Longfellow Elementary School

Longfellow Elementary School is a small, PK-6 elementary school in Boise, ID, with 248 students, located near downtown Boise in the Boise Independent District. It consistently ranks among Idaho's best schools, earning a #9 ranking out of 346 elementary schools in the state and a 5-star rating.

Academically, Longfellow stands out dramatically from both the district and state averages. Its math proficiency rate is 77.7%, compared to 46.4% for the district and 43.1% statewide. English Language Arts proficiency is even stronger at 85.8%, versus 53.3% for the district and 54.0% for the state. Among nearby schools, Longfellow posts the highest scores in math and ELA, edging out Adams Elementary School, Washington Elementary School, and Highlands Elementary School. The school also excels at attendance: just 7.2% of students are chronically absent, well below the district rate of 22.5% and far lower than Washington's 24.2%, even though the two schools are less than half a mile apart and serve similar demographics.

Longfellow's success is not a one-year fluke. It has ranked in the top 30 of Idaho elementary schools in eight of the last ten years, and its performance has continued to improve even as its free/reduced-price lunch rate has risen from about 8% to 15.3% in recent years. The one relative area of opportunity is science, where 63.6% of 5th graders are proficient — still above the district (48.1%) and state (44.0%) but behind Highlands (77.5%). Notably, Longfellow achieves its results with lower per-student spending ($8,983) than several nearby schools that rank far lower, including Taft Elementary School and Jefferson Elementary School, both of which spend over $12,000 per student. For parents, Longfellow offers a dependable, high-performing option in the Boise area.