Jefferson Elementary School

Jefferson Elementary School is a small PK-6 school in Boise, ID, serving 228 students, and is part of the Boise Independent District.

Jefferson has faced significant academic challenges in recent years. Its 2025-2026 state ranking places it in the 6th percentile of Idaho elementary schools, with proficiency rates well below district and state averages. Only 28.2% of students met math standards and 34.7% met English language arts standards, compared to district rates of 46.4% and 53.3%. Chronic absenteeism is also a major concern, with 28.9% of students missing enough school to be considered chronically absent — more than double the statewide rate of 13.8%. This pattern has persisted for years, with the school remaining in the bottom 20% of Idaho schools for most of the past decade. The school also serves a very high-poverty population, with 98.7% of students eligible for free or reduced-price lunch.

What makes Jefferson's results particularly notable is the comparison to nearby schools serving very similar student populations. Monroe Elementary, located just 0.38 miles away, has nearly identical poverty rates but achieves dramatically better outcomes — 54.4% math proficiency and 51.2% ELA proficiency. Hawthorne Elementary, about 1.5 miles away, posts even stronger results at 55.9% math and 63.6% ELA. Both schools also have lower chronic absenteeism than Jefferson. Jefferson actually spends more per student ($12,207) and has smaller class sizes than many of these higher-performing peers, which suggests that resources alone are not driving the difference. For parents, this points to attendance and school-level instructional factors as critical areas to watch.