Original Research by School Decision on Birth to Three
Birth to Three is a special education school in the Cheney School District that serves only pre-kindergarten students. This is not a general-attendance school for the neighborhood; it is a specialized program designed for children with developmental needs in their earliest years. The school's structure and purpose mean that many of the standard measures used to evaluate K-12 schools simply do not apply here.
Because Birth to Three serves only a pre-kindergarten population, there are no state testing results to report. The grades that take state assessments begin later, so this school sits entirely outside that accountability framework. There is no graduation rate for the same reason: the school does not serve high school students. The enrollment count is reported as zero at the time of the data collection, but this may reflect the nature of a program that draws its students from across the district rather than functioning as a traditional school with a fixed daily roll. A parent looking for test scores or a graduation rate will not find them here, and that is expected for this type of program.
The school's location in Cheney places it within a small college town dominated by Eastern Washington University. The town's character is shaped by the university's presence, which raises the population substantially when classes are in session. Healthcare and agriculture form the private-sector employment base, and Fairchild Air Force Base is a major employer nearby, with many military families living in the community. Cheney's population has shown a slight decline in recent estimates, a shift that families moving to the area may want to consider in terms of housing market trends. Housing values in the area sit roughly in line with national benchmarks, and rents are moderate relative to incomes, making the region more affordable than some other parts of the state.
The Cheney School District did not have any recent parent-relevant changes publicly flagged, so the district context appears stable on its surface. For a family whose child is already receiving early intervention services through the district, Birth to Three is likely the program that coordinates those services at the pre-kindergarten level. For a family considering a move to Cheney with a young child who has identified special needs, this school exists as a resource within the larger district system. The school's program offerings, staffing ratios, and specific services were not detailed in the available data, so a parent would want to contact the Cheney School District directly to understand exactly what Birth to Three provides, how children are referred, and what the transition into kindergarten looks like. The program is specialized and narrowly targeted, not a school a family chooses in the conventional sense, but a critical support for the children and families it exists to serve.
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