Summary:
Zip code 83355 in Wendell, Idaho, is served by a single elementary school, Wendell Elementary School, which enrolls 429 students across grades PK–4 in a high-poverty community where roughly 80% of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch.
Because this is the only elementary school in the area, the focus is on its own performance rather than school-to-school comparisons. Wendell Elementary School actually outperforms its own Wendell District in both math and English Language Arts, yet both trail the state by wide margins. The school's math proficiency is 24% (district 20.5%, state 43.1%), while ELA proficiency is 36.3% (district 34.4%, state 54.0%). The largest gaps appear in 4th grade math, where only 22.1% of students are proficient versus 48.0% statewide. Chronically absent students make up 14.4% of the school, slightly above the state's 13.8% and above the district's 11.7%. That attendance challenge, combined with high poverty, helps provide context for the academic results.
Looking at trends, Wendell Elementary School has shown meaningful long-term improvement: state rankings moved from near the very bottom in 2016–2017 (1st percentile) to the 5th percentile in 2025–2026, and ELA proficiency rose modestly year-over-year. However, math proficiency slipped from 26.8% to 24.0% over the past year, indicating a subject that needs renewed attention. The district itself is ranked 97 out of 101 Idaho districts, placing it in the bottom 5% statewide. For parents, the key takeaway is that while this school faces real challenges tied to poverty and attendance, it has demonstrated some progress and serves as a relative bright spot within a very low-performing district. Targeted math support and attendance interventions would likely benefit students most.
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