The top reported proficiency rate is 46% in English language arts. The lowest is 40% in Math.
Original Research by School Decision on Cedar East School
Cedar East School serves kindergarten through fifth grade in Cedar City, part of Iron District. The school sits in a setting that blends the town’s downtown core with Southern Utah University, a university integrated into the city rather than isolated on a separate campus. The economy of Cedar City depends on the university, tourism, manufacturing, and home construction, and the town brands itself as “Festival City, USA” with year-round events including the Utah Shakespeare Festival.
The school is one of the many elementary options within a district that is growing. In 2023, Iron District passed a bond to build new schools and upgrade facilities, driven by rapid enrollment growth, and the district has adopted new school boundary maps that affect which elementary school a child attends based on residence. A parent moving into Cedar City with a young child will want to verify which attendance zone Cedar East covers.
Enrollment is substantial for an elementary school serving only grades K-5, and the student body is majority white, with a notable Hispanic presence. A significant share of students come from low-income households, as measured by eligibility for free or reduced-price meals. The school’s special education and English learner counts were not available in the data we reviewed, so a parent with a child who needs those services should ask the school directly about supports.
State assessment results from the RISE test, which covers grades 3 through 5, provide a picture of academic performance. In math, the share of students scoring proficient or above sits below the midpoint among elementary schools in Iron County’s districts. In English language arts, the rate was higher, above the midpoint. Science results were close to the math figure. Overall, the school’s proficiency index across tested subjects and grades places it above the middle among the four districts in Iron County. That is not a top-tier showing, but it is solidly in the middle range for the county. A parent may want to ask the school how its results have trended over time, because single-year snapshots do not show direction.
The data set did not include information on the school’s course offerings, staffing ratios, or discipline incidents. Because Cedar East serves only elementary grades, there is no graduation rate to report. The school does not have a charter or magnet status, and its Title I status was not recorded in the data we used.
Housing in the immediate area is moderately priced relative to national benchmarks. The typical home value in the ZIP code is lower than the state average, and rents are modest compared to national levels. A family considering Cedar East will find a community where the university and tourism shape daily life, where outdoor recreation is accessible via paved trails and nearby national parks, and where the school district is actively investing in capacity to keep up with population growth. The town has a local bus system, and the built environment is described as free from heavy traffic and urban pace.
For a family looking for an elementary school in a growing, university-anchored town with moderate housing costs and a student body that reflects the wider community’s demographics, Cedar East sits in the middle tier of the county’s academic performance. Its strengths are in literacy, and its math and science results are areas a parent may want to discuss with the principal to understand how the school is approaching instruction.
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