The top reported proficiency rate is 38% in English language arts. The lowest is 24% in Math.
Original Research by School Decision on Silver Hills School
Silver Hills School serves students from preschool through grade six in Kearns, a primarily residential suburban community on the western side of the Salt Lake Valley. The school is part of the Granite District.
Kearns began as a World War II Army Air Forces training base called Camp Kearns, and after deactivation, homes and businesses sprang up rapidly on the old military infrastructure, making it the first suburb in Salt Lake County. The grid-based street pattern inherited from the base remains. The built environment is predominantly single-family homes on modest lots with some neighborhood commercial along major roads. There is no traditional downtown; civic and recreational life centers on Oquirrh Park, the Utah Olympic Oval, and the Kearns Library, which opened in a new building recently. The Utah Olympic Oval is a significant local anchor, built for a prior Winter Olympics and still used for speed skating and community events. Kearns transitioned from a township to a metro township and was later officially incorporated as a city. Available land for new development is limited due to prior annexations by neighboring cities, constraining future large-scale growth. The community is car-dependent for most errands and commuting.
The school’s enrollment draws from this community and reflects a diverse student body. A substantial share of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch.
State testing data shows that student proficiency in math, English language arts, and science is below the midpoint among elementary schools in Salt Lake County. The composite proficiency index places the school below the midpoint relative to other districts in the county. A parent may want to look into this further with the school to understand how classroom instruction, curriculum, and intervention programs align with these results.
Because Silver Hills serves only through sixth grade, no graduation rate is reported. The school’s grade band means that certain high school metrics, such as college readiness or advanced coursework, do not apply here.
The school is a traditional public school within the Granite District and is not a charter school. Information on Title I status was not provided. Discipline data and chronic absenteeism rates were not available, so those dimensions of the school environment could not be assessed from the data at hand. Staffing ratios and course access details were likewise absent.
For a family considering this school, the picture is one of a community-rooted elementary school in a suburban setting with limited new development. The student body is economically diverse. Academic proficiency as measured by state assessments is on the lower end relative to the county, which is a point a parent would want to explore directly with the school. The school’s small size for its grade band means classes draw from a contained neighborhood area inside Kearns. The broader community offers recreational anchors like the Olympic Oval and Oquirrh Park, but lacks a traditional downtown and is car-dependent.
See more original research from School Decision →