The top reported proficiency rate is 58% in English language arts. The lowest is 53% in Math.
Original Research by School Decision on Kenneth J Carberry Elementary
Kenneth J Carberry Elementary sits on East 12th Street in Emmett, the county seat of Gem County and the only incorporated city in the county. It is a regular public school serving kindergarten through fifth grade, part of the Emmett Independent District, which is the single K-12 system covering all of Gem County. The school shares its campus zone along 12th Street with other district schools, set apart from the Main Street downtown corridor where civic and commercial life concentrates.
Emmett itself is a small agricultural-valley town on the south bank of the Payette River, historically marketed as the "Gem of Plenty" for its fruit-growing heritage. Since the closure of the Boise Cascade manufacturing facility years back, the city has shifted toward a bedroom-community role within the Boise metropolitan area, and it is growing steadily as a result. Publicly reported sources describe the population as increasing at a brisk annual clip since the last census, driven by commuters drawn to Emmett's small-town character relative to Boise. The town is car-dependent by nature, with a Walk Score that reflects a place where nearly every errand requires driving. Civic anchors include Emmett City Park, described as sitting in the heart of the community, the Emmett Public Library, and the Payette River itself. No public transit system serves the city.
Carberry is a moderately sized elementary school for its grade band. Its student body is predominantly white, with a Hispanic enrollment that represents a meaningful minority share. Nearly half of the students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, which gives the school a mix of working-class and middle-class families rather than a uniformly affluent population. The data did not include counts for students with individualized education programs or English learners, so those populations could not be assessed here.
On state assessments, Carberry's results tell a story of a school where a majority of students reach proficiency in English language arts across the tested grades, and where math proficiency hovers around the midpoint, with one grade dipping just below half. In ELA, the third, fourth, and fifth grades all posted proficiency rates above the halfway mark, with third grade showing the strongest result. Math results were more varied, with third grade reaching a clear majority proficient, fifth grade close behind, and fourth grade landing just under half. The fifth-grade science result was suppressed in the state data, reported only as a range, so a specific proficiency figure for science is not available. A parent wanting a fuller picture of science instruction may want to look into this further with the school. Average scale scores and participation rates were not reported in the available data, and no multi-year trend could be computed from a single year of results, so there is no longitudinal view of whether performance is rising or falling.
The housing market in the school's zip code reflects Emmett's in-between position. Typical home values sit below the Idaho state benchmark and above the national one, which aligns with a growing Boise-metro bedroom community that remains more affordable than the state average. Rents are modest relative to ownership costs. The price-to-income ratio sits above the national midpoint, meaning buying a home here stretches household budgets more than the national norm, even with the town's lower price points. For families considering a move into the Carberry attendance area, the housing picture is one of moderate cost with a market that has appreciated only slightly year over year.
Several categories of information that parents often look for were absent from the available data. There was no Title I status reported, no discipline or attendance data, no staffing figures, and no course or program offerings listed. The district brief turned up little of lasting impact on recent changes such as levies, bonds, or curriculum shifts. These gaps mean the portrait here rests largely on assessment results, enrollment composition, and the community context rather than a full operational picture.
What Carberry offers, based on what is visible, is a community-rooted elementary school in a small, growing town where the cost of living remains within reach for many families, with academic results that show a solid foundation in literacy and room to grow in mathematics.
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