Summary:
Ely, Nevada is a small, geographically isolated city in White Pine County with five schools — two elementary, one middle, and two high schools — serving roughly 1,150 students combined. Four belong to the White Pine County School District: White Pine High School (365 students), David E Norman Elementary (362), White Pine Middle School (233) and Steptoe Valley High School (24). The fifth, Learning Bridge (166 students), is a State Sponsored Charter Schools campus serving grades K–8, so it overlaps the elementary and middle grades.
Among Ely's elementary and middle schools, Learning Bridge posts the strongest local results: 40.3% proficient in reading and 30.5% in math, ahead of David E Norman Elementary (29.1% and 25.4%) and White Pine Middle School (27.8% and 24.1%), though still below Nevada's 45.2% and 36.2%. It also has the lowest chronic absenteeism at 16.8%, versus the state's 25.5%. White Pine High School shows the clearest high school strengths, with 60.5% proficient in ACT English (state: 50.8%) and 26.3% in ACT math (state: 22.6%), plus a 93.5% graduation rate, though its absenteeism of 29.9% runs above the state. White Pine Middle School is a science standout at 35.0%, above district (21.8%) and state (25.5%). David E Norman Elementary holds the lowest current rank (20th percentile, 1 star), and Steptoe Valley High School faces the steepest challenges: 62.0% chronic absenteeism and a 77.2% graduation rate.
Two cautions for families comparing these schools: many test scores are suppressed by the state to protect student privacy, so those figures are unknown rather than evidence of weakness, and one school's Steptoe Valley High School has no 2025–2026 test data at all. Also note the sharp difference in reported free/reduced lunch — 18.67% at Learning Bridge versus 100% at the four district schools, which may reflect district-wide universal meal provisions rather than a precise poverty measure.
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