The top reported proficiency rate is 29% in Science. The lowest is 12% in Math.
Original Research by School Decision on Jay Upper Es
Jay Upper ES serves grades four through six in the town of Jay, which sits as the county seat of rural Delaware County in northeastern Oklahoma. The school is part of the Jay district and occupies a building in a small community where government, tribal, and agricultural work anchor the local economy. Jay’s population has been essentially flat for decades, and the town’s character is shaped by a traditional courthouse square, the Cherokee Nation’s presence, and a mix of recreation from nearby Grand Lake and employment at a chicken-processing plant. The school itself is a mid-sized upper elementary building, with a student body that reflects the area’s demographic makeup.
Enrollment is modest for a three-grade school. About half of the students are Native American, a substantial number are White, and there are smaller shares of Asian, Hispanic, and multiracial students. Data on free or reduced-price lunch eligibility and special education or English learner status was not available, leaving that aspect of the student profile unclear.
On state assessments, the picture is straightforward. Proficiency rates in math and English language arts across all three tested grades are low. In fourth grade math, roughly one in five students scored at the proficient level or above, and the rates drop noticeably in fifth and sixth grade, where fewer than one in ten students met the bar. ELA results are somewhat higher but still low, with the fifth grade showing about one in five proficient, while sixth grade falls to roughly one in seven. Science, tested in fifth grade only, had the highest proficiency among all subjects, though still at a modest level. Compared with other school districts in Delaware County, the school’s overall proficiency index sits below the midpoint. Oklahoma’s state assessment underwent cut-score changes in math and ELA in recent years, which makes direct trend comparisons uncertain, but the current numbers are well below what many families would expect.
Because the school serves only grades four through six, there is no graduation rate to report. That is a simple consequence of the grade band, not a missing indicator. Likewise, no data on chronic absenteeism or discipline was available, and the school does not appear in the program offerings section, so course access and extracurriculars are not described here.
For housing context, the area around Jay shows home values that are close to the state average, and the cost of buying is moderate relative to national norms. The broader county’s growth has not translated into significant population gains for the town itself, and the housing market appears stable rather than rapidly appreciating.
The district brief turned up no recent changes such as bond measures, curriculum overhauls, or property-tax shifts that would alter the academic landscape. That absence is itself information: for a parent looking at the district, there are no major policy shifts to weigh beyond what the current school data shows.
This school fits a family who wants a small, rural setting where the student body is predominantly Native American and the community is anchored by tribal government and a courthouse-town feel. The academic proficiency numbers are low, and a parent would want to ask the school directly about what interventions or supports are in place for students who are not yet meeting grade-level expectations. Without free-lunch or special-education data, the full picture of student needs is incomplete. The school’s role as an upper elementary feeder means the middle school and high school experience will be elsewhere in the district, and those older buildings may carry their own test results and program offerings that could factor into a longer view.
See more original research from School Decision →