand out is how its academic results compare to nearby schools. Among high-poverty neighbors like Hillcrest Elementary School, Jefferson Elementary School, Garfield Elementary School, and Whitney Elementary School—all with free/reduced lunch rates above 96%—math proficiency ranges from roughly 19% to 32%, while Hawthorne's math proficiency is 55.9%. Its ELA proficiency of 63.6% is similarly 25 to 40 points higher than those peers. In fact, Hawthorne's ELA score matches White Pine Elementary School (63.1%), a school with far less poverty, and its math score is close behind White Pine's 62.1%. Only Adams Elementary School, Roosevelt Elementary School, and White Pine rank higher in the immediate neighborhood, and all serve much lower-poverty populations.

Science is a particularly bright spot: 71.4% of Hawthorne 5th graders were proficient on the 2025-26 ISAT science assessment, well above the district (48.1%) and state (44.0%) and the highest among nearby schools with available data. Chronic absenteeism, while still above the state average of 13.8%, has improved from 27.0% to 19.2% and is better than several peer schools. Notably, Hawthorne achieves these results while spending less per student ($11,303) than lower-performing neighbors like Owyhee Elementary School ($13,218) and Garfield ($13,098). The school has climbed steadily from a 2-star rating a decade ago, making it a school worth watching.