The top reported proficiency rate is 35% in Science. The lowest is 14% in English language arts.
Original Research by School Decision on Woodland Upper Es
Woodland Upper ES is a small rural school serving grades six through eight in Fairfax, Oklahoma, as part of the Woodland Public Schools district, which was itself formed from the consolidation of the Fairfax and Ralston school systems. The school sits in a town that has seen a long, steady population decline over many decades, a trajectory tied to the area’s historical reliance on agriculture and oil production. There is no evidence of new housing development or recent growth, which gives this setting a quiet, contracted feel rather than a dynamic one. The town has a public library, a city park with a pool and tennis courts, and a local hospital that has drawn wider attention for its role in rural healthcare. For families considering a move, the housing market is notably affordable relative to state and national benchmarks.
The student body is small and predominantly Native American, with a smaller share of white students and very few students from other racial or ethnic backgrounds. State testing data for the 2024-25 school year is limited. For sixth and seventh graders in both math and English language arts, the results are suppressed, meaning the state does not report them, often due to small group sizes that raise privacy concerns. For eighth graders, where data is reported, proficiency rates are in a low range in math and English language arts, while science proficiency is somewhat higher. The school’s overall proficiency index across all tested subjects and grades sits below the midpoint when compared to other districts within Osage County. A parent should note that the state also changed its cut scores for the math and English language arts assessments in this year, making direct comparisons to prior results unreliable. The science assessment was not changed.
Because this is a middle school that does not serve high school grades, there is no graduation rate to consider. Data on free or reduced-price lunch eligibility, special education identification, English learner status, and chronic absenteeism were all unavailable in the provided records, leaving gaps in the picture of student support needs. The school is not a charter school, and its Title I status was not specified.
For a family, this is a place with a very small, tight-knit middle school environment in a rural town that is not growing. The student population is heavily Native American, which shapes the peer community in a way that may be a natural fit for some families. Academic performance on state tests is low where it can be seen, and the absence of reported results for most grade-subject combinations leaves a parent with limited information on how most students are doing. The district has a quiet profile, and no recent major changes were found in publicly available sources that would alter a family’s sense of what to expect. This is a school a family would want to visit and talk to directly, particularly about how the school supports its students academically and what resources are available for those who may need extra help, since the data does not speak clearly to those questions.
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