The top reported proficiency rate is 54% in English language arts. The lowest is 44% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Bess Herian Elementary
Bess Herian Elementary serves students from kindergarten through fifth grade in the small, rural town of Cusick, Washington. Located in Pend Oreille County near the Pend Oreille River, the town originated as a sawmill community centered on the Diamond Match Company’s plant. Today, Cusick is the headquarters of the federally recognized Kalispel Indian Community of the Kalispel Reservation. The town has a quiet, residential character with limited commercial activity and hosts the Pend Oreille County fairgrounds. The elementary school sits on a separated campus at Monumental Way, rather than being integrated into a downtown core.
The school is part of the Cusick School District, which in early 2024 saw voters approve a replacement Educational Programs & Operations levy that funds a meaningful portion of the district’s operating budget. That levy covers staffing beyond what the state funds, as well as athletics, extracurricular activities, clubs, transportation, technology, and curriculum. The measure replaced a prior levy that had expired.
Bess Herian Elementary is a regular public school with a comparatively small enrollment for its grade band. The student body is predominantly white, with a substantial portion of students who identify as American Indian or Alaska Native, reflecting the local Kalispel community. A smaller share of students are Hispanic, and a notable group identifies as two or more races. A very large majority of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, indicating that the school serves a community with significant economic need. Data on the number of students with Individualized Education Programs and English learner classifications was not available in the source records.
On state assessments administered in the most recent testing year, the proficiency picture varied by grade and subject. In third grade, a slim majority of students met the bar in both English language arts and math. In fourth grade, a solid majority were proficient in English language arts, with a similar share in math. In fifth grade, results fell notably; fewer than half of students reached proficiency in English language arts, and a considerably smaller share did so in math. On the fifth-grade science assessment, a similar proportion of students met the standard. When looking across all tested grades and subjects, the school’s combined proficiency index sits above the midpoint among the three districts in Pend Oreille County. Because the school serves only elementary grades, there is no graduation rate to report, and chronic absenteeism data was also absent from the records.
Because the school is an elementary-only building, it does not offer high-school-level programs such as Advanced Placement, career and technical education pathways, or dual-credit courses. No information on course access, staffing ratios, or disciplinary patterns was available in the source materials. Families looking for program offerings beyond the core elementary curriculum may want to ask the school directly about what enrichments are in place.
Housing in the Cusick area is notably more affordable than the Washington state benchmark, with a typical home value well below the state figure, though the market has seen modest appreciation over the past year. The town is very small and slow-growing, with no major new housing developments or commercial projects identified in public records.
For parents considering Bess Herian Elementary, the school offers a small, rural setting with a class composition that reflects the local tribal community and a student body where many families face economic challenges. Academic proficiency across the tested grades shows a pattern of inconsistency: stronger early-grade results, a narrower group of students hitting the mark in math by fifth grade, and a similar pattern in English language arts. A parent may want to investigate the school’s approach to supporting students who are not yet meeting benchmarks, particularly in the upper elementary grades. The district’s recently approved operating levy provides a stable funding source for core operations and extracurriculars, which matters in a small district with limited local property tax base.
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