The top reported proficiency rate is 22% in Science. The lowest is 13% in English language arts.
Original Research by School Decision on Sharon-mutual Es
Sharon-Mutual Elementary School serves the small rural town of Sharon in northwestern Oklahoma, a community that has long been tied to wheat, poultry, and livestock farming. The town itself is almost entirely residential with minimal commercial activity, and residents often commute to the county seat of Woodward for work and services. The school is a PK through 8 campus, part of the Sharon-Mutual district, and it sits within a compact townsite alongside churches and the post office. Because the school does not serve high school grades, there is no graduation rate to report, and its academic picture is drawn from state assessments for the grades it does cover.
Enrollment is small, with students distributed fairly evenly across the grades from pre-kindergarten through eighth grade. The student body is predominantly white, with a Hispanic population making up a notable share and smaller numbers of American Indian or Alaska Native and multiracial students. Data on free and reduced-price meal eligibility was not available, nor were counts of students with disabilities or English learners, so a family looking for that context would want to ask the school directly.
On state assessments in math, English language arts, and science, the results are weak. Proficiency rates that were reported fall in a low range across the tested grades, and several rate values were suppressed, likely because the tested groups were so small that reporting them could reveal individual student results. The clearest picture comes from the grades where rates were reported: in third-grade math and English language arts, for example, the share of students scoring at the proficient or above level was low, and by eighth grade the English language arts proficiency rate was also very low. In eighth-grade science, about a quarter of students met the proficiency bar. Oklahoma changed its cut scores for math and English language arts in this testing year, which makes year-over-year comparisons unreliable, but the current data nonetheless places the school’s overall performance below the midpoint relative to other districts in Woodward County. A parent looking at these numbers should understand that the school faces real academic challenges, and the small class sizes mean any individual student’s score has a large effect on the overall rate.
No data was available on chronic absenteeism, discipline, staffing, or course access, so it is not possible to speak to the school environment in those areas. The district itself appears stable; a search for recent parent-relevant changes turned up nothing notable for this small rural system. The town of Sharon has experienced population stagnation over many decades, and no new housing developments or major growth projects were found, so the school is serving a community that is not expanding.
This is a school that fits families who value a very small, rural setting where the school is a central part of a quiet agricultural town. The academic results are clearly a soft spot, and any family considering enrollment would want to talk with the principal about how the school addresses these challenges, what interventions or supports are in place, and what the classroom experience looks like day to day. The absence of several data fields also means a family may need to ask directly about special education services, English learner supports, and after-school opportunities. The lack of high school grades means that students will need to transition to a different school for ninth grade, likely to a consolidated secondary campus or a nearby district.
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