Original Research by School Decision on Homeworks
HomeWorks is a public alternative school serving kindergarten through twelfth grade within the Cheney School District. Because it is an alternative school, it is designed for students whose learning needs may not be best met in a traditional classroom setting, and that mission shapes everything about the school. The school is located in Cheney, a small college town dominated by Eastern Washington University, whose presence swells the local population when classes are in session. Fairchild Air Force Base, about a short drive north, also contributes a substantial share of families to the community. Healthcare and dry-land agriculture round out the employment base. The town has a slightly declining population in recent estimates, and its identity has long been tied to the university and the public schools.
The student body is small, which is typical for an alternative program, and it draws from across the district. The grade-level enrollment shows a roughly even spread from kindergarten through tenth grade, with no students enrolled in the eleventh or twelfth grades, which is an unusual profile a parent may want to clarify with the school. The racial and ethnic composition is predominantly white, with smaller shares of Hispanic students and students of two or more races, and very small numbers of Black, Asian, and American Indian students. A substantial majority of the students come from low-income households, as measured by eligibility for free or reduced-price meals.
Because of the school's small enrollment and its alternative designation, Washington state testing data is heavily suppressed for privacy reasons. There are no reported proficiency rates for individual tested grades in math, English language arts, or science for a recent school year, as the counts were too small to release. Looking across the entire school, a single-year point for all students combined shows a proficiency rate above half in ELA, above half in science, and somewhat lower in math. This is one year of data from a small population, so it is a thin basis for drawing broad conclusions about academic performance. A parent should ask the school directly for its own assessment results and for a clearer picture of how students progress academically over time.
The school offers no publicly reported data on advanced coursework such as AP or dual credit, nor on career pathway programs. This may reflect the school's alternative mission, which often prioritizes individualized instruction, credit recovery, or social-emotional support over the traditional high school course menu. A family considering HomeWorks should seek a detailed description of the academic program, including how the school prepares students for graduation and for whatever comes next, whether that is a diploma, a return to a comprehensive high school, or a transition to postsecondary options. The four-year graduation rate is also unreported in the available data, which likely relates to the school's grade configuration and alternative status.
The Cheney School District itself did not have any notable recent changes surfaced in the search results. The district brief turned up little of lasting impact, so the focus remains on the individual school.
For a family evaluating this school, the central question is fit. HomeWorks is a small alternative setting for students who need something different from the conventional classroom. The student population is economically diverse, and the school's size means a parent can expect close relationships between staff and students. The absence of comparable test scores and the thin high school enrollment are important details to explore. A parent should talk to the school about its specific approach, how it tracks student progress, what the high school pathway looks like for the upper grades, and how it supports students toward a diploma. The setting in Cheney offers a college-town atmosphere with outdoor recreation nearby, but the school itself is defined by its specialized mission rather than by the competitive academic profile of a comprehensive high school.
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