Smoky Valley

The Smoky Valley area has four schools: an elementary, middle, and high school, plus a K–12 virtual alternative. In 2025–26, Soderstrom Elementary and Smoky Valley Middle School had all-grades ELA and math results above state averages; Smoky Valley High was close to the state in ELA, while its math was below. The clearest area-wide concern is the sharp contrast between those results and the virtual school’s much lower scores, particularly in math.

Soderstrom led reported all-grades ELA and math, with 62% and 57% proficient—about 16 percentage points above the state in each subject. The middle school also stood out, with 59% in ELA and 48% in science, respectively 13 and 10 points above the state. The high school had the strongest reported science result, 52%, or 14 points above the state, and a 99% graduation rate versus 90% statewide. The virtual charter had the lowest all-grades scores: 31% in ELA, 13% in math, and 16% in science. One important exception is eighth-grade ELA: the virtual school’s 50% was above the state’s 42% and close to the middle school’s 52%.

Recent results have moved in different directions. The middle school improved its SchoolDigger statewide percentile from 52 to 80 between 2023–24 and 2025–26, while the high school fell from a 95th-percentile peak in 2024–25 to 81. Across the four schools, average ELA proficiency slipped about 1 point and math about 4 points from 2024–25 to 2025–26; the high school’s declines were especially steep, at 15 points in ELA and 21 in math. The high school nevertheless combines those test-score drops with strong graduation results. The middle and high schools have similar free/reduced-lunch rates—about 36% each—but different scores; their student–teacher ratios are 14 and 10.1. These figures describe contrasts, not causes.