The top reported proficiency rate is 36% in Math. The lowest is 19% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Hulet Elementary School
Hulet Elementary School serves grades two through five in Holbrook, Arizona, as part of the Holbrook Unified District. It is a regular public school, not a charter or a magnet. The school occupies its own campus, separate from the district’s other elementary school, Park Elementary, which handles kindergarten through second grade, and from Indian Wells Elementary, which serves the northern parts of the district. Holbrook itself is a small city and the county seat of Navajo County, situated on historic Route 66 and near Interstate 40. It functions as a trade and service center for northeastern Arizona, with government employment, tourism tied to Petrified Forest National Park, and the BNSF railway as economic pillars. Housing values in the area, as measured by a widely used index, fall well below both the state and national benchmarks, and the local market is more affordable relative to incomes than the country as a whole.
Hulet’s enrollment is modest for an elementary school serving three grades. The student body is diverse, with a large share identifying as Hispanic, a similar share as American Indian or Alaska Native, and about a quarter as White, with smaller groups identifying as two or more races, Black, or Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander. The school did not report data on the share of students who qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, nor on the proportion of students with individualized education plans or those learning English, so a parent would want to ask the school directly about the levels of economic need and special education support present.
State testing results for the most recent school year provide a mixed academic picture. In math, proficiency rates declined across grades, with the youngest tested students posting the highest result and fifth graders posting the lowest. In English language arts, proficiency rates were higher in fourth grade than in third or fifth, but none of the grade-level results reached a majority. In science, only fifth graders are tested in Arizona, and the proficiency rate for that single grade was below a quarter. When compared with other school districts across Navajo County, Hulet’s overall proficiency across tested subjects sits above the midpoint, meaning it is roughly in the middle of the pack among its county peers. The school had only a single year of comparable assessment data, so no trendline is available to show whether performance has improved or declined.
Because Hulet does not serve high school grades, it has no graduation rate to report. The school’s disciplinary data, staffing ratios, and attendance rates were not available in the data provided. A parent investigating the school would want to ask the principal or the district for those details, particularly chronic absenteeism, which can be a useful early indicator of student engagement at the elementary level.
The district itself, Holbrook Unified, is the main public education employer in town. No recent district-wide changes, such as boundary redraws, leadership transitions, or program overhauls, surfaced in the research available. The school’s campus sits within the city, and civic life in Holbrook includes parks, a public library, a community center, a county fairground, and a range of Route 66 heritage attractions. The community’s scale is small, and families accustomed to larger, amenity-rich suburban school districts will find a different rhythm here, one shaped by the high desert landscape and the city’s role as a regional hub.
For a family considering Hulet, the central question is whether the school’s middling proficiency results, which trail state averages in most areas, align with their expectations for academic foundations in the elementary years. The school is a standard, neighborhood-based public option in a community where home prices are low and the cost of living is relatively modest. The lack of publicly available data on student supports, special education staffing, and English learner services means that a parent should plan to visit, observe classrooms, and speak directly with the principal about how the school serves its varied student population.
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