Summary:
ZIP code 67622 has two schools in the Northern Valley district: Almena Elementary serves prekindergarten through grade 4 and enrolls 78 students, while Northern Valley High serves grades 9–12 and enrolls 41, for 119 students combined. The clearest shared academic pattern is that both schools are above their grade-level state benchmarks in math but below them in English language arts: Almena is 7 points above the state in 3rd-grade math and 10 points below in ELA, while the high school is 10 points above in 10th-grade math and 14 points below in ELA.
On the all-grades results, Almena stands out in ELA at 53% proficient, compared with 27% at the high school—a 26-point difference; Almena is 7 points above the state benchmark, while the high school is 19 points below. In math, the high school leads at 47% versus Almena’s 40%, a 7-point difference; the high school is 6 points above the state, and Almena is 1 point below. These all-grades results cover different grade spans, so they are not a like-for-like comparison.
Almena’s latest results show a sharp math rebound but a decline in ELA: from 2024–25 to 2025–26, math rose 29 points, from 11% to 40%, while ELA fell 5 points, from 58% to 53%; the school’s ELA lead over the state narrowed by 7 points. The high school’s 2023–24 graduation rate was 100%, compared with 90% statewide, and its 2025–26 chronic absenteeism was 13%, below the state’s 18% but above the district’s 4%; Almena reported 0% absenteeism. SchoolDigger ranked Almena at the 42nd percentile in 2023–24 and the high school at the 47th percentile in 2025–26. Almena’s student–teacher ratio was 10.4, compared with 6.2 at the high school; free/reduced-lunch rates were 60% and 44%, respectively, as context rather than an explanation of results. Since the schools serve different grades and only Almena has consecutive-year test scores, direct all-grades comparisons and area-wide trend claims are limited.
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