Summary:
McCleary, Washington, has one listed public school, McCleary Elementary, serving students from prekindergarten through 8th grade. The small school enrolls 332 students and is part of the McCleary School District. With a 15:1 student-teacher ratio, 45.18% free- or reduced-price lunch participation, and reported spending of $20,692 per student, it provides the only public-school option in the city for elementary and middle-grade students.
The school’s statewide ranking has improved, moving from the 35th percentile in 2023–2024 to the 44th percentile in 2025–2026, although it has remained a two-star school. The strongest results are in 3rd grade, where 74.29% of students were proficient in English language arts and 60% were proficient in math—both above state averages. Overall, English language arts is the school’s strongest subject, with 49.50% proficiency compared with 52.81% statewide. Eighth-grade English results were also fairly close to the state average, while 4th through 7th grades generally performed below it.
Math is the clearest area for improvement. Overall math proficiency was 31.34%, compared with 43.11% statewide, and results fell to about 20%–28% in grades 5 through 8. Science proficiency was 43.66%, below the state’s 50.95%, after declining sharply from 57.14% the prior year. Parents should view the school’s 3rd-grade success and improving ranking as encouraging, while paying particular attention to upper-grade math and the recent science decline. Since this is the only school in the city, there are no local school-to-school comparisons; the most useful comparisons are between grade levels, subjects, and statewide results.
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