The top reported proficiency rate is 45% in English language arts. The lowest is 41% in Math.
Original Research by School Decision on Stratton Elementary
Stratton Elementary serves a community with a distinct set of strengths and challenges. As a regular public school for pre-kindergarten through fourth grade within the Newport School District, it educates a small enrollment of students in the compact county-seat town of Newport, Washington. Newport sits on the Washington-Idaho border along the Pend Oreille River, functioning as a commercial and service hub for Pend Oreille County’s rural areas. This is a place with a stable population and a history tied to timber and mining, though local enterprises like the MLB-certified Vullo Bat Company show ongoing commercial activity. A replacement Educational Programs & Operations levy is on the ballot for 2026, designed to fund core school operations at a lower projected property tax rate than the previously approved one, which is a directly relevant local issue for residents.
The student body at Stratton Elementary is predominantly White, with a small share of Hispanic students and even smaller shares of students who identify as two or more races, American Indian or Alaska Native, or Asian. A substantial share of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, indicating a district where economic need is a reality for many families. This is a characteristic of the school’s community, not a judgment of the students’ potential.
State assessment results for the 2024-25 school year provide a picture of academic performance that a parent should consider carefully. In English language arts, the share of third-grade students meeting proficiency was below the midpoint when compared with other districts in Pend Oreille County. Fourth-grade students performed markedly higher in that subject. In math, third-grade proficiency was also below the county midpoint, while fourth-grade math proficiency was stronger, landing above that benchmark. Overall, the school’s proficiency index places it below the midpoint relative to the small number of other districts in Pend Oreille County. These results show a school where performance varies significantly by grade and subject, with some bright spots in fourth grade, but also areas where a parent may want to look into this further with the school, particularly around early literacy and math foundations. The data provides only a single year of results, so no academic trend can be established.
The school does not serve students in tested grades beyond fourth, and no data was available on chronic absenteeism or high school graduation metrics, as these do not apply to this grade band. The school operates as a regular public school. Information on course access, staffing ratios, and discipline was not available in the provided data. The school environment is thus defined largely by what is known: a small, rural elementary school serving a community with notable economic diversity and an academic profile that shows both areas of relative strength and clear soft spots. For a family considering Stratton, the most actionable takeaway is the direct look at the grade-level proficiency data, which suggests the school may be inconsistent in outcomes across early elementary grades. A family would be wise to discuss how the school supports students who are not meeting benchmarks, particularly in the younger grades. The school’s size and setting in a small, tight-knit town will be a plain fit for some families and not for others, but the academic numbers carry the weight for anyone evaluating the instructional environment.
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