Oakley Elementary School

Oakley Elementary School is a small, rural elementary school in Oakley, Idaho, serving 188 students in grades PK–6 as part of the Cassia County Joint District. Despite its small size, this school stands out as a high achiever: for the 2025-2026 school year, it ranks 100th out of 346 Idaho elementary schools, placing it in the 71st percentile and earning a 4-star rating. That puts Oakley far ahead of nearby same-district schools like John V Evans Elementary, which ranks in the 19th percentile, and Mountain View Elementary, which ranks in the 3rd percentile.

Oakley's academic performance is impressive across the board. In math, 57.8% of students are proficient, compared to 39.0% at John V Evans Elementary and just 25.6% at Mountain View Elementary. In English Language Arts, 59.5% of Oakley students are proficient—20 points higher than John V Evans and more than 30 points higher than Mountain View. Oakley also beats both the district and state averages in these subjects. This success comes despite the fact that nearly half of Oakley's students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, a rate lower than nearby John V Evans (58.8%) and Mountain View (62.9%). What's more, Oakley does it with a lower student-teacher ratio than the Burley-area schools and the highest per-student spending of the four schools compared.

There are a few areas worth watching. Oakley's science proficiency of 40.7% falls slightly below the state average of 42.6%, and some grade levels lag behind the school's overall strength, particularly 3rd grade math (43.8%) and 6th grade ELA (43.3%). The school's state percentile has also cooled slightly from a high of 79th in 2023-2024 to 71st in 2025-2026, and chronic absenteeism has roughly doubled from 6.5% to 12.9% over the same period. Even so, Oakley remains a clear academic leader in Cassia County and a school that is achieving well above expectations given its moderate poverty rate.