The top reported proficiency rate is 46% in English language arts. The lowest is 33% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Mcsorley Elementary School
McSorley Elementary sits on Lewiston's north side, one of seven elementary schools spread across this Idaho river city. It is a regular public school serving kindergarten through fifth grade, part of the Lewiston Independent District. The enrollment is moderate for an elementary school in this area, with a fairly even distribution across the early grades and a slightly larger fourth-grade cohort.
The student body is predominantly white, with a small Hispanic population and a scattering of students identifying as two or more races or other backgrounds. A modest share of students qualify for free or reduced-price meals, below what many would assume for a school in a working-class industrial city. The data did not include figures for English learners or students with individualized education programs, so those who need detail on special populations would want to ask the school directly.
On state assessments, the picture is mixed and varies sharply by subject and grade. English language arts results are the school's steadier area. Third, fourth, and fifth graders landed in a middle range, with fourth grade showing the strongest performance of the three. These are not standout numbers, but they suggest the school is moving a reasonable portion of its students to grade-level reading and writing. Math tells a harder story. Fourth-grade math landed in a middling range, but fifth-grade math results were notably weak, with no fifth graders reaching proficiency according to the state's own count. Third-grade math was reported only as a suppressed range, which makes it hard to read. Science, tested only in fifth grade, also came in low, with roughly a third of students meeting the bar. A parent weighing McSorley may want to look into what the school is doing to strengthen upper-grade math instruction in particular, since that is where the data is weakest. The state did not provide participation rates or scale scores for any of these tests, and the multi-year trend data carried inconsistencies that make year-over-year comparison unreliable, so we left that out rather than guess.
Lewiston itself is a regional hub at the confluence of the Snake and Clearwater Rivers. It mixes industrial and residential uses and serves as the retail, healthcare, and transportation center for the Lewis-Clark Valley. Clearwater Paper runs a pulp and paper mill that is the city's largest manufacturing employer. Ammunition manufacturers CCI and Speer Bullet are headquartered here, and light manufacturing and agriculture round out the employment base. Lewis-Clark State College gives the city a higher-education presence, and its ballpark hosts the NAIA World Series. The Port of Lewiston is Idaho's only seaport, the farthest inland port linked to the Pacific. The city sits at low elevation near the rivers, with terrain climbing steeply on the hillsides above downtown, which shapes how neighborhoods connect. Lewiston Transit runs two fixed bus routes with links to Clarkston, Washington across the river. Community events like the Dogwood Festival, Hot August Nights, and the Lewiston Roundup bring periodic street life. The economy is described as slowly diversifying, which has helped keep it stable, and the city has identified several development opportunity sites including a Business and Technology Park and waterfront land. A reservoir failure in early 2023 caused flooding, and the city maintains an active planning function.
The housing market around McSorley is relatively affordable compared with the Idaho state benchmark. Typical home values in the school's zip code sit below the statewide level and close to the national figure, and rents are lower still, making renting meaningfully cheaper than carrying a mortgage at current rates. For families weighing the cost of living against school quality, this is a neighborhood where housing remains within reach, and the rent-versus-own gap is wide enough that it shapes practical decisions for households moving into the area.
No district-level changes surfaced in our search for recent parent-relevant developments in the Lewiston Independent District, so we have nothing to report there rather than speculate. The district operates the city's high school, two middle schools, and the seven elementary schools, with McSorley among them. Program offerings, staffing ratios, discipline data, and attendance figures for McSorley were not available in the data we received, so we cannot speak to class sizes, specialist access, or extracurriculars. Families considering this school should ask directly about those elements. What the data does show is a school with middling literacy results, a clear weakness in upper-grade math, an affordable surrounding neighborhood, and a place in a stable small-city economy built on paper, ammunition, agriculture, and education.
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