These were the best performers among districts, charters, online schools

UPDATE: This article was updated at 12:00pm Thursday to correct rankings of charter schools, which previously excluded charters authorized by school districts, and to add rankings of top-performing traditional schools. 

Public charter schools again held most top spots in rankings of standardized test scores from last school year, and smaller districts tended to outpace larger ones in proficiency ratings. 

On Tuesday, the Idaho Department of Education released 2024-25 results from the Idaho Standards Achievement Test (ISAT). Each spring, public school students — in third through eighth grade and once in high school — take assessments measuring proficiency in English language arts (ELA), math and science. 

Statewide, scores were stagnant compared to previous school years: 53.2% of test-takers were proficient in ELA and 42.3% were proficient in math, the two more important subjects areas assessed during the standardized tests. 

Click here to see a list of ELA proficiency scores from each school district and charter school. Click here for math scores.

But many individual charter schools and districts far exceeded the statewide numbers. Charter schools held most top spots among all local education agencies, while smaller districts dominated rankings of traditional school districts. Virtual schools, meanwhile, fell behind top-ranked brick-and-mortar schools. 

Here are the top performers, broken out by categories:

All districts/charter schools

These are the 10 best ratings among all local education agencies, including school districts and charter schools

All districts/charters — ELA proficiency

All districts/charters — Math proficiency

Traditional school districts

These are the 10 best ratings among traditional school districts, which excludes charter schools.

Traditional school districts — ELA proficiency

Traditional school districts — Math proficiency

Charter schools

These are the 10 best ratings among charter schools, including charters authorized by traditional school districts.

Charter schools — ELA proficiency

Charter schools — Math proficiency

Traditional schools

These are the top-performing traditional schools, including magnet schools but excluding charters.

Traditional schools — ELA

Traditional schools — Math

Large school districts

These are the rankings of the 10 largest school districts, each with more than 3,000 test-takers.

10 traditional school districts with most test-takers — ELA proficiency

10 traditional school districts with most test-takers — Math proficiency

Small school districts

These are the 10 best ratings for small school districts, which excludes charter schools and traditional districts with more than 500 test-takers.

Small school districts (500 test-takers or fewer) — ELA proficiency

Small school districts (500 test-takers or fewer) — Math proficiency

Virtual schools

These are the rankings of virtual schools with more than 100 test-takers and complete data.

Virtual schools (100 or more test-takers) — ELA proficiency

Virtual schools (100 or more test-takers) — Math proficiency

EdNews data analyst Randy Schrader contributed to this report.