The top reported proficiency rate is 48% in Science. The lowest is 43% in Math.
Original Research by School Decision on Dworshak Elementary School
Dworshak Elementary sits on East 19th Street in Burley, the county seat of Cassia County and the largest city in the Mini-Cassia region of southern Idaho. It is a regular public school serving kindergarten through sixth grade, part of the Cassia County Joint District. The Snake River forms the northern edge of town, and Burley carries the character of a small river-town with a walkable downtown, local shops, and riverfront parks. Agriculture and food processing anchor the local economy. McCain Foods runs a frozen potato plant here, Dot Foods operates a distribution facility, and High Desert Milk and Suntado have both expanded in recent years. D.L. Evans Bank, a regional institution, is headquartered in Burley. The city operates numerous parks, a golf course, a municipal pool, and a library, with River Front Park along the Snake River serving as a community gathering space that hosts the Spudman Triathlon. The College of Southern Idaho maintains a satellite campus in town. Burley is growing modestly, with industrial investment continuing and interstate interchange upgrades underway.
The school's enrollment is moderate for an elementary covering the full primary grade band. Its student body reflects the community it draws from: roughly evenly split between white and Hispanic students, with a small share from other backgrounds. A substantial share of students qualify for free or reduced-price meals. The data did not include IEP or English-learner figures, so the picture of special-population services is incomplete from what was available.
On Idaho's state assessment, the ISAT, math results were mixed across the tested grades. Third and fifth graders reached proficiency at about the midpoint, with roughly half of tested students meeting or exceeding standards. Sixth grade landed somewhat below that. Fourth grade was the soft spot, with a smaller share of students reaching proficiency. A parent may want to look into how math instruction is sequenced across the upper elementary grades, particularly at fourth grade, where the dip is most visible.
ELA results were partially suppressed for privacy reasons at several grade levels, leaving only sixth grade with a reportable proficiency rate. That rate sat in the mid-range, with close to half of tested sixth graders proficient. The suppression of earlier-grade ELA data means a full picture of reading performance is not available from state testing alone. Science was tested only in fifth grade, and proficiency there was near the midpoint, in line with the school's stronger math and ELA grades.
No trend data spanning multiple years was available in a form that allows reliable comparison, so it is not possible to say from this data whether performance is improving or declining. Participation rates and average scale scores were also missing from the reported results.
Because Dworshak serves only elementary grades, there is no graduation rate to report and the school does not carry high-school-level metrics. Title I status was not specified in the available data. Program offerings, staffing ratios, discipline data, and civil-rights indicators were not provided, so those dimensions of school life are not covered here. We looked for recent district-level changes that might affect families and found nothing that cleared a lasting-impact bar.
Housing in the school's zip code is modestly priced relative to the state benchmark and sits below the national benchmark. Home values have been appreciating at a healthy clip recently. The price-to-income ratio is elevated, meaning local wages stretch less far against home prices than the national norm, which is common in agricultural regions where median incomes trail urban areas. Rental data was not available for this location.
What the data supports is a picture of a community-rooted elementary school in a working agricultural city with a stable employer base and ongoing investment. Academic results are uneven across grades and subjects, with some grades performing at or near the midpoint and others showing room to grow. Families considering Dworshak would do well to ask the school directly about reading instruction in the early grades, given the suppressed ELA data, and about math support in the upper elementary years, where the fourth-grade dip appears.
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