The top reported proficiency rate is 53% in Science. The lowest is 42% in English language arts.
Original Research by School Decision on Davis School
Davis School serves kindergarten through fifth grade in Vernal, Utah, as part of the Uintah District. It is a standard public elementary school, not a charter or magnet, situated in a community where the economy runs on natural resource extraction and tourism. Vernal is the county seat and a hub for oil, gas, and phosphate work, with companies like Halliburton and Schlumberger maintaining offices here. The town also draws visitors heading to Dinosaur National Monument and the surrounding mountains. For a family considering this school, the context matters: Vernal is growing modestly, with new elementary buildings and a K–12 charter school opening in recent years, though no major new housing developments were identified in available records. The school sits outside downtown, like most public schools in the area, and the district itself did not have any recent curriculum, property tax, or referendum changes surfaced in a search of parent-relevant developments.
The student body is predominantly white, making up the large majority of enrollment. Small shares of students identify as two or more races, Hispanic, American Indian or Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander, Asian, or Black. More than two-fifths of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, which places the school above a typical threshold for economic need and signals that a substantial portion of families face financial strain. The school serves exactly the elementary grades, meaning there is no graduation rate to report and no high school programming to evaluate.
On state assessments, Davis School's results present a mixed picture. In math, a bit more than half of students scored at the proficient level or above. In science, the share was similar. English language arts proficiency was lower, with fewer than half of students reaching that bar. These figures come from Utah's RISE assessment, which the state uses for grades three through eight. A parent looking at these results will see that the school's overall proficiency index, averaging across tested subjects, placed in the top quartile relative to the other districts in Uintah County. That is a narrow comparison set—only three districts in the county—so being in the top group speaks to relative standing among nearby peers, not to a statewide benchmark. The school's math and science results are above the median for this local group, while ELA is the area that drags the average down. There is no multi-year trend data available, so it is not possible to say whether these results are improving or declining over time.
No information was found on student discipline, chronic absenteeism, course access, staffing ratios, or attendance. The school’s civil rights data and special education or English learner counts were also absent from the available records. A parent who wants to understand the learning environment beyond test scores would need to contact the school directly for details on class sizes, teacher experience, student behavior, and how the school serves students with disabilities or language needs. The absence of these data points is a gap, but it does not signal anything negative by itself; the school may simply not report them in the sources used here.
Housing in the area has seen a modest rise in values and rents, and the typical home price is above the national median but below the state median. Renting is somewhat more affordable than buying in the current mortgage rate environment, though neither is cheap for a family on a single income. Vernal is car-dependent, with limited pedestrian infrastructure, and the school is not within walking distance of the downtown core. The town has a regional airport and transit routes connecting to Roosevelt and Salt Lake City, but daily life for most households revolves around driving.
Davis School fits a family looking for a small-to-mid-sized elementary school in a resource-economy town where the district has been investing in new buildings. The test score picture shows a school that performs above the local average in math and science but struggles in reading, and the economic need in the student body is notable. A parent who values a straightforward public elementary with no special programs or affiliation will find that here, but should dig into the missing supports data to ensure the school meets their child's needs.
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