Summary:
ZIP code 89502 contains 17 schools serving about 7,127 students from kindergarten through high school: 10 elementary schools, 2 middle schools, 4 high schools, and 1 alternative school, all in the Washoe County district, which ranks 4th of 12 districts in Nevada. Most schools here serve very high-poverty populations — 14 of the 17 have free/reduced-lunch rates at or near 100% — yet performance varies enormously from campus to campus, so it is worth looking closely at individual schools rather than the ZIP as a whole.
The brightest spots are the two career-focused high schools. Academy Of Arts Careers & Technical ranks 14th of 105 high schools statewide, with ACT English at 73.9% proficient versus the district's 51.3%, and absenteeism below district and state. Academy For Career Education posts the highest available science result in the ZIP at 59.6% and the lowest chronic absenteeism at 7.4%, while spending one of the smallest amounts per student. Among elementary schools, Smithridge S.T.E.M. Academy beats district and state in math despite a 99.8% free/reduced-lunch rate, and Hidden Valley Elementary and Edwin S. Dodson Elementary show relatively solid reading and low absenteeism at 100% free/reduced lunch.
At the other end, the two middle schools are the clearest concern: Edward L. Pine Middle School and E. Otis Vaughn Middle School rank at the 1st and 3rd percentiles, with math proficiency of 7.1% and 12.3% and chronic absenteeism of 35.6% and 40.6%. Earl Wooster High School, the largest school here at 1,338 students, has 58.3% chronic absenteeism and very low scores, including 5% in science. Bailey Charter School also has low proficiency, and at Washoe Inspire Academy test scores are suppressed, so achievement cannot be judged. The pattern is clear: poverty and spending alone do not determine results, but attendance tracks closely with achievement.
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