The top reported proficiency rate is 80% in English language arts. The lowest is 68% in Math.
Original Research by School Decision on Longfellow Elementary School
LongfellowElementary sits on North 9th Street in Boise, part of the Boise Independent District, serving pre-kindergarten through sixth grade. It is a regular public school in a city that functions as Idaho's capital and economic anchor, home to major employers like Micron Technology, Albertsons, and Boise State University. The surrounding neighborhood is an established residential area close to the downtown core, where cultural venues, the Boise River Greenbelt, and civic institutions are concentrated. Outside that core, the broader city is auto-oriented, with foothills subdivisions spreading outward.
The academic results from the most recent state assessments paint a school with real strengths in literacy and a more uneven picture in mathematics. English language arts proficiency is strong across every tested grade, with the highest marks in third and fourth grade and a gentle decline in fifth and sixth that still leaves a solid majority of students proficient. Math tells a different story. Fourth grade stands out as exceptionally strong, and third grade is also solid, but fifth and sixth grade proficiency drops noticeably, with a little over half of fifth graders reaching proficiency. This pattern, where reading holds steady while math softens in the upper elementary grades, is something a parent may want to look into further with the school, particularly if their child is approaching those transition years. Science was tested only in fifth grade, and the state reported a range rather than a precise figure, consistent with how small student cohorts are sometimes handled for privacy.
The student body is small for a school spanning pre-k through sixth, with roughly two dozen students per grade in most cases. It is predominantly white, with a Hispanic presence and smaller multiracial and Asian populations. The free and reduced-price lunch rate is very low, suggesting this is a comparatively affluent school community within the district. Information on students with individualized education programs and English learners was not available in the data provided, so those population sizes cannot be characterized here.
Housing in the school's zip code is expensive by both state and national standards. Typical home values sit well above the Idaho benchmark and roughly double the national figure. The estimated monthly mortgage on a typical home in this area is considerably higher than typical rent, making renting the more accessible path for many families, though rents themselves have been rising. The price-to-income ratio is high, meaning buying a home here requires a substantial income relative to much of the country. For families considering this neighborhood specifically for the school, the housing market is a real factor. Boise has experienced sustained population growth and in-migration, with technology investment driving expansion across the Treasure Valley, and that pressure shows up in local prices.
Several pieces of information a parent might want were absent from the available data. The school's Title I status was not reported. No discipline data, course access information, staffing figures, or attendance rates were included. No program offerings were listed, so whether Longfellow provides specialized arts, language, or enrichment programming beyond the standard curriculum cannot be confirmed from what was provided. No neighbor comparison or district-level positioning data was available to place this school against nearby Boise Independent District schools. The district brief searched for recent parent-relevant changes but found little of lasting impact, so there is nothing to report on that front.
What the data does show is a small, relatively affluent elementary school in a desirable central Boise neighborhood, with genuinely strong reading outcomes and math results that shine in the lower grades but soften as students move toward middle school. For a family drawn to the North End's walkable character and willing to navigate a demanding housing market, Longfellow offers a solid academic foundation with a peer group that skews advantaged. The upper-grade math results are the clearest question mark, and a conversation with the school about how it supports students in those years would be a reasonable next step.
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