Conway School District 317, Mount Vernon WA

Original Research by School Decision on Conway School District 317

Conway School District 317 operates as a single K through 8 school in rural Skagit County, with a Mount Vernon address that places it amid the agricultural land south of the city. There is no high school in this district; students transition to a different school system after eighth grade, so there is no graduation rate to report here. The school is a regular public school, neither a charter nor a magnet, and serves roughly four hundred and forty students from kindergarten through eighth grade.

The student body is predominantly white, with a Hispanic population that makes up a meaningful minority. About a third of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, a share that is moderate for the region and suggests a mix of family incomes rather than concentrated poverty. The school's setting is rural and there is no data on classroom staffing ratios, chronic absenteeism, or discipline incidents, so a full picture of the day-to-day school environment is not available from the information at hand.

Academically, the school posted a combined proficiency index across tested subjects and grades that places it among the top quarter of districts in Skagit County. That is a strong showing on paper, though the story varies by subject and by grade. In English language arts, the school's overall proficiency rate lands above the midpoint among tested grades, with fifth grade and sixth grade both showing notably higher results than the elementary and middle school grades. Third grade and seventh grade trail somewhat, with about half of students meeting the bar.

In math, the pattern is uneven. Fourth grade and eighth grade proficiency levels are lower, with eighth grade in particular falling below the school's average. Sixth grade stands as the strongest math year, with a solid showing. The overall math proficiency rate for the school is similar to the English rate, but the late-elementary and middle-school grades reveal soft spots that a parent may want to ask about directly, particularly for students heading into upper-level math concepts.

Science is tested only in fifth grade and eighth grade. Fifth graders performed well on the state assessment, while eighth graders posted a lower result. The drop from elementary to middle school science mirrors the trend seen in math and suggests that the middle school experience at this school may present a steeper climb for students.

There is only one year of assessment data available, so there is no way to see whether these results represent an established pattern or a single snapshot. The school's overall index is strong relative to its county peers, and that is the clearest signal in the data.

Mount Vernon itself is the county seat, a growing city with a historic downtown, a new library commons that opened recently, and a flood wall completed in a prior year. The broader economy leans on agriculture and the annual tulip festival that draws visitors. Housing values in the school's ZIP code run above the state median, with rents that consume a substantial share of a typical household's income. The community is positioned along the I-5 corridor with transit connections to Everett and Seattle, which matters for families who commute. The city has been growing, and plans for a riverfront promenade and mixed-use development indicate continued investment downtown. The school itself sits outside that downtown core, in the rural expanse south of the city where the landscape opens into fields and the pace is quieter.

The district did not report any recent changes or strategic initiatives, so the available picture is static. What is known is straightforward: a single K-8 school in a rural pocket of a growing county, with academic results that rank well among its neighbors but show variability by grade level. Families considering this school should be aware that their child will need to change districts after eighth grade, and the middle school years appear to be the more challenging stretch academically. The school offers no high school programs, no AP or career pathways, and no graduation data, because the grade band does not include them. For a parent seeking a small, rural elementary-through-middle-school experience with solid county-level performance and a willingness to look into the grade-to-grade dips in math and science, this school fits. For anyone wanting a single K-12 system or a high school with broader offerings, it does not.

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Academic performance

How students perform on state tests, by grade, set against the district.

Math

Grade 361%

School 61% · District 61%

▲ 10 pts above state median · ▲ 20 pts above county median

Grade 456%

School 56% · District 56%

▲ 8 pts above state median · ▲ 18 pts above county median

Grade 547%

School 47% · District 47%

▲ 7 pts above state median · ▲ 17 pts above county median

Grade 666%

School 66% · District 66%

▲ 29 pts above state median · ▲ 31 pts above county median

Grade 757%

School 57% · District 57%

▲ 19 pts above state median · ▲ 22 pts above county median

Grade 840%

School 40% · District 40%

▲ 6 pts above state median · ▲ 11 pts above county median

English language arts

Grade 352%

School 52% · District 52%

▲ 5 pts above state median · ▲ 18 pts above county median

Grade 447%

School 47% · District 47%

▼ 3 pts below state median · ▲ 5 pts above county median

Grade 561%

School 61% · District 61%

▲ 7 pts above state median · ▲ 13 pts above county median

Grade 666%

School 66% · District 66%

▲ 19 pts above state median · ▲ 24 pts above county median

Grade 752%

School 52% · District 52%

▲ 2 pts above state median · ▲ 12 pts above county median

Grade 853%

School 53% · District 53%

▲ 3 pts above state median · ▲ 19 pts above county median

Science

Grade 569%

School 69% · District 69%

▲ 17 pts above state median · ▲ 24 pts above county median

Grade 840%

School 40% · District 40%

▼ 3 pts below state median · ▲ 6 pts above county median

This schoolConway School District, same grade

Graduation rate (ACGR) reflects the federally published Adjusted Cohort Graduation Rate for the most recent year available. We refresh this data annually at the close of each academic year in June. The federal source publishes a banded rate (for example, "90-94%") instead of an exact number for cohorts small enough to risk identifying individual students. The state distribution chart, where shown, plots every school in the state with a published rate or band; schools whose rate is federally suppressed are excluded. Where the federal source publishes a band rather than an exact rate, the school is placed within its band using a stable, ID-derived offset, so its position is consistent across visits.

Proficiency by household income

English language arts

Grade 3Lower-income44%Higher-income53%9 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income29%Higher-income55%27 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income40%Higher-income66%26 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income40%Higher-income77%37 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income33%Higher-income62%29 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income46%Higher-income56%10 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 3Lower-income56%Higher-income62%6 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income40%Higher-income77%37 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income33%Higher-income69%36 pp gap