The top reported proficiency rate is 68% in English language arts. The lowest is 61% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Christine Donnell School of the Arts
Christine Donnell School of the Arts sits on South Five Mile Road in southwest Boise, part of Joint School District No. 2, which covers a broad stretch of Ada County. The school serves kindergarten through fifth grade and carries an arts-focused identity in its name, though no specific program details were available in the data we reviewed. A parent interested in how the arts are woven into the school day would want to ask the school directly about its curriculum and enrichment offerings, since that information was not provided.
The school draws a predominantly white student body, with a smaller Hispanic population and a modest group of multiracial students. The share of students qualifying for free or reduced-price lunch sits below what many Boise-area elementary schools see, pointing to a relatively advantaged community. The enrollment is moderate for an elementary building, with fairly even distribution across the six grade levels. Data on English learners and students with individualized education programs was not reported, so we cannot characterize those populations here.
Academic results from the most recent Idaho ISAT testing paint a generally strong picture. In English language arts, the majority of third graders reached proficiency, and the share was even higher in fourth and fifth grades. Math proficiency followed a similar pattern in third and fourth grade, with most students meeting the state bar, though fifth-grade math results dipped somewhat. Fifth-grade science was also solid, with most tested students reaching proficiency. Across the board, ELA results were a relative strength compared with math, and fourth grade stood out as the strongest year overall. The fifth-grade math result is the softest number in the set. A parent may want to look into this further with the school, perhaps asking how the upper-elementary math curriculum is structured and what support exists for students as they approach the transition to middle school.
We looked for multi-year trend data to see whether these results represent improvement, stability, or decline, but the trend information returned was not reliable enough to interpret. We also looked for a comparison set positioning this school against others in Ada County, but no neighbor comparison was provided, so we cannot say where it stands relative to nearby schools. State testing data was available only for the most recent year.
The housing context around the school reflects broader Boise market conditions. Home values in this zip code run above both the Idaho state benchmark and the national benchmark, and rents are similarly elevated. The broader Boise area has experienced sustained population growth, publicly reported as driven in part by technology investment from companies like Micron Technology, which anchors a growing sector alongside established employers such as Albertsons, Boise Cascade, J.R. Simplot Company, and IDACORP. Boise functions as Idaho's capital and largest city, with a walkable downtown core anchored by cultural institutions like the Boise Art Museum, the Basque Block, and the Idaho State Capitol, plus the Boise River Greenbelt trail system threading through the city. Outside the downtown and near-river corridors, development is largely auto-oriented and suburban, and the school's location on Five Mile Road fits that pattern. Valley Regional Transit provides public transit, though coverage in outer residential areas tends to be limited.
Information on discipline, course access, staffing, attendance, and Title I status was not available in the data we received. The district brief for Joint School District No. 2 did not surface any recently reported changes of lasting impact, so there is little to relay about district-level shifts that might affect this school in the near term.
What the available evidence shows is a moderate-sized elementary school with an arts identity, serving a relatively advantaged student population, producing solid proficiency rates across most grades and subjects, and situated in a growing, relatively expensive corner of Boise. The main question mark is fifth-grade math, and the main gap in the public data is any description of what the arts focus actually looks like in practice.
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