The top reported proficiency rate is 25% in English language arts. The lowest is 16% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Depew Es
Depew Elementary sits in a very small, rural town in Creek County, Oklahoma, and serves students from prekindergarten through eighth grade. The town itself has a long history marked by an early oil boom and a steep, sustained population decline over many decades, and it now functions largely as a residential community where most employed residents commute to nearby towns for work. The school is the only elementary building in the Depew Public Schools district, and for its grade span, it serves a modest student body.
The student body is predominantly white, with a substantial share of students who identify as American Indian or Alaska Native, and a smaller share who identify as two or more races. The school serves a full prekindergarten program through eighth grade, meaning that a student can attend this one building from the start of their school career until they are ready for high school. Because the school does not serve high school grades, there is no graduation rate to report; families will need to consider the high school separately when the time comes.
On state assessments, the picture is mixed, and a parent should examine the available numbers closely. For the tested grades where data was reported, proficiency rates in both math and English language arts were below what many families would hope to see. In several grade levels across both subjects, the share of students scoring at the proficient level or above was quite low, and in some grades the state suppressed the data entirely, likely because the number of students tested was too small to report publicly without compromising individual privacy. The same pattern held for science, where only the eighth-grade rate was reported and that rate was also low across the board. The overall proficiency index for the school, which averages performance across all tested subjects and grades, lands below the midpoint when compared with other districts in Creek County. This is a soft spot in the school’s profile, and a parent considering this school may want to ask the principal or teachers directly about how the school is working to improve student outcomes, what curriculum and interventions are in place, and what the trends look like from year to year. The comparison group is relative to districts in Creek County, so the context is a local one.
The school did not report data on the share of students who qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, nor on special education or English learner populations, so a picture of the economic and support needs in the building is not available from this data. Similarly, no information on chronic absenteeism, staffing ratios, or access to specific course offerings was present. The district brief turned up no recent major changes of note, so the school appears to be operating without a visible recent upheaval or restructuring.
Housing in the area is priced modestly compared to national benchmarks, which may be a factor for families considering a move into the district. The town’s long-term population contraction, however, suggests that the local economy is not generating new housing or attracting many new residents, so a family moving here should be aware that they are choosing a stable but shrinking community with limited local amenities and employment.
For a family that values a small, rural school where children can stay in one building from prekindergarten through eighth grade, Depew Elementary offers that straightforward structure. The academic results, however, are a clear concern, and a prospective parent would be wise to dig into the school’s instructional approach, support for struggling students, and any recent improvement efforts before making a decision.
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