Irving Middle School

Irving Middle School is a public school serving 702 students in grades 6–8 in Pocatello, Idaho, within the Pocatello District. The school currently ranks in the 39th percentile of Idaho middle schools with a 2-star rating, a meaningful drop from its 73rd-percentile, 4-star standing in 2016–2017. About 47% of students now qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, up from roughly 39% two years earlier, reflecting growing economic need across the student body.

In the classroom, math is the school's biggest challenge. Just 35.5% of students are proficient in math, compared with 44.8% across the district and 43.1% statewide. The gap is most pronounced in 8th grade, where only 31.2% of students are proficient versus 41.2% statewide. English language arts is a relative bright spot at 52.8% proficiency, and 8th graders actually outperform the state average in reading. The contrast with nearby Alameda Middle School is striking: Alameda serves a nearly identical share of students from low-income households (46.2% vs. 46.9%) and has a similar chronic absenteeism rate, yet posts significantly higher proficiency in both math (44.4% vs. 35.5%) and ELA (62.8% vs. 52.8%), ranking in the 66th percentile.

Chronic absenteeism is another concern, with 24.8% of Irving students missing enough school to be considered chronically absent—roughly 1.8 times the state average and the highest among nearby middle schools like Franklin Middle School (12.9%) and Hawthorne Middle School (17.9%). Notably, Irving spends more per student ($7,793) than higher-performing peers such as Alameda ($7,136) and Franklin ($6,818). While the school has some strengths to build on, the combination of sliding math scores, rising absenteeism, and outcomes that trail comparable schools suggests meaningful opportunity for improvement through targeted academic support and stronger attendance initiatives.