Keys Es, Park Hill OK - Test Scores & Data

Original Research by School Decision on Keys Es

Keys Elementary School is a public school in Park Hill, Oklahoma, serving students from pre-kindergarten through eighth grade. It is part of the Keys school district. Park Hill is an unincorporated community in Cherokee County, lying just south of Tahlequah. The area is historically significant as a center of Cherokee culture after the Trail of Tears, and many Cherokee leaders settled here. It is a low-density, rural community with no traditional downtown. The population has seen a modest decline in recent years, and a substantial share of residents live below the poverty line. The zoned public school districts that include parts of the Park Hill CDP are Tahlequah Public Schools, Keys Public School, and Woodall Public School, meaning not every household in the community attends Keys.

Keys ES has an enrollment that is relatively small for its grade band. The student body is predominantly American Indian or Alaska Native, with White students and students identifying as two or more races also making up a notable share. The school serves all grades from pre-K through eighth grade, which means it functions as a combined elementary and middle school, and children can attend this single campus from their earliest years through the end of middle school before moving on to a high school.

Academic performance on the state's OSTP assessments was mixed. The data shows that proficiency rates in both English language arts and math were generally low across the tested grades. In several grade levels, the share of students scoring at the proficient or above level was in the range of roughly a fifth to a third of test-takers. There was a clear soft spot in eighth-grade math, where the proficiency rate was very low, and a parent may want to talk with the school about math support and instruction in the upper grades. Some grade-level results in math and science were suppressed, meaning the number of students tested was too small to report publicly, so those results cannot be evaluated here. When placed relative to districts in Cherokee County, the school's overall proficiency index sits above the midpoint of its county peers. This is a meaningful point of comparison: while the raw numbers are low in an absolute sense, other district schools in the county face similar challenges, and Keys ES is performing in the upper half of that local group.

Because the school serves only through eighth grade, there is no graduation rate data. The school's state testing data carries a note indicating that cut scores for both ELA and math changed recently, so trend comparisons with prior years are not possible. The district brief showed no recent bond elections, curriculum shifts, or major construction projects publicly reported, so there was little to note about changes in the larger district context for this school. The school's Title I status was not available in the provided data.

Housing values in the area are around the state average, and home prices have been rising at a pace above the national average in recent months. Rent is the more expensive monthly option compared to a mortgage with a typical down payment, which reflects local market conditions. The economic context shows a national unemployment rate that has been steady and a real median household income that has edged up in recent years, though these are national figures and local conditions in Cherokee County may differ.

For a family trying to get a sense of this school, the picture is of a small, combined elementary and middle school in a rural, economically challenged community with a strong Cherokee cultural presence. The school sits in the middle of the pack for its county on state tests, though overall proficiency levels are low. Parents who want to understand the academic experience for their child, especially in math in the later middle school years, should expect to engage directly with the school to learn about instructional supports and classroom dynamics. The area has seen population decline and elevated poverty, and housing is not inexpensive relative to state averages. The school's setting and demographics are a straightforward reflection of the community it serves.

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Academic performance

How students perform on state tests, by grade, set against the district.

Math

Grade 319%

School 19% · District 19%

▼ 10 pts below state median

Grade 433%

School 33% · District 33%

▲ 3 pts above state median · even with county median

Grade 735%

School 35% · District 35%

▲ 15 pts above state median

Grade 86%

School 6% · District 6%

▼ 6 pts below state median

English language arts

Grade 322%

School 22% · District 22%

even with state median

Grade 427%

School 27% · District 27%

▲ 10 pts above state median

Grade 522%

School 22% · District 22%

▲ 1 pts above state median · even with county median

Grade 613%

School 13% · District 13%

▼ 8 pts below state median

Grade 727%

School 27% · District 27%

▲ 6 pts above state median

Grade 819%

School 19% · District 19%

▲ 1 pts above state median · ▼ 3 pts below county median

This schoolKEYS, same grade

Graduation rate (ACGR) reflects the federally published Adjusted Cohort Graduation Rate for the most recent year available. We refresh this data annually at the close of each academic year in June. The federal source publishes a banded rate (for example, "90-94%") instead of an exact number for cohorts small enough to risk identifying individual students. The state distribution chart, where shown, plots every school in the state with a published rate or band; schools whose rate is federally suppressed are excluded. Where the federal source publishes a band rather than an exact rate, the school is placed within its band using a stable, ID-derived offset, so its position is consistent across visits.

Proficiency by household income

English language arts

Grade 3Lower-income54%Higher-income58%5 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income58%Higher-income81%23 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income47%Higher-income50%3 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income29%Higher-income67%38 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income37%Higher-income67%30 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income35%Higher-income44%9 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 3Lower-income33%Higher-income42%8 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income53%Higher-income88%35 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income68%Higher-income88%20 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income21%Higher-income62%41 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income12%Higher-income27%15 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income24%Higher-income25%2 pp gap