Ross Elementary School

Ross Elementary School serves 331 students in 4th and 5th grades in Kuna, Idaho, and is part of the Kuna Joint District, serving as a key bridge between the district's primary schools and middle school. Ross currently ranks 212th of 346 Idaho elementary schools, earning 2 stars and sitting in the 39th percentile statewide. The school's math proficiency rate of 45.4% is above the state average, while ELA proficiency of 48.5% and 5th-grade science proficiency of 37.6% trail state averages. Compared with nearby schools, Ross outperforms Reed Elementary School and Reagan Elementary School in both math and ELA, though it lags behind high-performing schools like Hillsdale Elementary and Falcon Ridge Public Charter.

The school's most distinctive feature is its 4th-to-5th grade performance gap. In 4th grade, 57.9% of students are proficient in math — about 10 points above the state average. But in 5th grade, only 32.3% are proficient, one of the lowest rates among nearby schools. ELA shows a similar, though less dramatic, drop. Ross is the only school in the area serving exclusively 4th and 5th grades, welcoming students from PK-3 schools like Indian Creek Elementary and Hubbard Elementary School, whose incoming 3rd-grade results vary significantly. This means Ross must support students arriving with very different levels of preparation.

Ross also grapples with chronic absenteeism — 16.8% of students are chronically absent, well above the district rate of 11.2% — and a very high student-teacher ratio of 25.8, the highest among nearby schools. Economic need is rising, with 39.9% of students qualifying for free or reduced-price lunch, up from 31.9% a few years ago. On a positive note, Ross has improved steadily over time: its statewide percentile has climbed from the teens a decade ago to the 39th percentile today, and math proficiency has risen from 34.3% to 45.4% over the past three years. The school deserves credit for this momentum, though reducing absenteeism and stabilizing class sizes will be critical to closing the gap with the highest-performing schools in the region.