The top reported proficiency rate is 54% in Math. The lowest is 25% in English language arts.
Original Research by School Decision on Covington-douglas Es
Covington-Douglas Elementary School sits in the heart of a very small rural town in southeastern Garfield County, a place that was platted along a railway line more than a century ago and has long been tied to wheat farming and oil. The school serves students from prekindergarten through eighth grade, which means families with high schoolers need to look to the district’s secondary campus or a neighboring system. With a total enrollment that is small for its grade band, the school operates as a neighborhood anchor for a community that has been slowly losing population but remains stable in its agricultural character.
State assessment data for the most recent year paints an incomplete picture, because many grade-level results are suppressed to protect student privacy in a school where class sizes are modest. For the grades where results are reportable, the pattern is mixed. In math, the younger grades show a solid share of students scoring at the proficient level or above; by fourth grade that share is notably higher. In eighth grade, however, the share meeting that bar is lower, and in eighth-grade English language arts the share is also lower. A parent may want to look into this further with the school, particularly to understand how the curriculum and supports shift in the upper grades. Science results for both tested grades were suppressed, so no judgment can be made there. Looking across the tested subjects and grades for which data is available, the school’s overall proficiency index places it in the top quartile relative to districts in Garfield County. That is a strong signal for a small rural school, especially given that the cohort includes both larger and more resourced districts. Because the school does not serve high school grades, there is no graduation rate to consider.
The student body is predominantly white, with a substantial portion identifying as two or more races and a smaller but meaningful Hispanic presence; American Indian students make up a small share. The school reports no data on students eligible for free or reduced-price lunch, nor on students with disabilities or English learners, so the economic and support needs of the population are not visible in the available data. That is an important gap for a family weighing the depth of the school’s services.
The town of Covington itself is a compact, car-dependent place where residents predominantly drive alone to work. Home values are well below state and national medians, making it an affordable area for families. The community has seen a population decline over the past several decades, and the housing stock includes a notable share of vacant units. The school district’s recent changes were not evident from publicly available sources; the district appears to have maintained a stable footing without major upheavals.
Covington-Douglas ES fits a family looking for a small, rural setting where the early elementary years show a pattern of strong math proficiency and where the school performs well against other districts in the county. The suppressed test data in most grades and the lower middle-school results invite a closer conversation with the school about academic supports and expectations as students approach the end of eighth grade. For those who value a tight-knit community with deep agricultural roots and affordable housing, this school is worth a serious look.
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