The top reported proficiency rate is 56% in English language arts. The lowest is 50% in Math.
Original Research by School Decision on Gem Prep: Pocatello Llc
Gem Prep: Pocatello is a single-school charter district in Idaho serving students from kindergarten through twelfth grade. The enrollment is modest for a K-through-12 entity, with the bulk of students concentrated in the elementary and middle grades. Each grade from kindergarten through eighth holds a fairly even cohort, while the high school grades thin out considerably, with the smallest cohort in twelfth grade. This pattern is common in charter schools that grow students in from early grades and see attrition as families make different choices for high school. The student body is predominantly white, with a Hispanic enrollment that represents the next largest group, and smaller numbers of students identifying as American Indian or Alaska Native, Asian, Black, Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander, and two or more races.
Several pieces of information a parent might expect were not available in the data provided. Free-or-reduced-price lunch counts and rates were missing, as were individualized education program rates and English learner counts. The district's charter status, magnet status, and Title I status were all listed as null in the profile, though the name and structure of the entity are consistent with a charter operation. No locale brief or community economic context was provided, so there is no housing, rental, or neighborhood information to draw on here. We searched for a district brief covering parent-relevant changes such as curriculum updates, property-tax shifts, or referendums and found none, so we left that out rather than guess.
State assessment results from the 2024-25 school year are available for grades three through eight on the Idaho ISAT in math and English language arts. In math, proficiency rates across the tested grades sit in a moderate band, with the strongest showing in seventh grade and solid results in eighth. Third, fifth, and sixth grade math results were more middling. Fourth grade math results were suppressed for privacy, reported only as a range, so no clean read is possible for that grade.
In English language arts, the district shows a clear upward trajectory as students move through the grades. Third grade proficiency is low, which is worth a parent's attention. By fifth and sixth grade the results climb to a stronger level, and seventh and eighth grade stand out as the district's clearest academic strength, with a substantial majority of seventh graders reaching proficiency. The pattern suggests students grow into stronger reading and writing performance as they spend more years in the building, though the small third grade result is something a parent may want to look into further with the school. Fourth grade ELA results were also suppressed, reported only as a range.
Science results for fifth and eighth grade were suppressed as well, both reported only as ranges, so there is little to characterize there. No high school assessment data appeared in the provided results. Idaho typically tests high school students through the ISAT, and the absence of those results here may reflect the very small high school enrollment at this school, where suppression rules can kick in. We cannot confirm the reason from the data, so a parent would want to ask the school directly.
No graduation rate was provided. Given the very small senior class, this is the kind of gap that often reflects the nature of a small charter program rather than an indicator one way or another. No data on staffing, discipline, attendance, course access, or program offerings was available. No civil rights data was provided. No neighbor comparison set was included, so there is no way to position this district against others in its county or region from the materials given.
What the available evidence does show is a small charter school with a steady elementary and middle school population, a tapering high school, moderate and improving math performance, and English language arts results that build from a low third grade start into a genuine middle school strength. For a parent considering the early grades, the third grade ELA result is the soft spot to ask about. For a parent looking at the middle school years, the seventh and eighth grade performance in both subjects is the strongest signal in the data. The high school program is small enough that standard metrics do not tell much of a story here, and a direct conversation with the school would be the practical next step.
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