Acequia Elementary School

Acequia Elementary School is a small PK–5 school in Rupert, Idaho, serving 253 students in the Minidoka County Joint District, and it currently ranks 340th out of 346 Idaho elementary schools—placing it in the 2nd percentile and making it the lowest-ranked school among all comparable nearby schools with available rankings.

Academically, Acequia trails both its district and the state in nearly every subject and grade level tested. In 2025–2026, only 23.9% of students were proficient in math and 26.2% in English language arts, compared to state averages of 43.1% and 54%. However, the school shows some positive signals outside of academics. Its chronic absenteeism rate is just 8.3%, the lowest in its district and far better than the state average of 13.8%. It also spends more per student than any surrounding school at $8,204 annually. This combination of high attendance and high spending paired with very low academic performance makes Acequia an interesting school to examine.

When compared to nearby schools, the gap is stark. Rupert Elementary School, with nearly double the chronic absenteeism rate (15.3%) and a much higher poverty rate, still outperforms Acequia by roughly 10–12 percentage points in math and ELA. Dworshak Elementary School, located just miles away in the Cassia County Joint District, has similar attendance, higher poverty, and slightly larger class sizes, yet achieves dramatically higher proficiency—45.4% in math and 58.7% in ELA versus Acequia's 23.9% and 26.2%. Acequia's math proficiency also declines sharply as students move through grades, from 31% in 3rd grade to 19% in 5th grade, and the school has fallen from the 47th percentile in 2011–2012 to the 2nd percentile today. Together, these data suggest that improving academic performance at Acequia will require more than boosting attendance or adding resources—the school may benefit from examining instructional strategies, curriculum alignment, and targeted interventions, especially in math.