Dayton Independent

Dayton Independent has two schools serving prekindergarten through grade 12: Lincoln Elementary School (prekindergarten–grade 6), with 453 students, and Dayton High School (grades 7–12), with 358 students. In 2025–2026, 23 of the 25 numerical test results were below the state result for the same grade and subject, making below-state performance the clearest area-wide concern.

Lincoln has the area’s only above-state results: grade 5 Writing was 41% versus 35% statewide, a 6-point advantage, and grade 3 Mathematics was 47% versus 43%, a 4-point advantage. Its results also vary sharply by grade: grade 6 Reading was 4 points below the state, while grade 4 and grade 5 Mathematics were each 19 points below. Dayton High had no above-state results among its 13 numerical scores; its largest shortfall was grade 11 Writing, at 22% versus 47% statewide, a 25-point gap. The schools serve different grades, so their test scores are not a direct school-to-school comparison.

Recent results and SchoolDigger rankings point to a weaker overall trend, especially at Dayton High. Across matched tests from 2024–2025 to 2025–2026, its scores fell by an average of 8 points, while matching state scores fell by an average of 1 point; grade 11 Writing dropped 36 points, from 58% to 22%. Lincoln’s matched scores fell by an average of 1 point, with grade 4 Reading rising 17 points and grade 5 Reading falling 10. SchoolDigger’s percentile ranking declined from 40 to 28 for Lincoln and from 43 to 18 for Dayton High. Both schools reported free/reduced lunch eligible in 2024–2025: 85% at Lincoln and 86% at Dayton High; student-teacher ratios were 13.7 and 12.7, respectively. These are contextual observations, not explanations for the results.