Best Public Schools in Zip Code 74951

ZIP code 74951 has three schools in the Panama district serving pre-K through grade 12: Panama Elementary School (414 students), Panama Middle School (107), and Panama High School (223). The 2025–2026 results show a clear difference by subject and grade: ELA is the area’s strongest subject compared with the state, while mathematics is the most consistent concern. Most importantly, middle- and high-school math results are low both in the overall school figures and in same-grade state comparisons.

Each school stands out in a different subject. Panama High School has the highest all-grades ELA result at 30%, ahead of Panama Middle School at 22% and Panama Elementary School at 17%; High is also the only school with a reported U.S. History result, 26% versus 41% statewide. Elementary leads in all-grades math at 21%, compared with 8% at both Middle and High; those latter results are 17 points below the 25% state figure. Middle leads in science at 30%, matching the state overall, while Elementary has 10% and High 16%. Elementary’s grade 3 results are a bright spot—31% in ELA and 37% in math, above state results of 26% and 33%—but its grades 4 and 5 results are below state figures. All-grades results span different grade ranges, so they are not perfectly like-for-like comparisons.

Middle improved from 2024–2025 to 2025–2026 in ELA, math, and science, rising 15, 5, and 12 points; Elementary declined 2, 1, and 18 points, while High declined 10, 12, and 7 points. SchoolDigger’s rankings moved in the same contrasting directions: Middle rose from the 6th percentile (0 stars) to the 35th (2 stars), while High fell from the 68th percentile (3 stars) to the 27th (1 star); Elementary moved from the 34th percentile (2 stars) to the 29th (1 star). In 2024–2025, free/reduced lunch eligible figures were 78%–81% across the schools. Student-teacher ratios ranged from 15.1 at Elementary to 22.2 at Middle; High’s 2024–2025 graduation rate was 89%, compared with 78% statewide.