Mccleary Elem, Mccleary WA - Test Scores & Data

Original Research by School Decision on Mccleary Elem

McCleary Elementary serves students from pre-kindergarten through eighth grade in the small, rural town of McCleary in eastern Grays Harbor County. Because the school does not serve high school grades, there is no graduation rate to report. The school is a regular public school and is the only school in the McCleary School District. High school students in the community travel to Elma or Capital High School.

The student body is predominantly white, with a Hispanic population and a share of students identifying as two or more races. A substantial share of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, a marker the school uses for its meal program. The school enrolls roughly three hundred fifty students, with enrollment spread across all grades from pre-K through eighth grade. Each grade generally holds between roughly thirty and just over forty students, giving the school a small, grade-level feel where students know each other and staff.

On state assessments, McCleary Elementary shows a pattern of performance that varies by grade and subject. In English language arts, the strongest results are in eighth grade, where most students met proficiency. Third, fourth, and seventh grades also showed above-half proficiency, while fifth and sixth grades were lower. In math, no grade reached half of students proficient. Third and eighth grades came closest, but across the tested grades, math proficiency rates were consistently below that mark. In science, which is tested in fifth and eighth grades, the school recorded stronger results, with a majority of students meeting proficiency in eighth grade and about half in fifth. Overall proficiency across all tested subjects and grades placed the school in the top quartile relative to other districts in Grays Harbor County. The data available covers only one school year, so there is no trend to report, and a parent may want to ask the school directly about year-over-year progress.

The district adopted a three-year Strategic Plan in 2024, developed with community input, that names student success, staff effectiveness, communication and community engagement, and financial stability as its goals. The plan includes adopting new curriculum, setting common expectations across tiers of instruction, and implementing school safety measures. This plan gives a parent a clear sense of the district's current priorities.

McCleary itself is a small town originally founded as a logging camp. The Simpson Door Company remains the town's dominant employer, and timber and wood products have long anchored the local economy. The town has seen steady population growth, attributed partly to expanding job opportunities in the nearby Thurston County area and its proximity to Interstate 5 at Olympia. The housing stock is modest, and home values are well below the state benchmark. The town is compact, and daily street life is limited, though the annual Bear Festival draws visitors. The school sits on its original site and is integrated within the town rather than on a separate campus. For a family considering McCleary, the school offers a single, full K-8 pathway in a town with a working-class, timber-industry history and ongoing residential growth. The academic picture is mixed, with eighth grade English and science showing relative strength, while math proficiency across the grades is an area a parent may want to investigate further with the school.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 356%

School 56% · District 56%

▲ 6 pts above state median · ▲ 23 pts above county median

Grade 440%

School 40% · District 40%

▼ 8 pts below state median · even with county median

Grade 525%

School 25% · District 25%

▼ 15 pts below state median · even with county median

Grade 631%

School 31% · District 31%

▼ 6 pts below state median

Grade 726%

School 26% · District 26%

▼ 12 pts below state median

Grade 842%

School 42% · District 42%

▲ 8 pts above state median

English language arts

Grade 356%

School 56% · District 56%

▲ 9 pts above state median · ▲ 25 pts above county median

Grade 450%

School 50% · District 50%

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

Grade 536%

School 36% · District 36%

▼ 17 pts below state median · even with county median

Grade 638%

School 38% · District 38%

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

Grade 749%

School 49% · District 49%

▼ 2 pts below state median

Grade 868%

School 68% · District 68%

▲ 19 pts above state median · ▲ 33 pts above county median

Science

Grade 553%

School 53% · District 53%

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

Grade 864%

School 64% · District 64%

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

This schoolMcCleary 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-income43%Higher-income67%24 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income36%Higher-income63%27 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income35%Higher-income37%2 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income30%Higher-income68%38 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 3Lower-income43%Higher-income67%24 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income36%Higher-income44%8 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income24%Higher-income26%3 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income33%Higher-income50%17 pp gap