Satus Elementary, Wapato WA - Test Scores & Data

Original Research by School Decision on Satus Elementary

Satus Elementary serves grades three through five in the Wapato School District, a regular public school in a small agricultural town within the external boundaries of the Yakama Indian Reservation. The school is one of several elementary buildings in a district that also includes a middle school and two high schools. It is a compact upper-elementary building, receiving students from the district's earlier grades and sending them on to middle school after fifth grade.

The student body draws from a community that is predominantly Hispanic and includes a substantial Native American population, reflecting the town's location on the reservation and its history of agricultural labor migration. The school enrolls a high share of students from low-income households. English learner and special education counts were not available in the data examined. The size of the school is modest for a three-grade band, and the building environment, given the town's compact grid layout, likely sits within walking or short-bus distance for most families, though the precise location relative to downtown Wapato is not detailed in public sources.

Academically, Satus Elementary's state assessment results fell below the midpoint for Yakima County districts on a combined proficiency index across math, English language arts, and science. This was a single year of data, so no trend is available to tell whether performance is improving or declining. The proficiency rates were lower than a parent might hope, and a family considering this school may want to discuss directly with the school what supports are in place for students who are not yet meeting grade-level benchmarks. Science results, tested only in fifth grade, followed a similar pattern to the other subjects.

Wapato itself has seen a gradual population decline over recent decades, and the economy remains centered on orchards, potato farming, and seasonal agricultural work. Housing in the zip code is notably more affordable than the Washington state average, a factor that may matter for families looking to buy or rent. The town retains a small, working-class character with a downtown core along Wapato Avenue and civic anchors that include city hall and a historic Filipino community hall recently added to the National Register. No major new housing developments or growth trends were noted in available sources.

The district brief turned up no recent high-profile changes such as a curriculum overhaul, a property tax referendum, or a consolidation plan that would be immediately relevant to a parent. That absence is not unusual for a small, stable rural district; it simply means the educational offering has not been publicly reshaped in a notable way in recent years.

Satus Elementary presents a straightforward profile. It serves a population with high economic need in a town shaped by agriculture and Native American heritage. The academic results on state tests are below the county midpoint, and the school's grade band means there is no graduation rate to consider and no secondary-level program offerings. For a family already rooted in Wapato or the surrounding agricultural area, this is the neighborhood school. For a family looking from outside, the test results and the high-poverty context are the main factors to weigh, along with the significantly lower housing costs compared to much of Washington. The data alone does not indicate what academic interventions or enrichment programs the school offers, so a visit or a conversation with the principal would fill in the gaps that the available records leave open.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 330%

School 30% · District 25% · ▲ 5 pts above district

▼ 21 pts below state median · ▼ 9 pts below county median

Grade 436%

School 36% · District 28% · ▲ 7 pts above district

▼ 12 pts below state median · ▲ 4 pts above county median

Grade 526%

School 26% · District 20% · ▲ 6 pts above district

▼ 15 pts below state median · ▼ 2 pts below county median

English language arts

Grade 333%

School 33% · District 23% · ▲ 10 pts above district

▼ 14 pts below state median · ▲ 1 pts above county median

Grade 438%

School 38% · District 28% · ▲ 10 pts above district

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

Grade 535%

School 35% · District 28% · ▲ 8 pts above district

▼ 18 pts below state median · even with county median

Science

Grade 525%

School 25% · District 20% · ▲ 5 pts above district

▼ 27 pts below state median · ▼ 8 pts below county median

This schoolWapato 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 5Lower-income33%Higher-income55%22 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 5Lower-income23%Higher-income46%23 pp gap