The top reported proficiency rate is 51% in English language arts. The lowest is 28% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Ustick Elementary School
Ustick Elementary sits on West Ustick Road in Boise, serving pre-kindergarten through fifth grade as part of Joint School District No. 2. It is a regular public school in Idaho's capital, a city where state government, technology employers, and food-processing companies anchor the regional economy. Boise has grown steadily through sustained in-migration, and publicly reported sources describe the broader Treasure Valley as one of the fastest-expanding metro areas in the Mountain West, driven in part by Micron Technology's presence. The school's neighborhood sits in a more suburban stretch of west Boise, auto-oriented and removed from the walkable downtown core and the Boise River Greenbelt corridor that define the city center.
The student body is modest in size for an elementary school. A majority of students are white, with a substantial Hispanic population and smaller groups identifying as Asian, Black, multiracial, American Indian or Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander. A substantial share of students qualify for free or reduced-price meals. Data on English learner status and special education enrollment was not available, so those populations cannot be characterized here.
On state assessments, Ustick's English language arts results are the strongest part of its academic profile. Across grades three through five, roughly half of tested students reached proficiency on the ISAT. The pattern holds steady from third grade through fifth, with fifth-grade results slightly ahead of third and fourth. This is a school where reading and writing outcomes are holding their own at about the midpoint of what Idaho expects.
Mathematics tells a different story. Third-grade proficiency starts at a moderate level, with close to half of tested students meeting the bar. By fourth grade that share drops, and by fifth grade it falls further, with only about a quarter of tested students reaching proficiency. The decline from third to fifth grade is steep enough that a parent may want to ask the school how math instruction is sequenced across the upper elementary grades and what supports are in place for students who fall behind early.
Fifth-grade science results are also low, with fewer than a third of tested students meeting proficiency. Science in Idaho is assessed only at fifth grade in elementary school, so this is a single-grade snapshot rather than a trend. A parent may want to look into how science is taught across the earlier grades and whether the fifth-grade result reflects a gap in foundational preparation or a single year's outcome.
No multi-year trend data is available beyond the current year, so it is not possible to say whether these results are improving, declining, or stable over time. Average scale scores were also missing from the state data. Participation rates were not reported, though the tested counts suggest most enrolled students in each grade sat for the exams.
The housing market around Ustick reflects Boise's broader growth pressures. Home values in the school's zip code sit near the state benchmark and well above the national median, which means buying into this attendance area requires a middle-to-upper income for the region. Rents are more moderate relative to local earnings, with rent absorbing a smaller share of household income than a mortgage would. For families weighing renting versus buying in this neighborhood, renting carries a meaningfully lower monthly cost than owning at current prices and interest rates. Ada County home values have been flat to slightly appreciating year over year.
Publicly reported sources describe Boise as offering the amenities of a mid-sized capital city, including a university adjacent to downtown, a river trail system, museums, a zoo, and a Basque cultural district. These cluster near the city center, while Ustick's west-side location places families in a setting where daily life depends on driving.
Information on staffing, course access, discipline, attendance, and Title I status was not available in the data provided. The district brief for Joint School District No. 2 returned little on recent parent-relevant changes, so nothing specific can be said about new programs, boundary adjustments, or leadership shifts at the district level. No neighbor comparison fact-set was available to position Ustick against nearby schools. A parent considering Ustick would benefit from asking the school directly about teacher experience, class sizes, and any intervention programs targeting math and science in the upper grades.
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