The top reported proficiency rate is 34% in Science. The lowest is 18% in Math.
Original Research by School Decision on Thomas Jefferson Jr High
Thomas Jefferson Jr High is a traditional junior high school in Kearns, Utah, serving grades six through eight as part of the Granite District. It sits in a residential suburban section of the Salt Lake Valley, on a grid of streets that traces back to the former Camp Kearns military base. The school's enrollment is sizable for a middle-level school, with a roughly even distribution across the three grades. A substantial share of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, indicating that the school serves a community where many families face economic pressures. The student body is diverse in a way that reflects the surrounding suburb: the two largest groups are white and Hispanic, each making up a notable share, alongside smaller but present populations of students identified as Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander, two or more races, Black, Asian, and American Indian or Alaska Native.
Academically, state assessment results place Thomas Jefferson Jr High in the bottom quarter among public school districts across Salt Lake County when looking at overall proficiency. Math and English language arts proficiency rates are lower than what many families might expect, while science proficiency is somewhat higher but still below the midpoint. These numbers represent the most recent state-reported test scores, though participation rate data for the assessments was not available in the source material, so it is not clear how many students were tested. The school serves only middle grades, so there is no graduation rate to report, and data on chronic absenteeism, special education enrollment, and English learner population were also missing from the records reviewed. A parent wanting to understand how individual student subgroups perform or how attendance patterns look would need to seek that information directly from the school or district.
Kearns itself is a primarily residential suburb with no traditional downtown. Civic and recreational life centers on Oquirrh Park, the Utah Olympic Oval, and the recently built Kearns Library. The community has seen modest recent growth, with some new housing constructed around the park, and it officially became a city in 2024. Housing values in the zip code are somewhat below the Utah statewide average but above the national median, putting this area in a moderate range for the Salt Lake Valley. Rents appear to be similarly moderate. Commuting to employment in neighboring cities like West Valley City and Salt Lake City is common, as specific major employers within Kearns were not identified in available sources.
The school itself operates as a standard junior high under district governance; it is not a charter or magnet school, and its Title I status was not reported in the data. No information was available on its course offerings, staffing ratios, or disciplinary climate. The Granite District is the larger administrative body, but the district brief returned no publicly reported information on recent referendums, bonds, or strategic changes, so that portion of the context could not be developed. Families evaluating Thomas Jefferson Jr High should be aware that the academic attainment numbers are soft relative to county peers, particularly in math and reading, and that key data points around student support populations and school environment are absent from the public record. The school serves a large, diverse, and moderately low-income attendance zone in a community that is still developing its municipal identity.
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