The top reported proficiency rate is 34% in Science. The lowest is 27% in English language arts.
Original Research by School Decision on North Elementary
North Elementary, a regular public school in the Moses Lake School District, serves kindergarten through fifth grade. It is one of several elementary schools spread across this central Washington city, which has grown from an agricultural hub into a manufacturing and industrial center with aerospace testing, polysilicon production, and electric vehicle battery plants. The community describes itself as having a small-town feel while expanding its arts, industrial, and agricultural sectors. Moses Lake is auto-oriented, bisected by major highways, and its civic and educational facilities sit on separate campuses rather than a walkable downtown core. The city is growing steadily, with ongoing industrial development and a housing market where home values are roughly in line with the national average but well below the state median. Rents are slightly below the national figure.
North Elementary’s student body reflects the broader community’s diversity. The school is majority Hispanic, with a substantial white population and smaller shares of Black, Asian, two-or-more-races, and American Indian students. A large proportion of families qualify for free or reduced-price meals, indicating a high level of economic need. Data on students with disabilities and English learners was not available in the reporting, though these are common characteristics that a parent may want to discuss with the school directly.
On the 2024-25 state assessments, proficiency rates across subjects and grade levels were low. In third-grade math, about one in five students met the bar; in fourth grade roughly one in four; in fifth grade about two in five. In English language arts, third-grade proficiency was lower still, with about one in seven students proficient, while fourth and fifth grades each landed around one in three. Fifth-grade science proficiency was about one in three. Taken together, the school’s overall proficiency index places it below the midpoint among districts in Grant County. Only a single year of assessment data was available, so there is no trend to compare against. Because North Elementary serves only elementary grades, no graduation rate is reported, and chronic absenteeism figures were also absent from the data.
The district context shows that Moses Lake School District has invested in new facilities in recent years, including the addition of Vicki I. Groff Elementary and a project-based learning high school called Vanguard Academy. These are district-level changes that may affect future feeder patterns or program options for families once students reach upper grades, but for North Elementary’s current grade span, the academic picture is the primary consideration.
North Elementary sits in a city with a strong industrial and manufacturing base and a growing population, but the school’s test results are a soft spot relative to other Grant County districts. A parent considering this school will want to explore what supports are in place for students who are not yet meeting benchmarks, and how the school addresses the high level of economic need among its families. The school is a straightforward neighborhood elementary with no special magnet or charter status. For families who value a walkable downtown or extensive extracurricular offerings, Moses Lake’s spread-out layout and the school’s focus on the elementary years may or may not align with their priorities. The data available paints a clear picture of a school serving a high-poverty community, with academic outcomes that lag behind the county median.
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