The top reported proficiency rate is 75% in English language arts. The lowest is 63% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Dalton Elementary School
Dalton Elementary School sits in Dalton Gardens, a small residential suburb bordering Coeur d'Alene to the north and east. The community describes itself as offering a peaceful, semi-rural lifestyle, and the built environment reflects that. Single-family homes on larger lots dominate, with no distinct downtown or commercial core of its own. Residents rely on neighboring Coeur d'Alene for shopping, civic amenities, and employment. The city's population has been roughly stable to slightly declining in recent years, though home values have risen sharply as part of the broader housing appreciation seen across the Coeur d'Alene area.
The housing market here is expensive relative to both state and national benchmarks. Home values in the school's zip code sit well above the Idaho median and substantially above the national figure. Rents have been climbing as well. For a family considering buying, the gap between monthly mortgage costs and rent is wide, with ownership carrying a much heavier monthly burden at current interest rates. The community skews older, with a median age that trends toward the upper range for Idaho, and a substantial share of residents at retirement age or beyond. Married-couple households make up a considerable portion of all households.
Dalton Elementary is part of the Coeur d'Alene School District and serves pre-kindergarten through fifth grade. It is a regular public school, not a charter or magnet. The student body is small for an elementary school serving its grade band. Enrollment is overwhelmingly white, with a small Hispanic population and very few students from other racial or ethnic backgrounds. The free and reduced-price lunch rate is quite low, suggesting an affluent student population relative to most public schools. Data on English learners and students with individualized education programs was not available, so those figures cannot be characterized here.
On state assessments, Dalton Elementary shows a strong academic profile in English language arts. Across third, fourth, and fifth grades, the majority of students score proficient or above, with fourth grade being particularly strong. The school's ELA results hold steady across the grade band, which speaks to a coherent literacy program.
Mathematics tells a more mixed story. Third-grade math proficiency is very high, and fourth grade remains strong. But fifth-grade math proficiency drops to just over half of tested students scoring proficient or above. This is a sharp decline from the earlier grades and stands out as the clearest soft spot in the school's results. A parent may want to look into this further with the school, asking how fifth-grade math instruction is structured and whether the dip reflects a curriculum transition, staffing pattern, or something else. Science, tested only in fifth grade, lands in a moderate range, with a clear majority but not an overwhelming share of students reaching proficiency.
The school does not have graduation rate data, which is expected for an elementary school serving only through fifth grade. No high school metrics apply. Civil rights data, course access information, staffing details, and attendance figures were not available in the provided data. We looked for the Coeur d'Alene district's recent parent-relevant changes but found little of lasting impact, so that context is left out rather than guessed. No neighbor comparison fact-set was provided, so the school's positioning against nearby schools in Kootenai County cannot be characterized here. Program offerings were also not included.
For a family, Dalton Elementary presents as a small, relatively affluent neighborhood school with solid reading results and strong early-grade math performance. The community is quiet and residential, with housing costs that reflect the broader Coeur d'Alene area's run-up in values. The fifth-grade math dip is the question most worth pressing the school on before enrolling. Otherwise, the available evidence points to a school where most students are performing well on state measures, in a setting that suits families drawn to a low-density, semi-rural suburb with easy access to a larger city next door.
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